How to hang orchid mounts in an apartment
 

I'm going to start by apologizing for the fact this is probably a completely weird question. I live in a city and have no outdoor space...in face, I rent a studio. Does anyone have any recommendations for hanging my orchid mounts that will have the least damage to my walls? I'm allowed to use small nails, etc. - I'm more worried about damp wood and such.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I suggest some sort of an enclosure (a book case with removable shelves might do the job.) Then, you can provide lights if you want to, you can line it with plastic of some sort (plastic sheets, typically 2' x 4', that are designed to cover fluorescent light fixtures, come to mind) Then you can use the egg-crate light diffuser sheets (these come from home-improvement stores) to hang things from (holes are about 1/4", it's easy to cut to size by simply breaking with needle-nose pliers )

You can use plastic tub or tray at the bottom, or something similar to catch the drips

Costco will have something in stock at your local store very similar to this: Wire shelving rack. It will likely cost less than the price on the Web site.

It can be assembled with two to five shelves, which can be positioned anywhere along the length of the support pillars.

I use one for my cactus sprouting rack. I hang fluorescent light fixtures under shelves and have the sprouting pots below them on the next shelf down. You could use just a few shelves and hang plants from the wire shelves.

You can also hang the mounted orchids in an open aquarium or plastic Rubbermaid tub.

A ZooMed, National Geographic, or Exo-Terra terrarium works as well. Make sure you get the largest models if you choose to go this route.

I have seen someone turn a window into an amazing display. They had mounted orchids on the top and sides, and some potted ones at the bottom.

I use the tension-rods for curtain hanging inside a window and hang plants after watering them at the sink. Works in a pinch.

I use what is referred to as a baker's rack to house many of my potted orchids and I hang my mounted ones on the sides. I think this looks nicer than the wire shelving linked to above and I found one for cheap on craigslist. However, soon I will be putting some hooks into the ceiling and tension rods in the window to hang others as I'm collecting far too many hanging orchids for the baker's rack at this point.

I've posted this link before, but it so much describes the "disease" :biggrin:
Orchidcentral.org/Obsession

I also use Baker's racks. The shelves can flip up to accommodate taller plants. For my mounts or hanging pots, I had the chief cut some green chicken wire and I zip tied it to the green Baker's racks sides. Then I can hang on there as well as from the scrollwork. It doesn't look tacky at all.😁 Salixx had some good ideas for hanging orchids in windows. Search for veg ledge on Amazon.

I'd be careful using a veg ledge. My mother had a couple of plants on one and the suction came undone. It made kind of a mess.