Description

This cloud shaped wall mountable outdoor hanger is not only stylish, but functional as well. Through the use of a perforated base, the planter has ideal drainage, making it impossible to overwater your plants. Through this method, the soil retains the water it needs, and releases the rest. 

Printing 

This model is great as there are no annoying supports or weird print orientations needed!PLA, PETG, and any other plant safe rigid filament is fine for this model (note, if the planter is going to be in direct sunlight, use materials that are lightly colored and have higher heat resistance to reduce the risk of warping in the sun.) Personally, I used high quality settings on my print, but I'm also trying to make this look good for pictures. I would recommend .2 - .28 mm layer thickness when printing and 50+% infill. For my model I used PrusaPrinters' Prusament “Galaxy Black" and had great results.

Mounting

In the model there are 3 holes compatible with most screws (or at least the many I found around my house.) I chose to hang mine on my fence, but it should be fine wherever you decide to mount it. I would also wouldn't recommend hanging them in an area where they may receive direct sunlight for more than 6 hours a day, as this could be bad for both the plant and the model.

Planting

To start out, put a thin paper towel I cut to size at the bottom of the plante to make sure no bugs could crawl through the perforated bottom. Then, I put a small layer of rocks at the bottom to really help oxygenate the soil (this step is optional, and probably unnecessary.) Then, I filled the container to the fill line with potting soil (I used potting soil because I had it on me, but most types of soil will work fine.) After the container was filled with soil, I planted Mint as it would do well in this sort of environment. Off the top of my head, Oregano, Cilantro, Thyme, and Dill are also great plants for this planter, or any wall mounted planters for that matter.

Watering

(“It doesn't take a genius to know that plants need wet dirt to grow” - Mark Watney, The Martian). My Dad and I usually water our plants around 7am once a day, but if you feel that your soil is drying out more quickly (probably due to low humidity and high temperatures) I would recommend watering when you start and finish work. Watering in the morning helps the plant to fuel the process of photosynthesis throughout the rest of the day while watering at night helps the plant to regain any water it lost throughout the day either from transpiration, photosynthesis, or evaporation from the soil. If you are only watering your plants once, do it in the morning as plants loose a surprising amount of water at night without using it to grow.

Conclusion

I haven't had a very long time to use this planter as I am trying to submit it to the competition before the deadline arrives, but so far it's been working great. I live in Texas, so overwatering can lead to overheating plants if the water gets hot enough throughout the sunny days. As far as I've tested it, this model has come to solve my problems with that issue. Overall this was a fun project to design and test and I hope others feel the same way. Thanks to PrusaPrinters for inspiring this idea and helping me to start designing again! Let's hope I win!!!