Automatic Watering Like The Water Globe
The support you give a vine to climb on may serve, first, a cultural function. But there's no reason why it can't be attractive too, no reason why we can't deviate from the familiar trellis, particularly when the deviation looks more natural and displays the plant to better advantage.
Gnarled, twisted, sinuous driftwood creates a design of its own; and its vine is an accessory in the composition, kept pruned and trained so the wood is enhanced, not covered completely. In built-in planters and room dividers, trellis effects and screens usually have design value; their vines are controlled and kept subordinate in interest.
A support should be selected according to a vine's method of climbing. Twining tendrils and stems need something slim to curl themselves around. You can make a trellis of any size or shape with plant stakes, dowel pins, coarse screen wire, or hardware cloth fastened to a wooden or wire frame. Or stick bamboo stakes into the pot at intervals around the edge, tie the tops together tepee-style, and attach an embroidery hoop midway between top and pot to create a bowed or balloon shape the vine will cover in time. Or shape heavy wire into a cage or ball.
For tendril climbers inside a window frame, try any number of tricks - criss-crossed dowel pins; wire or cord strung through hooks or screw eyes in any desired pattern. If possible, set the support an inch or so out from the frame, so the tendrils can curl around without your help.
Vines that climb by aerial roots or suction-cup appendages will often climb a smooth wall. A rough or porous finish, of course, makes it easier. For supports to be anchored in the pot, try a piece of tree branch or trunk, complete with bark; split pieces of unbarked cedar trunk; slabs of cork bark, cypress poles, or tree-fern fiber pressed into square totems. Keep these moist to encourage root penetration.
Or make your own totem pole. Cut a piece of fine chicken wire of the desired height, but an inch or so wider than the finished circumference. Lay it flat, and cover it with a thick layer of moist sphagnum moss or osmunda fiber. Add a sprinkling of crushed or broken charcoal to absorb impurities and keep the moist moss from going sour. Wrap this tightly around a stake or pole (which can extend at one end, to be stuck into the pot) and tie the wire together up and down its length. The more firmly the moss is packed and rolled, the easier it will be to keep it moist.
For automatic watering using an automatic plant watering system, sink a small clay pot (the drainage hole stopped up with a piece of cork or florists' clay) in the top of the totem. Water poured into the pot will seep out slowly through the porous clay and moisten the moss. A weak solution of soluble fertilizer occasionally will even feed the plant through its aerial roots.
Any upright, in-the-pot supports are best installed when the vines are planted. They are less tipsy when they extend all the way to the bottom of the pot, and when the soil is packed firmly around them. Large or heavy supports need the weight of a large pot as a firm base. When the vine is first planted, tie it to its support with soft string or covered wire, and retie if necessary until it begins to ascend on its own.
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categories: vines,watering system,garden,gardening,plants,plant care
