Tying down pots

[Brekel]

Hi all.

I made a stand for my bonsai today (not quite finished). We frequently get strong wind gusts coming through the hills where I live, and I was just wondering what different methods people use to stop their plants blowing over

Cheers,
Brett.

[Daluke]

Only a few of mine are “at risk”.

Those get heavy rocks in the pots.

How big are your trees? Depending on the size you may have different options.

[shibui]

We don't get strong winds very often so mine are not secured but I have seen bungee cords used. Just stretch the cord over the pot and roots and secure the ends to the bench.

[Watto]

A bit of copper wire over the pot and attached to the stand is my new preferred option.

[juan73870]

Strap them down around the stand with occy straps or similar tie downs if you're worried about them blowing off. Like over the pot and down around the stand.

[Brekel]

Thanks for the suggestions so far

How big are your trees? Depending on the size you may have different options.

At the moment, mainly shohin.
I had one that that even though it is small and in a heavyish pot for its size, while sitting on a square of timber on an outdoor table blew off the timber and ended up perched on the edge of the table.
I've also got a cedar that is still in a nursery pot until I repot it when the weather warms up after winter. It is about 40cm tall but doesn't have a lot of branches. Even in the nursery pot, sitting on the ground, it blew over one day last week.

Hopefully they won't cop as much wind where the new stand will be, and there's more options for attaching.

[Daluke]

Nursery pots-put the pot into a large one. Inside the larger one add rocks to the base.

Bonsai pots-use bungee or rope.

[MJL]

Hi Brekel,'

I was looking at this topic just the other day - it may help? https://phutu.com/matts-tree-tie-down/

Regards

Mark

[Brekel]

Thanks Mark - a fairly neat solution.

Cheers,
Brett.

[tgward]

might try to invent an aesthetic tie down that holds onto the drainage holes and not seen possibly placed in all pots when repotting

[Brekel]

I like the idea of something that holds onto wires through the drainage holes, as long as the pots can be attached/detached readily.

In the mean time though, for trees that haven't been repotted and set up for it, I've decided on my solution as I was getting tired of moving the plants in/out of shelter.
I didn't really like the aesthetics of normal bungee cords. I picked up some black 3mm shock cord and mini clips, and I'm making up a few cords as shown below. A bit neater, easy to tie down/remove as needed, I can make them the lengths I need for different pots (they stretch a fair bit though so suit a range of sizes), and hold the pots down rock solid.
The shock cord is marine rated for UV and water resistance.

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