I made a cedar vanda basket...

[ECC_lectic]

Bought a cedar fence board, cut it up into 10 mm strips, cut to size to make a roughly 15 cm square inside space (6"), pre-drilled holes at the ends of each strip and put 10 cm bolts through the corners. I'm actually making 5 more of these (but smaller) for my stanhopea seedlings, and one 8' fence board was enough for all of them. The bolts were the most expensive item!



Now - should I pre-treat this basket in any way prior to putting the vanda in it? I'm planning to use well-soaked coarse lava rock, some coconut chips and charcoal. Does the cedar need to be sealed with anything? Soaked? I sanded the fence board prior to cutting it up, in case the sawmill sprayed it with anything to reduce water damage.

[chrisa]

You are very talented. If I tried doing that it would fall to pieces like it was made our of Lincoln logs.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Looks great! I remember Zoe wrote an article about how to do this in the library here: http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchid...g-baskets.html

I really need to do this too. Many of my old baskets need to be renewed. Nice work. As far a sealing it - I don't think it is necessary but will let others chime in on that one.

cheers,
BD

[ECC_lectic]

Good article, but I wouldn't trust glue for this. That's why I pre-drilled holes for the bolts. Not easy to find thin enough bolts that are long enough for a decent-size basket. And to pre-drill, you need a drill press and a little jig to position each strip and ensure that the holes are drilled in the exact same place every time. And don't forget to blow away the wood chips, or they will change the position of the work piece.

[ColinMac]

is it as cheap to make your Baskets as it would be to get a ready made one ? I know it is probably more satisfying to do it yourself ..

[zainal abidin]

Well you can pre treat with fungicide if you want however if you want to put your vanda directly also no issue.

[Orquiadicto]

Well done.

[k_andreev]

Look nice