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Affordable, flexible benches and growing spaces for hanging mounted orchids both indoors and outdoors

January 18, 2018 By A'na Sa'tara

Outdoor orchid growing benches
A summer season growing area for a variety of mounts and baskets along a house walkway. The polycarbonate roof protects from leaves and debris from the adjacent shade tree. A few hardy Dendrobium baskets winter here, but it is too exposed to rain and wind for potted plants.

When we built our second shadehouse, one of the design challenges was what to use for growing benches.  We have visited a number of greenhouses, large and small, and have seen a few great configurations.  But what would work for our situation — a relatively small shadehouse (6′ x 8′) that would eventually be relocated (we rent our property) — was proving more elusive than I thought.  Metal commercial benches are very expensive, and I didn’t want to invest so much in a temporary location.  Wood, the standard choice for slatted benches, is rather heavy.  My husband cast a wary eye towards building the benches and then unscrewing all of the wood pieces to transport.  He also very well knows that I like to change things and constantly have ideas for improvement.

The Solution

That’s the prelude to stumbling upon an unexpected solution that has become the indoor and outdoor mainstay of our orchid growing areas: epoxy-coated metal restaurant shelving.  This is the industrial version of what you would see in a home pantry, or as pre-made shelving units at a big hardware store.

These particular shelving systems are designed for use in “moist” environments: walk-in freezers and refrigerators, and dish-washing areas.  They are built to regularly get wet, get cold, and be used commercially for years.

Outdoor orchid growing benches shade house
A view of the structure that began the quest for benches. To create multiple tiers, it is possible to use legs of multiple heights and different width shelves. The two tier shelves are 21” wide (top) and 14” wide (lower) with 14” and 34” high legs. The back shelves are 18” wide.

Before I elaborate on our many uses, the caveat for anyone considering these for their situation is to consider their local humidity and temperatures.  We live in central California, with a dry season in the summer, and cool, wet winter.  Temperature extremes are 25-100F, with the “usual” being summer nights in the 50s and winter nights in the mid 30s.  Standard daytime highs range from the 50s (winter) to 80s (summer).  Our outdoor benches are all covered (in a cold frame shadehouse) or under polycarbonate roofing.  They don’t get rained upon, and, in the summer, they dry off relatively quickly (a couple hours at most) after watering or misting.

That being said, after a couple years, the benches are almost all still in pristine condition, both indoors and outdoors.  The exceptions to “like-new” condition are a few small hangers that extend out from under the roofing during the summer, and have been exposed to direct sun.  These have faded to a light color and look weathered.

What makes great growing benches

There are several versions of these wire shelves, with different coatings.  We exclusively use the “green epoxy” version made by Regency Shelving since it is designed for wet conditions.  (Other coating types are intended for dry storage or displays).

Outdoor orchid growing benches
Empty frame for Australian Dendrobium growing area. A polycarbonate panel roof will be attached and covered with shade cloth.

What makes these work so well as benches?  First, they are designed to support up to 300 lbs per shelf — zero sagging with two rows of large Cymbidium pots.  Second, they come in a wide variety of sizes: from 24″ – 60″ long and 14″-24″ wide.  I’ve found that the 18″ and 21″ widths are most versatile; they also accommodate standard plastic pot trays.

Outdoor orchid growing benches
Australian Dendrobium growing area with orchids. 40% shadecloth extends out of view along the southern side. The western side is blocked by the house and the northeastern side receives summer shade from a deciduous tree.

Third, they can be assembled, disassembled, and stacked easily.  You can set the height of the shelf anywhere from 6″ to 72″ above ground, depending upon the legs that you select (legs come in sizes from 14″-84″ tall).  Each leg is individually marked with height lines so you can even level the shelf without too much fuss.

Also, for stability, we have created tiered benches — both stacked vertically and tiered horizontally.  It is much easier to view and reach pots when there are two 18″ shelves, separated by 12-18″ in height, than to reach across one 36″ deep platform.  We use these horizontal tiers both in the shadehouse and for our indoor cool area with LED grow lights.

Going beyond benches

There are rather unexpected applications of the accessories for these shelving units … I cannot imagine what the restaurant originators would think seeing a line of mounted orchids on them!  You don’t see the accessory options offered at stores, and I only discovered them when perusing the online catalog.

The shelf systems offer a series of cross bars (14″-48″) and 6″ hooks that can be attached to the legs, either supported on each end by a pole, or, for lighter applications, just anchored on one pole.  With these, I have used the tall leg poles (72″ or 84″) to make a series of hanger bars for orchids mounted on sticks or in baskets.  Similarly, we have utilized the hooks for hanging small baskets or mounts; you can see these in several of the photographs of our growing areas.

In several locations, indoors and outside, I have attached cucumber trellis panels from Gardener’s Supply Company to make a vertical area for hanging cork mounts.  The 4″x4″ grid of the cucumber trellis panels is a good size for mounts and the panels are coated with a green vinyl material that makes them waterproof.

Indoor orchid growing hanging mounts
One of the many locations where coated cucumber trellises have been used for mounted orchids. This is attached to the back of a shelving unit in our warm room. The grids are 4” (10cm) square, a generally ideal size for a variety of mounts.

To avoid ceiling mounts indoors, we attached the 48″ hanger bars to 84″ leg poles to hang our LED light fixtures, with the benches below.  These units are exceptionally versatile for indoor use, from free-standing growing areas under lights to movable shelving in front of windows/doors.

Indoor orchid growing
a. Empty frame for two growing areas. One is used for winter-only and the other is year-round. The 400W high intensity Amare LED light fixtures in the photos have been replaced in 2019 with 240W T5 HO LED fixtures from Active Grow.
Indoor orchid growing benches
b. Growing area with orchids. The frame stands in two 9” (23cm) deep hydroponic flood trays to capture watering run-off. A wet-dry vaccuum is used weekly to remove water and clean the trays.

Similarly, outdoors, we have used a wooden garden trellis, attached to hanger bars on 64″ poles with plastic zip ties, to create a frame for a polycarbonate roof over on two sets of benches.  This simple roof keeps leaves and debris from a nearby deciduous tree off the orchids in the summer/autumn, and offers rain protection in the winter.

Finally, we created a 24″ cart on wheels for smaller plants, so we can offer the excellent eastern light that comes into the house through glass doors to Phalaenopsis and Paphiopedilum.  I simply roll the bench cart out of the way when I want to open and close the door.  In the winter, the cart just stays put and we add a hanging bar for a basket or two to winter indoors.

I hope the photographs of our growing areas, and the brief description above, sparks your imagination.  I am very pleased to have maximized the horizontal and vertical indoor growing space that we have, both under grow lights and in front of six glass doors.  Likewise, I’ve been able to create three outdoor areas, with different light conditions, to accommodate a diversity of orchids.

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