There is a totally non-toxic way of catching trips. Roll up newspapers to make tubes, dampen them and lay them near wherever the thrips are hanging out. The next day gather up the papers and toss them in the garbage and put out new damp rolls. Repeat until all thrips are collected. ( they like damp, dark places during the day. ).

Vacations and healthy gardens are difficult to juggle without extensive "planning ahead". So for many, the vacation moves to non-gardening times of the year. That way you get the best of both. Planning ahead allows you to incorporate auto watering set-ups into your gardening; either someone to cover for you or auto water timers attached to in-place drip tape or soaker hose or even sprinklers. Even the most inexpensive auto-timer can take care of all but huge garden plots for you and when the garden is heavily mulched and deep watered from the beginning of the season, one week of no attention is no problem when it comes to water. Pests and disease issues can still run wild when there is no attention but the plants won't lack water. :) Dave

Smaller version of Terra Cotta irrigation unit that siphons from reservoir. Waters by difference in water tension in unit and soil. Works like a leaky tensiometer , the vaccum in the unit draws water from reservoir thru tube. http://www.amazon.com/Self-Watering-Probes-Package-of-5/dp/B0002VAHXC%3FSubscriptionId%3D14H876SFAKFS0EHBYQ02%26tag%3Dhubpages-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB0002VAHXC

I can't answer this question with the information provided, but I can give you a start. yes, new plants need more water to become established. how much water depends on plant type, and soil and climate type. if your soil is well-draining, I would err on the side of more water in this situation. if you'd like to get technical about it, you can look up some evapotranspiration data for California here: http://www.itrc.org/etdata/index.html  and then make some calculations based on the precipitation rates of your irrigation system to fine tune your watering schedule.