Friday 13 June 2014

DIY Orchid Stand

DIY Orchid Stand

Placing orchid pots on the ground was inviting trouble from a variety of pests(snails/rats), pet attacks and an occational tripping over the pot while watering or checking the plants . Keeping the orchid pots on the ground was also occupiying quite an area of real estate.

I Was looking for an easier and economical way to hang the orchid pots. Orchid pots were light weight due to the materials used and hence a heavy structure was not required. I came up with this idea and has been useful to me to save space and grow orchids better. Added advantage of hanging orchid pots would provide a relatively better environment for orchids as they get aeration from all around.

First time when I constructed this, most of the materials that I used were left over from house construction. Looking at the success story, I had to buy the second and thrid time and make it slightly better.

Once the materials are available, this stand could be made under a couple of hours. Cost of the materials is around Rs. 1200-1300

Components required (1 Single Unit Stand)

S.No
Component Name
Number
Coments
1
½ Inch GI pipe 3 Feet length
6
Ensure that their dimensions are same
2
½ inch T joints
2

3
½ inch elbow
2

4
Mangalore Tile/Jalli
2 or 4
I am using 2 we could use 4 to provide better support
5
Gravel stones
Handful
For using in concrete
6
Cement
½ Kg.

7
Sand
Handful

8
Masons Trowel
1

9
Wrench
1










Step 1



Connect the T-joint to one of the GI Pipes. Use a wrench to tighten the joint












Step 2




Connect another GI pipe to other end of the T-joint. Do another set with a similar approach. We should have 2 pipes with T-Joints


































Since we had used 2 * 3 Feet pipes, height of the structure would be around 6 Feet in size. The same could either reduced to 2* 2 Feet or a combination of  one 3 Feet with one 2 Feet.

Step 3



 Connect the elbow at one of the the ends of the GI pipes. I have connected an elbow at the right end in the picture.










Step 4



Now, use the remaining 2 pipes to bridge from one end of T-joint of one pipe to T-joint of another pipe and connect the the eblow joints of the 2 pipes.

Step 5


Place a old news paper on the ground, and place the mangalore jalli on the newspaper. Keep a distance of 3 Feet between one mangalore tile and another. Insert the end of the GI Pipes into the center of the mangalore jalli on both the sides and align the jalli to be in a strightline.


Step 6




Mix cement, water, gravel and sand to get a consistency  similar to that of concrete. Mix using masons trowel in ground or on a small container.





Pour the mixed concrete into the jalli and level using a masons trowel












Step 7


Finished structure should look like this



 






cure the concrete the next couple of days using water and allow the concrete to settle down for a day





Now it is time to hang the pots and use the stand







2 comments:

  1. Great!! It's a very innovative idea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for your comments Arwan. Appreciate your feedback.

    ReplyDelete