Balcony planter incline

[ventodimare]

Hi everyone, 

I've bought a planter to hang on my balcony railway. I want to hang the planter so it sits inside my balcony (for safety). 

My balcony rail forms a 30° angle with the balcony floor: because of that the plants in the planter are not orthogonal to the floor. The pic in attach hopefully explains the issue. 

What can I do to get the planter sit vertical to the floor? 

Than

 

ks! 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @ventodimare,

I believe you would need something to take up the distance created by the 30° angle. You'll need a surface the planter can rest against that is at right angles to the floor. You could take a scrap of something like 50mm thick timber and screw through the strap of the planter so it is fixed to it. Or perhaps cable tie the piece of timber to the fence. The straps curving backwards away from the pot probably aren't helping the situation either. You could try bending them back towards the pot as they appear to be made from quite thin metal. 

Is this for aesthetics or because you are worried that the plant is not positioned perfectly upright? The plant most-likely doesn't mind the angle it is planted at, I have quite a few plants at such an angle doing fine.

How did you go with your other planter for balcony rail project?

Mitchell

[ventodimare]

Good morning,

hopefully I'll be able to explain myself. 

The railing of my balcony has an unusual shape: it is curved outwards at the top; please see the pic in this post.

I want to put pots at the top of the railing; such pots must sit on the internal side of it as the tenat living underneath my apartment is worried the pot may fall on top of his head if sitting outside the railing :-(.

Standard pots sitting on the internal side of the railing end up forming a 20 degree angle with the balcony floor; the flowers in such pots end up being quite inclined towards the internal side of the railing. This because the top internal part of the railing is not vertical to the balcony floor; it is inclined outwards.

I've been considering straddle pots but they don't fit the external curve of my railing.

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

[MitchellMc]

Hi @ventodimare,

It looks like this angled balcony rail is still giving you issues. Have you considered adding timber to the fence to create a flat surface for hanging? I've created some images below to illustrate better. Otherwise, I suggest some plant stands might be in order. 

An LOSP treated board would be suitable. They come pre-primed and are ready for exterior paint. You could paint it black to blend in with the surrounding railing. A simple solution for fixing it would be drilling holes that align with the vertical rails and using cable ties to secure the board in place. They can be orientated with the locking portion on the other side of the board out of view. I've just drawn them this way for illustration purposes. Alternatively, for a more permanent solution, you could use pipe saddles around the posts and screwed into the board.

Let me mention @TedBear and @Noyade to see if they have any clever ideas.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Noyade]

Hi  Mitchell and Ventodimare.

Strata Title - does that limit what you can do with your fence railing?

All I could think of is a flower-pot stand?

Is this right - $34 and postage included?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/203253677821?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLIC...

[MitchellMc]

@Noyade,

I'd imagine that any permanent balcony altering installations are off the cards, and any significant visual changes could be too. The fact that @ventodimare is allowed to hang plants on the balcony rail at all indicates that any terms must be reasonably loose.

Mitchell

[Noyade]

Thanks Mitchell.

Looking at the photo above - the planter has a large lazy loop connecting it to the rail. What if we were to bend that mild steel hook at the spot weld on the planter's middle section and bend it as tightly as we can around the square section rail - would it then become more "orthogonal?"  - great word!

Tighter connection to rail.

[TedBear]

Hi @ventodimare , looking at your original photo, have you tried just pulling in the tail-end of that outside loop in and up against the curved railing vertical?

That should swing the actual basket holder outwards to a better position.   You would then use a black cable tie to tie each basket holder's tail-end firmly to the vertical rail.  You may have to bend the support tail a little to get the pot to sit horizontal.

It would help if you could bend the hanger support tail to be flat where it meets the top rail and if possible where it goes over to the outside too - similar to @Noyade 's drawing. I wouldn't necessarily bend it where it leaves the pot (risk of breaking it) - unless you want the plants to sit that high of course, but raising the pot a little (by making a bend at a set height instead of the existing curve) would make it sit against the more vertical section of the curved uprights and be less inclined to swing back toward the railings.

Flattening and squaring it where it touches the flat and square top rail would lessen the likelihood of them swinging around - but try the easy way first, just pull those outside tail ends in against vertical rails to see how it sits.

[Noyade · Accepted solution]

Okay - one more idea.

Incorporating Mitchell's excellent 'puter image - wire spread between the vertical steel at a level that will strike the planter towards the base. Probably won't make the planter perfectly vertical - but close?

Last One - I'm Done.