A lot of countries have had above average temperatures recently. We are all struggling with the care of our own potted plants - both inside and outside.
Please leave detailed information as to how you want your plants looked after.
(We won’t know, after watering, which of your plants overflow the saucer and which don’t, or which plants require rain water, which need room temperature water and which only cope with tap water).
Bummer about the furniture water stains and the plants. You’re getting good advice about bring future sitters. I would only add that you might want to have potential sitters explain how they water plants during your video call. Their answer should tell you whether they’re BSing or know what they’re talking about.
As far as the water damage, it may not be permanent. If the veneer has buckled then you’ll want a professional furniture restorer look at it. If it’s just a white stain, there are plenty of ways to fix water stained furniture described on the internet. Hopefully you’ll find a solution there.
I think some damage is almost inevitable, as people do things differently without knowing the specific quirks of your home.
I’ve come home many times to minor damage, unreported, but as my house was intact and my dog happy and healthy, it didn’t bother me. I’ve had two occasions where the damage puzzled me. A hinge on a corner kitchen cupboard was broken, how does that happen? Glassware and coloured handles on cutlery were covered with a white film that doesn’t come off. Is this from using the pots and pans setting on the dishwasher?
I lock away anything that I would hate to lose, and I leave the manuals for all appliances, but I accept that things may be done differently, resulting in damage.
Funny story: the fan on my oven continues to run for a time after the oven is switched off. One sitter thought that the oven was not turning off, so they would go out to the fuse box in the garden to turn the stove off there.
Aw, that’s a bummer. I have 50-some plants, and finding someone to take proper care of them can be a challenge. It’s disappointing when you lose a special one you’ve had for ages and put a lot of care & time into.
Do leave them a review. Give them credit for being “really nice” and any other positive things they did, but do be factual about them not having fulfilled the requirements of the sit – the plant care.
Aside from the repotting/drying out, I’d suggest taking cuttings of any that you can. If the roots are shot and the plant dies, at least you can start it over from a cutting.
To solve almost all of the “people don’t know how to look after your specific plants” problems…
GET A PLANT METER!!
My best advice for future sits is – develop a “plants by number” system. Get one of these…
… and once you know what number on the meter the plants are happiest being watered at, you can label all the pots. Every one of my terrestrial pots is labelled with two numbers: the top number is the reading on the meter at which to water, and the bottom number is how much to put on it (I go by how much water it takes to just start coming out the bottom). This accounts for “ferns like it moister and will need water at 5” vs. “the jade plant can go down to 3”.
And I will demonstrate how to put the orchids in a tray in the sink and spray. I leave an instruction sheet of reminders for my plant-watering-dude, and all he has to do is check the meter vs. the label on the pot. Takes about an hour, every 5 days, on scheduled “plant day”.
This is about as close to idiot-proofing your plant care as you can get.
I hope that helps and that your plants survive – and that you find a proper green-thumb sitter next time.
@CuencaTeresa , how are you today? Have you managed to get you plants repotted? I hope things don’t seem so distressing today.