Capillary mats

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Went away for a week, had somoene water the plants / seedlings for us whilst we were away.. came home today to find them all SOAKING, I could practically lift the seedlings out of the compost as it was so wet !!! Perhaps I didn't explain my self clearly enough or something, but anyway I've repotted all my seedlings - hope that I cought them in time and they'll survive. (The saucers they were in were full of water too, so no where for it to really go).

I'm due to go away again for another week soon, I do plan on gettig an automated watering system (have seen the hozelock one that'll do well for my garden and greenhouse when it turns up) - but for indoors, most of my seedlings are now in 5" pots, with a few still in 3" ones. By the time I go away, I think they'll all be in 5" pots min, with a few in larger ones...

I don't really want to take the chance of getting someone in to water the plants again, so I was thinking of what methods I could use this time when I'm away.. Are capillary mats any good? If a plants roots aren't near the bottom of the pot, will the plant "sense" theres water there, and drive the roots down to get it? Will this cause issues with being pot bound, or even tearing of roots when I pot on/out these plants/veg?

I probably have about 50 pots on the go now, and will be sowing some more soon - so these ones will be in seed trays most likely as I've ran out of 3" pots! I don't think the seed trays on a capilary mat will be a problem, but it's just the ones I've potted on I'll be a bit concerned about. I've also thought of those drip thingies, but buying 50 of them odd will be expensive - and I ca't really run the hozelock watering system in the house, as it'll mean leaving a window ajar.

I've even thought about driving back a couple times (I'll be away a week) but knowing my car it'll cost me £60 a time, which is a bit excessive I think!

Also................ couple of my cucumbers have yellow/brownish edges/spots coming on one of the lower leaves, I'm not sure if this was down to over-watering or there not being any heat in the house when I was away.. Do I just need to cut that leaf off? It's only affected 2 plants, 1 leaf (one of their first true leafs) each.. It doesn't look like a disease really... I dont think it could be underwatering, as each one was in its own ocean when I got back today!

Thanks!!