Outdoor Growing - Solutions for High Winds?
 

Each year where I live, there are inevitably a couple few days of high torrential winds and rain, and sometimes Santa Anas. And in general, it can get pretty windy at times.

What is a good cost-effective solution for keeping outdoor Orchids stable in the winds? Even a simple table for plants is very expensive. My orchids are all different sizes, so pot holders won't do the trick, and I can only find them in sets of ten or more anyhow.

Has someone got a good cost-effective setup which can be purchased? Or else who has solved this issue with their own d.i.y. method? I have an idea which sounds effective and economical, but I would like to hear others' ideas!

:thanx:

You usually know the wind is coming. You can cover your plants with shade cloth tied below the benches they're resting on. The shade cloth needs to be large enough to gather and tie. There is probably a business in your area that will make shade cloth pieces in any size you want, with grommets at the edges for tying down. In Phoenix it's Arizona Bag Company.

If your collection is still a manageable size, putting multiple pots in a cardboard box can help with stability. Add in a few heavy rocks, bricks, jugs of water, or other heavy objects to prevent the box from getting blown around if the plants and pots are light. You’ll be able to move the plants around quickly if the need arises.

This does require you to handle every plant and it’s not the nicest looking method but for occasional protection it’s fine. You can get heavy duty boxes with handles free from Costco. They have empty box bins on the exit side of the checkouts. The avocado boxes are my favorite. Extremely sturdy, good handles, and not the ugliest.

I grow in a shade house in the Florida Keys where we have almost constant trade winds up to 20 mph and of course the occasional tropical storm to major hurricane.

I built custom benches that have all 4 sides that rise 6" above the actual benchtop.

Hurricane Ian passed by about 75 miles to my west and we got a solid tropical storm out of it with 40-60 mph winds with a couple of higher gusts. I took down all my hanging mounted orchids and tucked them in between the pots on the benches. All good.

You're still going to have issues with tall plants tipping. Big, long cane dendrobiums, etc. but those you can help stabilize by nesting their pot inside a large terra cotta pot to give it some keel ballast. If the plants stay in close proximity to each other on the bench, they really can't tip over.

Wind is one consideration in deciding which plants to hang. I have some tall Dendrobiums in net pots (baskets) so not much weight, when hanging the wind is not a problem. For pots on benches, tight packing helps. So does putting them (plastic pots and all) into terracotta pots. Consider using pumice rather than perlite in your bark mix (same effect of air space) since it is heavier. Anything that you can do to lower the center of gravity. Even heavy watering ahead of those Santa Ana winds can help raise the weight and improve the odds of them not tipping over.

I’ve been adding one large-ish river rock to the bottom of my phalaenopsis pots to help prevent top-heavy pot tipping. Adding weight to the pot, be it internal like a rock, or external like a heavy cache pot, really helps things stay put.