Most houseplants originate from regions where they naturally grow outdoors, many come from vibrant, lush environments like rainforests. In these dense ecosystems, plants compete fiercely for sunlight. To thrive, many have evolved adaptations that allow them to climb or grow upward along taller plants, trees, or rock surfaces.
When we bring them indoors and treat them as houseplants they don't need to compete as much and therefore many do perfectly well without using their climbing abilities. But to unlock the full potential and beauty of certain houseplants, you must provide climbing support.
Moss Poles and indoor plants are an ever increasing sight in our homes.
In this guide I'll cover the different types of available climbing supports, which ones are best for which plant and the huge difference they can make. Below are the topics I'm going to cover, so lets jump in and get going.
By providing supports for your indoor climbing plants, many will do better and some will grow in different ways. But what exactly are "supports?"
Generally speaking, support structures are used for climbing plants to encourage healthy upward growth. We can't all have real trees growing in our living rooms so, using a support instead allows us to mimic their natural environment.
Typically houseplant growers will use a type of pole for this. I cover the four most used supports in the next section. But in short, these poles are typically made of plastic or wood and have a material for the plant's aerial roots to attach or grow into, such as sphagnum moss, or coconut coir.
In general, supports are used for the following four reasons:
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There are many supports you can use. This could include natural ones such as exposed pipes you can tie plants too, as well as thin planks of flat wood. Some plants are known as shingle plants such as the Monstera Dubia and this flat wood is essential for them.
If you allow the Monstera dubia to shingle up a flat plank of wood, the leaves will grow to an enormous size with impressive fenestrations. This is an example of leaf dimorphism and many climbing plants will display this behavior.
However the majority of climbing houseplants need something different from a plank of wood and the four most commonly available types are listed and discussed below.
A coco coir pole is usually made from a plastic inner tube that has coconut coir either glued or tied to it. This creates a rough texture that plants can adhere to and use to grow upwards.
These are very common in plant shops and sometimes you'll buy a plant with one already installed for you. It's a solid all rounder and most climbing plants can be encouraged to grow on them.
Click the photo below for an interactive summary.
Coconut Coir Pole
They're not effective at retaining moisture and are not modular meaning your plant will eventually reach the top and it'll need replacing. But they're generally reasonably priced, and fully reusable so you can use it again for a smaller plant in the future.
They're also durable and the coconut fiber that's used to create the rough surface on the external sides of the pvc pipe is attractive, sustainable and does not rot easily.
This is the classic support that your parents or grandparents used back in the day. They work and are still sold today, but may be less commonly found in stores. I found mine online and then I filled them with moss I brought from a local garden nursery.
Totem poles consist of a hollow plastic tube with lots of holes and a void running through the center. This is usually filled with a porous material like natural sphagnum moss.
Click the photo below for an interactive summary.
Totem Filled Pole
They come in different varieties and are quite old fashioned, however they work well. They tend to be modular meaning you can add new supports onto the existing ones to increase the height to keep pace with the plant as it grows. The tube is rigid but may not stay up correctly if the climbing plant becomes very large and heavy.
In the above photo, the internal void is filled with with sphagnum moss, it holds moisture and is ideal for encouraging aerial roots. However because of the holes totem poles can be difficult to water it and to keep the moss damp.
These are the newest supports available and are very popular for serious plant enthusiasts who are into making their own DIY moss pole.
They come as a flat plastic sheet and can be folded into a D shape. The curve part of the D is solid and the straight part will typically have holes cutout in a honeycomb, square or circle shape.
The hollow is then filed with an absorbent material, like moss. However as the hollow is so large it can also accommodate bigger materials like orchid bark if preferred.
Click the photo below for an interactive summary.
D-Shaped Supports
These supports are fantastic when you have a plant that has long aerial roots like a Monstera. If installed into the potting mix firmly then they will hold extremely large plants in place well.
The internal material is easy to keep moist although most of these supports require some DIY to assemble and fill. It's not usual to find them ready made in stores. They are modular but it can be fiddly getting them to stack together.
They should be cheap to buy, but some of the more showy cutout shapes can be expensive. You also need to purchase the internal material and as the supports are quite spacious you could need a lot to properly fill it.
A trellis is sometimes made of plastic or metal, but more commonly it's made from lots of straight pieces of wood. These are arranged and attached together to create a type of lattice or square block frame for the plant to clamber over.
Click the photo below for an interactive summary.
Trellis
They are quite niche and usually a trellis frame will only support a simple vining plant. Although they're cheap and easy to install, they're not ideal for any plant with substantial aerial roots and a trellis will not hold water or nutrients.
They will allow you to train your trailing plants into the shape you want and give them vertical height. They can come loose or fall over if the plant attaching to them is very heavy.
Even if you opt not to use a climbing support, most climbing plants will survive in your home as table top or trailing plans. However doing this means they'll often stay quite small.
There could be a number of reasons for this being done, most commonly would be that you may not have the space for a larger plant. Others might not be aware of how to do it and others still are perhaps unsure it's actually a "thing" that you can do for houseplants.
In my opinion, it's worth looking into and considering and for some houseplants it's essential to unlock their true form. Let me give you an example.
This young Monstera looks cute in it's modern plant pot, but the leaves aren't very "Monstera" like. That recently added brown support pole is a simple fix that will drastically improve the look.
This young Monstera is just getting going in life. Note that the leaves are small, without any of the familiar fenestrations or splits in the leaves. It almost looks like a completely different plant.
It's been repotted into a new container and a coconut coir moss pole has been inserted at the same time.
Here is the plant a few years later.
In their natural habitat the Swiss Cheese Plant will grow up the sides of tree trunks. Letting them climb like this indoors will yield impressive results.
The juvenile leaves have long gone and have been replaced with extremely large, leaves full of splits and familiar fenestrations that these plants are best known for.
This would never have happened without that moss pole. The plant feels secure and attaches to it using its aerial roots. With this support it's now capable of growing more impressive foliage.
Most climbing houseplants and a good number of vining and trailing plants will benefit greatly from a growing support. I've already covered why, when discussing the four primary benefits earlier if you need a quick recap.
Some plants will do much better on support structures. Most plants from the Araceae family, like Monsteras which I've covered above and a good number of Philodendrons like Philodendron Brasil (Heartleaf Philodendron) and the Silver Sword (Philodendron Hastatum) will all come into their own if given a support to climb.
In fact, the Latin translation of "Philodendron" means Love (of) Trees on account of them preferring to grow up the sides of trees in their native habitats.
Rhaphidophora decursiva (Dragon Tail) is a totally terrible houseplant with endless leafless runners unless you provide it with a growing pole like this.
The Rhaphidophora decursiva is a reasonably modern houseplant, but it does extremely poorly unless it's given a support structure to climb. Most different types of Epipremnum (Pothos) will happily clamber up supports and they will grow much larger leaves in return.
Vining plants like Hoyas and Jasmine do very well on supports for two main reasons. One they look infinitely better when raised up on a support frame and two, their flowers can be better seen and appreciated.
What follows isn't a full list, it's just to provide a general guide. Research your plant, look at photos and see how others are growing theirs, a lot of things will work, there are no firm rules here.
The Stephanotis floribunda (Madagascar Jasmine) looks stunning when trained to grow on a trellis like this.
As a general rule, plants with superficial aerial roots, or those that twine around supports are better candidates for a Trellis framework or a simple Coconut Coir totem. This will include Hoyas, Jasmines, Scindapsus, Pothos, some Philodendrons and plants from the Rhaphidophora species.
Those with aerial roots that can absorb water and nutrients and have more extensive growth are better for hollow tubes and D-supports filled with sphagnum moss.
These plants will use the supports not just for a structure to climb but as one they can use to get nourishment and absorb water from. A simple Trellis or Coconut Totem won't deliver the same results.
A handful of Philodendrons and most Monstera plants like the Adansonii, Deliciosa (and its varieties like the Albo and Thai Constellation) will love and thrive on these supports too.
If the aerial roots have access to moisture and nutrients like a d-support pole will provide, the container for the normal soil roots can be extremely small compared to the size of the plant. You can see this happening with this Monstera Albo.
Insert the moss pole into the plant’s pot, ideally as close to one side of the pot as you can get it. Ensure it's stable and reaches deep into the soil to support the plant’s weight.
Sometimes this can be done whenever it's convenient, but from past experience it tends to work better during repotting. Pushing in a support without seeing what you're doing has the potential to do serious damage to the roots. When repotting you can gently move the roots out of the way and position things how you want them with minimal damage.
The plant won't just attach itself to its new support. Gently tie the plant's stems to the moss pole using soft ties like twine, string, plant clips, or velcro. Be careful not to damage the stems. Once established the plant may well support itself and at this point you can remove the ties. However you don't have to do this.
When a support is installed the plant will need time to attach itself. In the meantime you can tie the vines to the support to keep it in place.
Keep the moss moist by misting or watering it occasionally. This encourages the plant's aerial roots to attach and absorb moisture (remember, this will not apply to a wooden trellis or coconut coir support as they don't hold moisture like the others).
As the plant grows, replace the support with a taller one, or if the support can be extended, just add to it. I'll explain all about this in more detail next.
Plants will clamber up the support provided and eventually reach the top. You have two options at this stage.
Firstly the majority of climbing plants will have stems that can be pruned without harming the plant. Doing this will encourage either replacement stems to form, or for new growth to appear lower down, which helps create a bushy look. So once the plant reaches your ideal height you can keep it there by pruning.
My Philodendron Cobra AKA Monstera Standleyana growing up a narrow moss pole. It only attaches itself loosely so when it gets to the top I'll be able to gently untangle it and train it up a taller replacement support.
Or secondly, If you want it to keep growing taller you can remove and replace the existing support or add an extension.
However you need to forward plan this for the best results. Some plants like Monsteras have very thick aerial roots and they will fully embed themselves within the support pole, especially if you're using D support poles or tubes filled with moss. When this happens it's extremely difficult to simply cut them off the support without harming the plant.
With these types of plants it's better to only use modular supports. That means when it reaches the top, you can fit on another one. Most can just be pushed on the top of the existing one. However, if you're using Trellis or standalone poles, something else will be needed.
Over the last 20 years, Tom has successfully owned hundreds of houseplants and is always happy to share knowledge and lend his horticulture skills to those in need. He is the leading content writer for the Ourhouseplants Team.
