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Need to set up balcony for CPs

Cindy

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Fellow CPers,

I'm thinking of fixing plastic troughs along the edge of the parapet so that my plants can get maximum sunlight. Any suggestions to help me "do up" the area? CPs there would mainly be neps, sundews and pings. The wall on the right will have direct sunlight from the setting sun.

My brain juice is running dry so I thought you guys (n gals) are much better at this 'cos most of you would have a larger collection of CPs than me.

And oh, I can't have anything hanging from the ceiling or any pots higher than the parapet (it's against the law here since a child died from flower pot that fell).
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Btw, I'm very close to the next building...I can actually watch my neighbours in the next building cooking from the blacony...
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Hi Cindy,
If you don't have too many plants, how about getting some side hanging pots - the kind that hook onto the wall and the side of the pot so it's hanging at the same level as the wall. You could also make some. That would work well for the near the right wall - for plants that may not want as much sun. As for the right wall, how about a 3-4 tiered shelf with thick plastic or plexiglass? If you had a tank or two you could stack them.

Or...you could make a set of shelves that ran along the right wall, a corner piece, and the little bit of wall that may get some sun.

Heh, if the very bottom near the floor doesn't get much sun maybe you could put a reflector there and try and get some light to another area
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Hi Cindy
Is your balcony facing south west-west? The position of setting sun will be moving quite a bit over the whole year, so you may have direct sunset into your balcony half a year later.

How about curved window grills (a bottom curve that slightly protrudes out) that sit on the parapet to gains some additional space, at the same time allowing you to hand plant from the ceiling at a height higher than the parapet.

JK
 
wicked thistle: I thought of getting a wooden frame which I can stand against the wall on the right so that I can hang some plants there. My concern is the wind. Too much of it this time of the year and the frame can topple over unless it's fixed to the wall. Any shelf with terrariums can only be on the left because the electricity mains are there.

JK: It's facing north, not directly 'cos the right wall will get the setting sun. No direct sunlight from the east. I've thought of having grills but you know how RARE it is to have a balcony in Singapore HDB flats...and I've tested the water, my future husband said "no".
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Hmm, well, I don't know Singapore well at all. If it's windy, perhaps you can construct a heavy wooden or metal frame with a giant plexiglass or thick plastic ceiling (level with balcony) and one side wall to make a cube between the corner walls of the balcony and your sliding glass. Then you can put whatever you want inside.

Or, combining with Cindy's idea, how about a slanted lean-to, it wouldn't be affected by wind.
 
Wicked thistle that's exactly what I was going to do this spring, place a wood frame in the corners of my balcony and covering it with clear plastic sheeting so it makes kind of a spring, summer, fall greenhouse. My balcony is south-west facing but shaded in deep summer when there is leaves on the trees late fall the balcony is intensely lit by the setting sun. My condos "association" might flip out over this though...
 
Well, my emphasis was in environmental resources engineering...if I didn't hate splinters so much I could probably build some killer plant homes. Swords, if you use some mirrors you could probably keep it it all hidden under the balcony wall. Unless you have the railing type of balcony, in which case you should tell them that you're growing flowers and normal things like oregano.
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The balcony faces north and has no direct sunlight...Singapore is just one degree off the equator...so I'm depending heavily on bright indirect light from 7 to 7. I will need to prop the plants up and let their leaves be over the edge of the balcony. Yet having to make sure that the pots are secure.
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Looks quite a simple balcony, huh? It's so windy from the north this time of the year that we can't keep the windows open.
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  • #10
The balcony faces north and has no direct sunlight...Singapore is just one degree off the equator...so I'm depending heavily on bright indirect light from 7 to 7. I will need to prop the plants up and let their leaves be over the edge of the balcony. Yet having to make sure that the pots are secure.  
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Looks quite a simple balcony, huh? It's so windy from the north this time of the year that we can't keep the windows open.  
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During January, all my lowland neps, pings and sundews will probably have to survive on artificial lights indoors. Brrrr...too cold (75F with wind)!

*pardon my double post
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