Larger Vanda Basket

Wow, wish I had that problem. I'm assuming the basket is hanging vertically (with the "top" to the side) to allow the leaves to hang down? Interesting dilemma. I'll give it some thought.

BTW, I would love to see a photo of that plant.

 

Thanks for the photo. That is beautiful.
Have you considered building your own basket for it? Some rot-resistant wood, saw, drill and galvanized wire and a little time. Shouldn't be too hard to make.

 

Easily available would be cedar (not very strong and splits easily but very easy to work), redwood (need to use heart wood. The white-pink sap wood will quickly rot), white oak (what whiskey and wine casks are made from. NOT red oak). More expensive but probably the best would be teak, mahogany and ipe.
I have wanted to try the synthetic materials that Ray talked about but haven't yet. Good to hear that it works well, too. That material would never rot.

 

Daniel, I replaced my old deck with Azek decking which is a solid PVC. Completely non-porous. Azek is not at the big box stores but is carried by real lumber yards. I plan to make a small basket out of it as a trial. If I try it before you do I'll let you know how it works.
There is Trex decking available at big box stores. Trex is a blend of sawdust and some kind of plastic. It is slightly porous because it will stain.
Ray, where did you get your recycled material?

 

Technically the circular basket shouldn't be any more difficult, just tedious making all of the curved pieces vs. quick and easy rectangles. Don't forget your overlap. The 5.65" circumference segment will turn into 6.65" +/- arc of wood.

 

Here is what I would do:
Make a simple compass with a piece of string, shoelace, etc. Tie a pencil to one end of the string, adjust the length of the string to the appropriate length and pin it to a piece of cardboard. Holding the pencil vertical draw your arc on the cardboard. Adjust the string length for the inside arc and do it again. If you are doing 10 segments to complete the circle then that is a 36 degree angle from your compass center point to determine where the hole will be drilled for attachment to the adjacent piece. For something this large you will want your piece to extend 1/2 to 3/4 inch beyond the holes. Once you have this all sketched out on your cardboard, cut it out and you have a template to use.
Unless you have access to some fancy replicating tools you will trace the shape on a piece of wood and cut it out with a bandsaw or scroll saw. Drill your holes at the appropriate spots. Repeat 39 more times.

Making the cardboard template shouldn't take but 10 minutes. Making 40 of the curved pieces would be incredibly tedious and time consuming which is why you will not see them mass produced. Making a large polygon such as an octagon or decagon, using straight pieces, would take 1/10th the time.

Good luck