From Grow Room to the Windy KY Outdoors- The Winds are demolishing my plants

[Bart]

Hi All,
Not sure if this is the correct place to post this topic but I'm sitting in my barage trying to determine how I can construct (preferrably from wood or PVC) some kind of post holders I could errect and place a rows of plants in before leaving for the office and not have to be conserned to arrive back home with 70% of my plants blown over X% of broken limbs, exposed roots or worse, the plant has actually boken away from the roots and is likely to die.

Does anyone have any ideas, or maybe you've seen, a way I can build a wind-proof pot holder (actually a 10-12 pot holder) I can place my plants into creating one less concern for me to worry with concerning my hibiscus Hobby.  I sure hope this makes sense as it's written because I think Ipm having a difficult time desribing what I think I need.

If you guys have any ideas or suggestions (if you can desribe it, I believe I can build it) or pics of something like I'm attempting to describe, I would be so appreciative. I sure hope to get some notifications letting me know something like this exist (I'm sure I'm not the only person with several plants and the same problem) which will give me another project to look forward to. Thanks  in advance for taking the time to read even if you don't know what can be done.

Bart

I hope your Gardens are full of the healthiest, most beautiful and deepest colored Hibiscus you've ever grown.

[davidwood]

Bart, is the problem the actual pot blows over, or is the pot secure and the plant is blowing over.

[Doll]

Bart, I've had good luck using a pot that is called a rose bucket. The standard size for these are 7.6 x 7.6 x 9.7. I have my Hot Southern Nights planted in one and it has not blown over once.

[Charlie]

People use all sorts of methods to keep potted plants upright. For example, place the plastic pot inside a large, heavy clay pot. Or dig a hole in the ground sufficiently deep to drop the plastic pot into. Or some use rebar or other metal rods that are inserted into the potting soil and out a drainage hole into the ground to stabilize the pot.

Charlie

[Bart]

The problem is now that I can set the plants out (90-100 plants) and allow them to grow via natural sunlight, the wind is such that most of the plants (all potted and sitting on a large concrete slab) end up blowing over, into and onto the plant/s next to them. When I arrive home from work, I find a massive pile of entangled plants with broken limbs as well as pots. I've been considering something along the lines of using 2X4's and/or 2X2"s (possibly even PVC Pipe) and joining or linking two parallel runs at the top approx 10" off the surface and connecting another two (whatever's) just underneath the top run for the posts to actually sit on. I could use a 2"X2" to attach the upper row of, for sake of argument I'll just say 2"X2"'s, to make a box to fit the different size pots depending on the size of the plant.  I would make sure they were connected in a way the plants couldn't touch each other and I can imagine one row housing 10 plants each. The bottom Row of 2X2's of this (so-called) potted plant holder would be inset a few inches so that each side of tapered bottoms would catch enough of the bottom to firmly set in place without sitting on a flat surfice which I never would want to have happen.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense to you guys or not...it's very difficult to describe but if I could draw you a top view, I think you might envision what I have in mind. My hopes would have been that someone has already created such a thing and I could either purchase them or at least be able to look at some for ideas of the best way to build them.  Oh well, I am giving several plants to the local High Schools Horticulture program so they have the opportunity to learn the science behind tropicals. I told them I would help them to get started and keep them in plants as long as I have some to give. Maybe I won't have to build more than 4-5 rows of plant holders.  I'll update this once I've figured something out.
As Always, Thanks so much for the much appreciated advice on the seemingly endless number of issues I always seem to be experiencing at any given time!

Bart

[jpiper82]

Hi Bart, John Piper here, your plan sounds great using two x too's to build the frame work, I assume you have different size pots that you want to hold in place. if you build a a frame large enough to hold 6" pots you could then use 2"x 2" shim stock to hold the 4" pots.

The big advantage I see to this is then you could attach on the frame work a drip irrigation system to water and feed at the same time.

Just a thought,
John

[Gil]

Sounds like the plant maybe too tall for the size pot. 
If it's too tall, it would have no stability, and fall over at the slightest breeze.
If the pot is small, keep the plant small by pruning frequently for more branches.

[roadrunner]

As a large number of these hibiscus are strong upright growers which unfortunately resist branching and many don't even begin to bloom until they're approaching 4 feet tall, frequent pruning to keep them short would result in attractive short stable plants that are less likely to blow over, but unfortunately would probably end up with fewer of those beautiful blooms or none at all which kind of defeats the whole purpose of growing them.  I've also found from personal experience that shorter densly branched plants are also suceptible to blowing over in certain conditions, even in decent sized containers such as 12 inch pots which is the largest size I can grow mine in due to space limitations. That was an awful sentence, sorry about that.  Several of my plants are near 6 feet tall by the end of the growing season and a few like First Lady, Palm Springs, Wakanisha, Winter Lights, and Prosperity are over 7 feet.  Trying to keep them much shorter resulted in summers without blooms so I gave up that idea.  There have been several good suggestions for this problem posted in this thread.  Personally I've had very good success using those metal green plastic coated stakes that nearly every nursery and big box store around here carry.  I use 5 or 6 foot length as they are stronger and resist bending more than the smaller diameter shorter stakes.  Rebar would of course be much better.  I don't insert them in the potting soil thru the drainage holes as Charlie suggested which I'm sure does the best job of keeping the pots stable.  I don't do that as I tend to be a bit of a clutz and would probably cut a major root or miss the drainage hole in the pot and split the bottom.  Instead I use at least two stakes for each plant and drive one into the ground on each side of the pot and secure the plant to the stakes in several places with some of that green nursery twine. I usually double it up for extra strength.  I also do the securing to the trunk or larger diameter branches. This has worked for me, even keeping my plants vertical through a few thunderstorms with 60 mph gusts and driving rain.  If you are in Tornado alley I have no suggestions.  Unfortunately this solution won't work for Bart's problem as his plants sit on conrete slabs.  I have a couple of 7 foot weeping fig trees that I summer outside on my covered patio.  They are not very stable even in 16 inch pots.  For stability I place a bunch of rocks (at least 5 inch diameter) on top of the soil in the pots for added weight which has worked very well until I get one of those windy thunderstorms.  Then I have the fun of putting lots of spilled potting soil as well as all those rocks back back into the pots.  Oh well, not everything works perfectly.  Of course that's for a couple of plants and Bart has a bunch.  One disadvantage for me is it makes it more difficult to tell when it's time to water.  Hope this rambling doesn't put too many readers to sleep and Bart I sincerely hope you have come up with a solution.  This can be such a fun and rewarding hobby and incredibly frustrating and stressful at times as well.

dave

[Bradley]

I use azalea pots for most of my hibiscus which help with the wind.

[Charlie]

I use oversized clay pots to drop the plastic pots into and then toss bricks in the left over space. I know some people drive a piece of rebar through the water holes in the bottom and a foot down in to the ground to hold the pot up. Others dig a hole to fully or partially drop the pot into. Some people mix sand instead of perlite into their soil mix to make it heavier but still drain well. All of these ideas have some merit, just have to figure out what works in any given situation.

Charlie