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Awesome Maria!
So I have two questions for you.
1.) How do you keep birds and other animals out of them?
2.) How do you ensure that during storms and strong winds that they will not fall and get damaged?
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The only animals that I get are birds. And, well, neighborhood cats chasing said birds. Which is also part of the reason I moved them away from their previous location.
The birds would peck the pots to get to the hydroton so much that they would essentially unpot the plants. So, it suddenly dawned on me to tie the plant to the pot until such time it produced roots that anchored it. (you can see the green soft ties on some of the pots in the pictures)
During BIG storms, I take them inside. When I first started growing outside I didn't pay much attention to them and during big storms I would suddenly see cattleyas floating away from me. So, I'm vigilant about this during the summer.
I put them inside anyway during the rainy season here (it rains non-stop for weeks) to give them a hard dry.
Hydroton is great, but you have to make sure the plants aren't getting too much water continuously.
Thanks Sonya also.