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Hoya planter project

I bought one of these pots and I really loved the look of it with my australis in it.



But I soon realized the problems with it. No drainage! I was able to pull the nursery pot out and tip it to drain. But it just became cumbersome after a while. But I like the idea of a long hoop trellis attached to a pot that you can hang rather than having it have to sit somewhere.

I love these plastic pots for my hanging hoyas. They are small, a 4" nursery pot sits perfectly inside if you want that. And I can water thoroughly at the sink, then tip the pot to drain the excess that's in the little saucer before I hang up again.


But they have three connectors to the pot and they don't really make a good "trellis".

So my brain spent way too much time today trying to figure out some way to do this. I thought if I could use one of the hang holes on top and then make another one on the opposite side. Then I'd create someting with wire to go in those holes, shape it into a hoop trellis with a loop for hanging. Like this (excuse my poor drawing skills).




Time to go to Home Depot to explore wire. I'm thinking of using coated black wire just because I think it disappears into the plant better. Maybe two strands. That way I can put two strands through the holes in the pot edge and then bend each outward in opposite direction for better hold/stability.

Comments (18)

  • 3 years ago

    Great idea! Would love to see how this turns out. Good luck!!

    popmama (Colorado, USDA z5) thanked Tika Land
  • 3 years ago

    If it turns out to be at all worthwhile, I'll send you one! I need something with a hoop trellis that can hang. Some of these big-leaf hoyas need some support but I don't have any shelf space for them. Yes, my hoya obsession creates problems sometimes! good ones I suppose.

  • 3 years ago

    I just found some 4-strand wire hangers for plants. I may be able to twist them to make two from the four and then bend at the top to make a nice arch.


    I guess it will depend a bit on how easy these are to bend. I'm going to order them and see what they are like.

  • 3 years ago

    Bill, thank you for the feedback. Tipping! I had not even considered that.

  • 3 years ago

    Yeah. If my hangers were named Walanda, my plants would be splat on the floor!


  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    These r the cheapest from Walmart , but they have nice ’hooks’ to tie up the vines at different heights. and u can add S hook on top or a carabin to hang them. not for heavy pots though..

    https://tinyurl.com/mu2zmfes

    u will need 4 points to connect for stability, especially since vines go this way and that and can tip the pot even with 3 wires.

    popmama (Colorado, USDA z5) thanked petrushka (7b)
  • 3 years ago

    Petrushka! I would like to offer you a virtual high five! Those are wonderful. I don't think they will work with the pots I have but I will order some and see!


    I ordered the 4-strand hanging wires. They came in the mail today. They are not going to work at all. The wire is very thick and not bendable at all. I don't even know what I'm going to do with them. I'll probably see if my friend who owns a nursery has any use for them. But so far, I'm not doing the best!

  • 3 years ago

    You can bend thick wire by inserting it in the metal tube and then pushing against that. It must be bendable otherwise it would be useless..

    glad u liked my suggestion : post pics !

  • 3 years ago

    I looked at the pic of 4 strand wire: you can use softer wire to wrap thru the clip on the bottom and the holes in yr pots, provided they have holes on top?

    you can also wrap softer wire around the top of the pot under the lip (if there is one). you can twist softer wire into little loops prior to wrapping at 4 points and thread bottom clips thru those ..

  • 3 years ago

    You'll just have to trust me, these wires are not bendable! I mean, sure if you have a way to clamp it and you are super strong, maybe. But I am not. I wanted something I could easily bend into an arch at the top and then also make small bends after threading through holes on the side of the pot. These hangers are not it.

    I did order some of those ones you showed me. I also ordered some of the wire ones with thinner wire. The only reason why I didn't order those initially is because the wire is silver. I'm not really a fan of the silver. But I decided I could try to spray paint if they work. If neither of those things works, then I'll go check out the wire selection at Home Depot. I'm in "experimental" mode for sure.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Well, if u r experimenting .. i stained my old iron work chairs with ebony wood stain: it stuck on really well, never peals off like spray paint..

    even simpler use permanent black marker with fat tip for silver wire, leave to dry for 24 hours and it should not smudge.

  • 3 years ago

    Received the plastic hoop trellises today. They are quite flimsy but when you tape two together, they are better. I've attached them to one pot and then added some electrical tape at the point where they attach to the pot to keep them from sliding around a lot. I am going to stare at it for a few days before I add any plant to it to see if I can think of anything I want to do to improve it. In the meantime, the 4-strand wire thingies should come in the mail and I can check out which I prefer.

    Ah yes, permanent marker is another great suggestion!

    This is probably going to be a long path to find the solution I really like.

    You've been very helpful!

  • 3 years ago

    Too bad the hoops are flimsy: they looked pretty neat..

    I have several hoyas and am always behind on trellising them. Mine are on water-wicks, so can’t hang them! i read somewhere that they bloom better when climbing up..

  • 3 years ago

    Are wire hangers not strong enough for this project? Is the pot ceramic? I do love the look of this pot, but a shame about drainage. If it was ceramic, one could drill holes in it with a bit especially made for such materials (porcelain/ceramic/clay, and so on). Could always put charcoal in the bottom like for a terrarium to help with the drainage/root rot prevention. Imagine that covered in a species like a curtisii, lacunosa, or loheri. Bella would look great in it, too (loves moisture, as well, wink wink). Where did you get this pot? Lemme guess, Echter's? ;)


    Brad AKA Moonwolf

  • 3 years ago

    The original wire hangers I bought were too strong and couldn't be bent. So I bought the silver thin wire ones.

    The pot is plastic. It comes with one of those 3-way plastic hangers. Great for hanging, not so great to use as a trellis.

    Since the black plastic hoops were too flimsy and the silver wire on its own seemed too flimsy as well, I combined them!

    This is now what I have thus far. I have to melt a hole in the top of the plastic pot opposite of one of the other holes (since they were originally deisgned for 3-way). But this is feeling pretty good now. Please excuse the extra wire at the pot rim. I will be taking care of that once I get the other hole melted. It will push through the hole then be twisted up under the rim of the pot.



    It's not beautiful. And maybe my next step will be to consider some sort of wrap around the plastic+wire to disguise some of this mess. But well...maybe I'm satisfied!


    the reason I like these plastic pots so much is because a 4" pot just sits right down in there. I don't have to disrupt any roots, etc. And when I water, I just take the whole thing to the sink, water thoroughly, then tip it to let the excess out of that saucer, then hang it back up.

  • 3 years ago

    Brad, the original pot at the top that is black with my autralis in it is metal. Not so easy to add drainage. I didn't get it at Echter's. I am sure I bought it online from Amazon or Etsy. It's a really cool pot but totally not practical. Rocks would be very bad in there because water will pool and there will be rust and just ick. I should try to find someone who can drill holes in metal for me I guess. Or it is ok to use for a plant that you take in and out but not one that you want to trellis on there which seems to defeat the whole idea of having the hoop!

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    If your hoya is big enough all this wont be visible; just touch up the silver wire with markers and let it be 😏. on the other hand, making it black will make it More visible: may be silver is better .. and easier..?!

    popmama (Colorado, USDA z5) thanked petrushka (7b)
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