Once upon a time there was a happy Monstera named Masha. She was happy living in the lovely 10″ self-watering pot she had called home for the past 9 months. She especially loved the beautiful trellis that she could rest her vine against. As she grew, she wanted to reach out to explore the world around her. One day, Masha reached so far that her trellis snapped. Now she could grow wherever she wanted!
It wasn’t the trellis that snapped, it was the clips that held two 18″ lengths of trellis together. I could either replace the clips, which would likely snap again, or I could make my own. Since we have a lot of spare wood lying around, I chose to make my own.
I found a board that was about 5′ long x 4″ wide and 1/4″ thick. I cut the bottom of the board to have two 6″ spikes that could easily be pushed into the pot. I sanded the whole thing nice and smooth and then painted it with some leftover paint samples. I also drilled 1/2″ holes down the middle of the board about every 6″ to aid in tying the Mostera vine to the trellis. (Note to self: Next time, drill the holes before painting!) I also took a lesson from my previous trellis and coated the spikes that would be exposed to water in Plasti-Dip. It’s a rubbery coating that should keep the buried wood from rotting. Despite the mistakes I made, the resulting trellis looks great!
When I tried to remove the old trellis from Masha’s pot, it wouldn’t budge. That meant I was going to have to take her out of her original pot. The plan was to dump out the mineral substrate that was near the trellis and put the new trellis in; it would be easy! When I started pouring out the substrate, it was obvious that Masha was also going to need a larger pot.
Amazon was no help. I couldn’t get a 12″ or 13″ pot on a same day delivery. I also didn’t want to leave Masha with her roots hanging out, so off to Lowes I went.
I have yet to find a local source for self-watering pots. This meant I would need to make one. I knew it wouldn’t be hard; I frequently make my own self-watering pots from whatever containers and pots I have on hand. I chose a blue outer pot (14.86″W x 11.46″H) and a black inner nursery pot (13.25″W x 9″H).
I tested them out in the store and it looked like a perfect fit. There was enough room around the inner pot to allow circulation, and below the inner pot for a reservoir. There were four large drainage holes on the outer edges of the nursery pot, but I could block those to keep the mineral substrate from falling out.
Once I had the pot home, I began drilling holes in the inner nursery pot. Holes on the bottom to allow wicks to be placed and for excess water to drain out. Holes on the side the pot would allow for air flow to the roots. (In retrospect, they could have been a bit larger.)
I also drilled holes just under the rim so I could add rope handles. Then I cut rope for my handles, and wicking rope, burning all ends to keep them from fraying and knotted the ends of the rope handles.
The handles are attached on the inside of the inner pot with zip ties. The wicks just need to be long enough to touch the bottom of the reservoir so they can soak up every drop of water. Depending on the plant, you may want to pull the wick up in the mineral substrate.
For the large holes on the outer edges of the inner pot, I covered them with some non-skid material we had lying around. I then poured the substrate over each cover to ensure the covers stay where I put them.
The next step was to remove Masha from her 10″ pot. Masha was so tight in her pot that it took both my niece and myself to get her out. As Monstera roots grow, they are able to cling to surfaces like the inside of a plastic pot. It took a lot of manipulating and squeezing the pot to get her loose. Unfortunately, I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn’t get any photos.
Masha was finally placed in the new inner pot along with some fresh substrate. A few weeks later, I added a water level indicator that I purchased from Amazon. This required dumping a good amout of substrate and drilling a hole large enough for the meter to fit through. This has made monitoring Masha’s water level so much easier and was well worth the extra effort.
I added four small plastic cups in the bottom of the outer pot to hold the inner pot above the water. I then filled the pot to the top of the lifts and set the inner pot on top of the lifts. Masha was finished and ready to go back into the living room.
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