Making your own DIY trellis for potted plants isn’t hard. The key is to know what you want and have a simple set of steps to make it. While I do have a vegetable garden, I still find value in potted plants near our porch. It makes a convenient way to keep peas nearby or perhaps some summer vining flowers. In addition, indoor plants or even small gardens can benefit from a garden trellis made for potted plants. Here are some ways to keep costs low as I show you how to make a trellis for potted plants. This is a valuable skill you want to have when learning to garden.
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Different types of Trellises
It’s easy to become overwhelmed when trying to figure out how to create a potted plant trellis. There are so many trellis options.
- Bamboo Trellis
- Metal Trellis
- Tomato Cage
- Wall Trellis
- Indoor Plant Trellis (for indoor climbing plant)
- Arch trellis
- Tree Branch Teepee Trellis ( I make these for our bean plants every year)
The options seem endless!
Today We’re going to take several stakes and put them together in a teepee shape to make an attractive and functional trellis for a potted plant. You may choose to use it indoors or outdoors.
Materials Needed to Make a Trellis
- Metal Wire ( I used 18 gauge) to help secure the climbing plants as they grow
- Five Poles ( I used 36 inch poles for a 12 inch pot. You’ll want longer poles for a larger pot). This could be bamboo stakes, wood or metal poles. You may also find other material like moss poles for plant supports.
- A pencil
- A ruler or measuring tape.
- A Wire Cutter
- A potted plant ( I hope this one’s obvious.)
How to Make a Potted Plant Trellis
Let’s make this DIY trellis! No matter the materials you’re using, the directions will be the same.
- If you haven’t yet, prepare your potted plant.
- Take five of your bamboo poles or whatever poles you’re using and stick them down into the soil about 4-6 inches deep against the inside edge of your plant pot. In some cases, the poles will go down farther and that’s ok. Just let them go until they are firm in the soil.
- Pull the tops of your stakes toward the center, crossing over each other by about 2-3 inches. Doing this will give it the look of a teepee style trellis.
- Secure the crossing stakes together by using a heavy gauge wire.
- Now that your teepee is secured, use your pencil to mark each stake 4 inches above the soil. Then measure 4 inches above the first mark and do the same for each stake.
- Secure the metal wire tightly around the first stakes before going to the next stake. At the next stake, wrap the wire around one full time, making sure it’s tight. Then go on to the next until you’ve arrived back at the original stake.
- Make sure all the wire is as tight as you want it before allowing yourself about one inch to wrap around the last stake. Cut the wire and tightly wrap the last pole. I like to use the wire cutter to help secure the wire around the last pole. Continue steps 5-7 about three inches above the first wire and do the same one more time above that. Train the climbing vining to grow up the trellis.
Extra Tips
Don’t Use Small Pots
Because your trellis will be much smaller than the pot itself and the fact that your plant will need room to grow, use a large pot. I recommend using a 12 inch pot or bigger to do this project. Remember, the bigger you go, the longer you’ll want your trellis poles.
Make Sure Your Pots Drain Well
As nice as it is to find a deal, if the pot has no drainage holes, don’t get it! Make sure your pots can drain water out so they don’t die.
Alternative Natural Materials
You can also use more natural materials such as a piece of twine in place of the strand of wire to secure the top of the trellis. Homemade cut sticks can also be used for the poles. This is how we make trellises in our outdoor garden and for our green beans.
Plants that grow well in a Trellised Pot
Here are a few ideas for great plants to grow in your trellised pot.
Favorite Houseplants
Some of these are indoor climbing plants and some can be used as both indoor or outdoor. One of the highlights of these plants is that growing them inside can extend their growing season.
- Wax Plant or “Hoya Carnosa”
- The Swiss Cheese plant. There are different types but perhaps best known is monstera adansonii . It can be trained up a trellis.
Outdoor Potted Trellised Plants
These are natural climbers and love bathing in summer sun.
- Pole Peas or Sweet Peas
- Jasmine
- Black Eyed Susan Vine
- Cucumbers (Here’s a post on how to train cucumbers.)
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Hope you get out in the sun and make a pot into a trellised beauty!
From the Hilltop,
Krista
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