Counter weight - preventing toppling over

[SouthPark]

I have an orchid that is just about to flower. Any time now.

It was side-heavy already, and the pot easily tips over. This was before it developed a spike. I used rocks underneath one side of the pot to put the pot on an angle, to compensate for the imbalance.

The orchid was getting direct sun during the mornings. But now I've decided to take it out of the path of direct sun, but still give it medium to bright light - and not changing the original orientation of the plant too much.

The rocks idea worked, but wasn't fantastic. So now, I decided to hang a 500 gram scuba diver weight off the side. Very stable. I think maybe an array of suitable shape and size fishing sinkers (bundled and bound together) would work ok too.

Maybe a 3D printed plastic structure that hangs off the pot in a similar way and allows us to pop in a bundle of fishing sinkers into a basic holding compartment would be workable too. But I don't think I'll go to that sort of lengths hahaha.

The imbalance (unbalanced plant) was all my own fault, as I should have driven a stake or two to stop the plant from tilting after its repot a year or so ago. As it was already off-balance, its own weight just made the plant itself (roots and all) tilt over - even with scoria rock pieces filled up in the pot. That's how it got to this.


Above: Counter weight. The round discoloration on the leaf is old sunburn damage, which can happen here during exceptionally intense summer days. The plant had no problem with it, which happened maybe 11 months ago.



Above: Close up of the weight. Self-made wire hooks are hooked over the side of the pot. Fishing line connects the hooks to the weight. The result - super stable.

[rbarata]

Maybe put the pot inside a larger clay pot filled with coarse gravel.

[hitchjunkie]

Haha - good solution - I've had success using diving weights myself! I had issues with a rather top-heavy Coelogyne tormentosa who was prone to diving off its shelf so I wired through the drainage holes of its plastic pot and fastened it inside another plastic pot with a wider base (also through the drainage holes) and set weights in the gap between the two pots. Worked a charm!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by hitchjunkie

Haha - good solution - I've had success using diving weights myself! I had issues with a rather top-heavy Coelogyne tormentosa who was prone to diving off its shelf so I wired through the drainage holes of its plastic pot and fastened it inside another plastic pot with a wider base (also through the drainage holes) and set weights in the gap between the two pots. Worked a charm!

Nice work!! Thanks for sharing your experiences too! Earlier on, I was even trying to think what convenient and effective ways could be used for counter balances. The diving weight is definitely quite convenient!

My other idea is like an 'abacus' style thing ---- a horizontal narrow beam - could be metal, could be plastic or anything -- eg. even 3D printed, with thin vertical wires (or even fishing line) coming off perpendicularly to the beam, for which things like fishing sinkers (with holes in the sinker) can be loaded (ie. in string/necklace style). Then - in any which way we can imagine ---- just have to then physically mount that over the side of the pot .... using the same sort of hook/grappling method over the side edge of the pot.

[Roberta]

I use an approach similar to what rbarata recommends. I drop the offending pot into a larger clay pot, then put something uncompressable - such as gravel, or (if the difference of the sizes of the pots is not large, even wine corks) on the side of the pot with the excess weight, propping the pot with the plant at an angle so that gravity pushes the plan's pot into the uncompressable "barrier" That shifts the center of gravity toward the lighter side of the plant, balancing it.

I will also occasionally tie the plant pot to the bench/shelf. (which should hold it even in an earthquake)

[SouthPark]

This is the fishing sinker idea. That could work in a similar way as the diving weight. It doesn't matter whether wire, or fishing line is used - as long as the weights can be accommodated by the structure, and it can hang off the side of the pot. Simple as possible will be good.

Making it easy to quickly add or remove weight (sinkers) would be nice too. And the structure doesn't necessarily need to have straight sections rods/skewers. They could be curved to suit the curvature of the pot.

[Mountaineer370]

I've only got a couple that I've ever had to worry about, and with those, I would just put the clear plastic pot into a slightly larger clay pot, which was all the stabilization they needed. Interesting thread, though, and I will have to remember some of these ideas, as all of my Phals are gradually getting larger and many of them are leaning more and more.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

This is the fishing sinker idea. That could work in a similar way as the diving weight. It doesn't matter whether wire, or fishing line is used - as long as the weights can be accommodated by the structure, and it can hang off the side of the pot. Simple as possible will be good.

Making it easy to quickly add or remove weight (sinkers) would be nice too. And the structure doesn't necessarily need to have straight sections rods/skewers. They could be curved to suit the curvature of the pot.

If you use a low gauge wire, like 10 or so, you could use plyers to shape it like an “s” but have the bottom continue up for 2-3”. The. You can simply slide the sinkers on and off as needed with nothing to tie or untie

[DirtyCoconuts]



[Subrosa]

I had problems 2 years ago with one of my Catasetum blowing over, but since they get repotted each season and this one is in a 12" pot it was a simple matter to put a rather large and heavy rock in the bottom of the pot. Problem solved.