If you want to know how can pothos climb as it does in its natural forest habitat without a solid stem to support it, then the answer is in your hands.
We have compiled a comprehensive list of the top ways you can encourage your household pothos to climb like their vines. Carry on reading because we have a few surprises in store for you.
Contents
How To Make Pothos Climb
There is more than one way to make the pothos vines climb like they do in nature. Your options include using a moss pole, hoops or trellises, solid vertical stakes, or cages. Another clever hack is to train the plant to climb on walls using strings in various artistic configurations.
Find out how all the climbing methods work by simply jumping down below.
– Moss Poles
A moss pole is any vertical object you can use to support your pothos plant. It is covered by a layer of sphagnum, peat moss, or, sometimes coco coir to emulate the natural conditions in which pothos plants usually grow.
The aerial roots of pothos attach to this pole and use it as a support to climb upwards. Because a moss covers a moss pole, it provides nutrition, moisture, and humidity. The aerial roots absorb water and nutrition, which helps the plants grow.
How To Make a Moss Pole at Home
Using bamboo sticks, plywoods, or wire meshes, you can make moss poles at home by covering them with moss. Read this step-by-step procedure on making your own DIY pothos climbing pole.
- Choose what material you are going to use as the base material. You can use anything tall, steady, and upright. The most commonly used materials include a bamboo stick or a tall plywood piece.
- You can also use a 70 to 80 cm wire mesh to make the support for the moss pole. Cut this meshwork and then roll it to form a pole. Reinforce your wire mesh pole with PVC to make it more durable.
- Take a bucket and fill it with warm water. Put the moss of your choice and place it in this water so it soaks up thoroughly.
- Measure the depth of your pot and mark how much of the pole will go inside the soil. This part doesn’t need to be covered with moss.
- Take the moss out of the water by fistfuls. Squeeze each handful until excess water flows out, and then use it to wrap the length of the moss that is going to be above the soil.
- To firmly attach the moss to your pole, securely tie it with twine or a fishing line.
- Place the moss in the center of a pot and your pothos next to it. Add soil around the roots and the pole until the whole pot is filled.
- To ensure that your pothos grows by using this pole, you can tie it to the pole using twines or vines of your choice.
– Hoops
You can train pothos plants to climb by attaching it with hoops installed around the plant. These hoops also go by the name balloon trellises and come in various shapes — you can choose between round, U-shaped hoops, or even just plain semi-circular.
Plenty of different types of hoops are available in the market to help you support pothos and other similar climbing plants. Most of these are made of sturdy wood and are long-lasting. You can make your DIY hoops home using wire mesh or embroidery hoops.
Start by attaching the most extended stem of the plant to the trellis using a gardening wire or twine. Then attach the second-longest stem and so on over some time until your plant becomes securely attached.
– Simple Stakes
A simple stake is the best option for species with large pothos leaves that tend to bend a stem down. A large variety of materials can be successfully used as stakes. We usually recommend using stakes made up of bamboo or metal that have been coated by vinyl.
Learn how to use a stake successfully in the steps given below.
- The stake you use should be tall enough to go all the way to the bottom of the pot and support the vines of your plant’s growth.
- Carefully put the stake and the plant into the soil to the bottom. This is important because the potting mix is not very compact and might not fully support your stake.
- Tie the stems of your plant with this stake using a suitable material such as gardening ropes.
- As your plant grows, carry on tying the newly grown parts with the stakes.
- Just take care not to tie the plant too tightly with the stake. Sometimes, tying a plant too tightly can lead to cutting off the plant’s food and water supply. The plant, of course, will not be able to tolerate such an environment.
– Walls
Since pothos plants are such fantastic and easy to care for indoor plants, you can make them climb using the walls of your living space.
Trust us; this is not only the most straightforward method out there but also great for making a decorative statement. You can let loose your creativity and make all sorts of patterns on the wall using this cute creeping plant.
Here is how you can use walls to make this plant climb.
- First of all, choose a suitable indoor wall for wall training pathos. We suggest selecting a wall that is near a window and receives bright indirect light for most of the day.
- You can use nails or adhesive tapes to attach the vines to the wall. Adhesive tapes are advantageous because your wall is not damaged in the process. You can make any pattern of your liking.
- Attach the string of your choice to the stems of the plant. We mostly go for fishing string, but you can also use twine for a more rustic effect.
- Attach individual stems around their ropes while still keeping enough rope for the plant’s future growth.
- You can start training your pothos to creep on the wall early on when the plant is only starting to grow. Over time, the vines will climb along the ropes in the pattern you have created, providing a most fantastic appearance.
– Cages
Some pothos varieties with multiple stems and large foliage can be made to climb using a unique new concept in the form of a cage.
Again, you have multiple options when it comes to cages. You can go for traditional large-sized cages and place the plant inside them. You can also insert multiple stakes in the soil around the pots and tie them together to make a cage-like structure.
Many of our DIY enthusiasts have resorted to making several hoops using mesh wires and using them as makeshift cages.
How To Make Pothos Trail
The simplest way to make a pothos trail is to attach strings to its stems. These strings must be long so the stems can grow on them. Attach hooks at the end of the strings and use them to hook the stems up as you like. Your plant will begin to trail along the strings naturally.
One often overlooked aspect of making a pothos trail is choosing the right pot and living conditions. The pot should neither be too large nor too small. As the vines grow, so do the roots. Don’t forget to report your marble queen plant every two years because it hates being root-bound.
How To Support Pothos Plant
You can support your pothos indoor plants by inserting a stake in the soil and attaching the plant’s vines to it. Alternatively, you can tie strings along with the vines and hook them to walls, ceilings, or window frames.
You can also arrange hoops around the plant for it to intertwine and climb over. Outdoors, you can simply plant them next to a larger plant or tree. Their aerial roots will support them on the tree’s stem and begin climbing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
– Do Pothos Ruin Walls?
Although pothos isn’t particularly destructive to the walls, they can cause some damage over time.
This is because their vines store water that causes staining and promotes algal growth. They can particularly damage wooden walls because of their porosity. This plant’s aerial roots and suckers climb into these pores, eventually weakening them over time.
Similarly, walls made of bricks and stones are also porous enough for the aerial roots to grow into them. These roots then naturally increase the humidity inside the pores, which can develop fungus within the walls.
– How Do I Keep My Pothos Happy?
The key to making the pothos plant stay happy and grow faster is to provide it with the best possible plant care. When the care requirements of a plant are being fulfilled, it will grow to its happiest and fullest potential in record time.
Here is a brief pothos care guide for you to keep an eye on.
- Pothos plants like to grow in bright yet indirect light for the most part. Keep them away from direct light, especially during mid-afternoon. If the light inside the house is insufficient, you must install grow lights to aid the plant in photosynthesis.
- Water this plant when its soil becomes dry from the top two to three inches. A moisture meter rating from 1 to 3 also means that your plant needs watering.
- Fertilize with a mild but rich fertilizer every two to three months.
- Lastly, as all good plant lovers know about pothos, they like warm and humid weather conditions. Choose a room in the house that fulfills both of these conditions.
Conclusion
Pothos, or the Epipremnum aureum plant, looks gorgeous in the form of a creeping vine.
- A moss pole is the best way to make this plant climb successfully. It has the additional benefits of providing water and nutrients as well.
- You can buy or make hoops or balloon trellises for encouraging pothos vines.
- The easiest method is driving a tall stake into the soil next to the plant.
- Make sure your plant is well-fed and taken care of so it can grow and trail properly.
As final thoughts, we would like to encourage all pothos lovers to choose a method that they like and try giving their pothos a chance to climb. Believe us — you will not regret it!
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