How to Make a Pot Stand: Methods and Step-by-Step Detailed Guide

An orchid room should be equipped with a frame for holding orchid pots, so that the potted orchids are placed suspended in the air for cultivation, achieving ventilation and air permeability and promoting robust and well-developed orchid seedling root systems. Practice has shown that cultivating potted orchids on pot stands and cultivating them on the ground do not produce quite the same results. With the former, because light is more sufficient and ventilation and air permeability are good, the orchid seedling root systems are thick and well developed, and the pseudobulbs form early. They mature early and are plump, and the orchid plants are emerald green and robust, with relatively high sprouting rates. The flowering rates are all relatively high. With the latter, light is relatively insufficient and ventilation and air permeability are relatively poor, so the orchid seedling root systems are few and fine, the pseudobulbs are small and mature late, and the orchid plants are dark green, tender and weak, with flowering rates and sprouting rates noticeably lower. Orchid pot stands can be made of wood (Chinese fir is better) or steel. A wooden pot stand can be made by nailing together 8 cm x 6 cm square timber as the frame and 5 cm x 3 cm square timber as the support strips. The frame is 120 cm wide, and the length is determined according to actual conditions. Because the humidity in an orchid room is relatively high year-round, wood rots relatively easily, so it is best to make it from steel. A steel pot stand can use angle steel as the frame, with square steel welded in the middle. The pot stand can be about 50 cm high, and the widths between the strips are 12 cm (for placing orchid pots) and 8 cm (row spacing). Before use, anti-rust coating should first be applied to increase service life. Galvanized steel pipe can also be used; galvanized steel pipe does not rust easily, but the cost is relatively high. (Liu Zhenlong, Shen Zhijian)