Grow Vertical, Sydney (2026)

09/09/2026

Big pots are bad. It's one of the most repeated pieces of advice in the hobby — and like most rules, it's only part of the picture.

How much moisture your pot holds at any given time and more importantly how quickly it will dry out comes down to five variables — pot size, mix consistency, root mass, watering frequency, and the environment your plant is growing in. Understanding how they interact gives you far more control over your growing environment than any blanket rule about pot size ever will.

In the pot, your priority is oxygen at the roots. A chunky, free draining mix prevents water from sitting stagnant and starving roots of the air they need. Most experienced aroid growers know this well.

Mix consistency has just as much influence on moisture retention as pot size. A dense, fine mix retains moisture for longer and leaves less room for oxygen between waterings. A chunky, free draining mix moves water through faster, holds more air pockets, and gives roots the oxygen they need. A large pot with a chunky mix can behave similarly to a small pot with a denser mix — the two variables work against each other, or with each other, depending on what you're trying to achieve.

Root mass is the variable most growers underestimate. A large, well established root system actively drinks down moisture, turning over the water in a pot far faster than a small or underdeveloped one. A large pot isn't inherently dangerous for a plant with a healthy root system — the roots manage the moisture. The risk comes when a small root system sits in a large volume of media it simply can't keep up with.

Watering frequency is where personal habit intersects with everything else. A grower who waters frequently needs a faster draining setup. A grower who tends to miss waterings needs more moisture retention built into their setup as a buffer. Knowing your own habits is just as important as knowing your plant.

Light and heat complete the picture. A plant in a bright, warm spot uses water significantly faster than one in a shadier, cooler position. The pot that felt perfectly balanced through the cooler months can suddenly start drying out faster as spring arrives and the plant ramps up its activity. Equally, a watering routine that worked well through summer can leave a plant sitting too wet heading into winter. Revisit your watering frequency at each change of season.

The reason under potting gets pushed so often is that it compensates for the most common beginner tendency — overwatering. A smaller pot is a built in guardrail while watering instincts develop. That's a legitimate way to think about it. But as your understanding of these five variables grows, the rules become tools rather than limits.

Many of our plants are on large supports with a high centre of gravity — a small pot makes that hard to manage. We deliberately choose larger pots for stability. For us, underwatering is a bigger risk than overwatering — larger pots help buffer against missed waterings, and paired with a chunky mix and well developed root systems, that balance works well for our collection and our habits. It won't be the right balance for everyone, but that's exactly the point. There is no universal right answer, only the right answer for your plant, your mix, your habits, and your environment.

🌿 Grow Vertical — growvertical.shop

07/09/2026

Your plant’s reached the top… now what?

Good news, there’s no need to start again.

Our Grow Vertical plant supports are designed to grow with your plant.

Simply add another support on top, line it up, secure it with a zip tie and you’ve instantly doubled the climbing space.

More room to climb. More room to grow. Same simple setup.

Save this one for when your plant reaches the top!

04/09/2026

Aerial roots are one of the most talked about and least understood parts of growing climbing aroids. Most growers know they're supposed to be a good thing, but few understand what they're actually trying to do — and that gap in understanding is where most support setups fall short.

Here's what most people don't know. Aerial roots don't stay aerial. When they find a suitable medium — fibrous bark, composted leaf litter, substrate, even standing water — they colonise it and adapt to become the most efficient root for that environment. Find bark and they become anchoring, surface absorbing roots. Find substrate and they transition to terrestrial roots. Find water and they adapt to absorb from it as efficiently as possible. The root always optimises for whatever environment it's in.

In the wild, a climbing aroid sends aerial roots out as it ascends its host tree. Those roots press against fibrous bark, find pockets of composted leaf matter, work their way into crevices in rock faces — always seeking moisture, always looking for something to colonise. Some species are lithophytic, growing directly on rocks. Others send roots all the way down to the rainforest floor. The root system is constantly foraging, constantly opportunistic.

In cultivation we control what that medium is. And that changes everything about how you think about supports, media, and what you're actually trying to create for your plant.

Most indoor environments are too dry for aerial roots to function properly. Without moisture they desiccate and die back before they ever find something worth growing into. A bare stake or plank gives them a surface but nothing more — no moisture, no medium to pe*****te, no reason to adapt into anything more productive than a surface clinging root.

What aerial roots actually need is simple — moisture and something worth colonising. Localised humidity at the node triggers root initiation in the first place. A moist, media filled support gives those roots something to pe*****te, colonise, and adapt into. The closer the media is to the node, the sooner the root finds it and the sooner it starts doing its job properly.

Not all climbing aroids produce aerial roots at the same rate either. Monstera deliciosa is one of the most aggressive producers — it will push roots into almost anything given the right conditions. Some genera including Monstera, Rhaphidophora and Epipremnum produce roots along the entire stem rather than just at nodes, making them incredibly efficient climbers. Some climbing Philodendrons on the other hand are far more reluctant and require far more specific environments to climb well. For these plants, consistent moisture in the support isn't optional — it's everything.

A good support isn't just something for your plant to lean on. It's an environment for aerial roots to find, colonise, and adapt to. Pack it with a moist fibrous media and you're giving your aerial roots something worth optimising for. The root does the rest.

Have your aerial roots ever surprised you? Tell us in the comments — we'd love to hear what your plants have been up to.

🌿 Grow Vertical — growvertical.shop

02/09/2026

That moment you spot fresh aerial roots pushing into the support and something inside you just… activates.

It means the roots have found something worth growing into. The media is staying moist enough, the humidity at the nodes is doing its job, and the plant is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

It's a small thing. But if you know, you know.

Anyone else doing the Happy Happy Dance Dance right now? Throw us a ❤️ if your aerial roots are doing something exciting.

🌿 Grow Vertical — growvertical.shop

31/08/2026

Your plant has outgrown its support. What now?

Basically, you’ve got Four options:

1. Propagate it

Look for the last node or two that are well rooted, cut below them and remove them top from the support. Pot it up with a new support after waiting for the cut to dry and seal. You could then cut up the remaining nodes and using the roots carefully removed from the support to make many plants. Best if it valuable or you want to gift a few to friends or family.

2. Extend it
If your support allows it, add another section and keep growing up. Easiest option if you’ve still got the room.

3. Chop and extend
Take the mature top section of your support if it is able to be split and start again in a new pot whilst adding a new support extension. A great option if your plant is getting ridiculously tall.

4. Upgrade the support
Move your plant onto a larger and taller support as well as a new larger pot that gives the roots more room to grow and the plant somewhere to keep climbing. A larger heavier pot will also make a taller plant more stable.

Which option is best depends on the plant, the support, your space and what you want it to do next. All of our own supports are designed with these issues in mind, to make it as easy and stress free as possible. The one thing we wouldn’t recommend is just letting it flop around unsupported for the next six months losing maturity while you decide. 😂

Climbing aroids want to climb. Give them somewhere to go. Comment your favorite option or If you have any questions about how our supports will help you please reach out.

30/08/2026

Light is the single most important factor in growing aroids well. Everything else — your mix, your pot, your support, your watering routine — is secondary. Light sets your plant's potential. Without enough of it, nothing else you do will compensate.

Most houses don't have enough light for our plants to truly thrive. That's not a criticism — it's just a reality that most plant content glosses over. Our eyes are incredibly good at adapting to low light conditions. A room that feels bright to us can be genuinely dim to a plant. What looks like a well lit space is often a fraction of what our plants would experience even in the shadiest corner of its natural habitat.

Too little light and your plant will tell you — slowly. Etiolation, long internodes, small leaves that never size up, sluggish growth that never seems to go anywhere. The plant is reaching, stretching, doing everything it can with what it has.

Too much direct light and it will tell you that too — scorched patches, crispy edges, bleached leaves. But for most indoor growers, too much is rarely the problem.

Understanding where your plants sit on that spectrum — whether through measuring PAR or trying to count foot candles, or simply training your instincts over time — is one of the most valuable things you can do as a grower. The number doesn't matter as much as the awareness. Once you understand light you start to see your space differently, and your plants respond accordingly.

🌿 Grow Vertical — growvertical.shop

29/08/2026

Most supports are sold to the grower you are today. We're more interested in setting up the grower you're going to be.

The one who can extend a support without disturbing an established root system, repot without a fight, and remove a plant cleanly when the time comes. The one who looks back and is glad they didn't just buy whatever was convenient at the time.

Every point in this post has directly influenced how we design our supports. Not as an afterthought, but as the starting point. Education is at the core of everything we do here — not because it sells more supports, but because a grower who understands the why will always make better decisions than one who just bought what looked good on Instagram.

What makes a good support isn't obvious until something goes wrong. Media volume, enclosed design, opening size, extensions, stability, reusability, material — every one of these has a direct impact on how your plant grows, how easy it is to manage long term, and how much work you're creating for your future self.

A support isn't just something for your plant to lean on. It's a second root environment. Get it right and it changes how your plant grows, how often you need to water, and how easy every future decision becomes — repotting, propagating, relocating, extending.

Most supports are convenient. Few are genuinely well designed. The difference becomes clear the longer you grow.

What's the one thing you wish your support did better? Drop it in the comments — we'd love to know.

🌿 Grow Vertical — growvertical.shop

28/08/2026

I grow in a specific way. Heated greenhouse, large pots, tree fern mix, big supports, and I underwater more than I should. It works for me, in my environment, with my habits and what I value from my plants.

But that's just me.

The plant community is one of the most genuinely diverse communities I've come across. Different people, different climates, different species, different budgets, different spaces and different goals. What works in a humid tropical Floridian backyard is a different conversation to what works in a dry Melbourne apartment or a heated flat in the middle of a European winter. My wins might not be your wins. My problems might not be your problems.

With nearly 10 years growing climbing Aroids i share what I know and what works for me — but I'm aware even still that's a pretty narrow slice of the full picture.

So I want to ask — what have you figured out that you wish someone had told you earlier? What works in your environment that goes against the conventional advice? What's the one thing your plants have taught you that you didn't expect? It could be about plant supports specifically or just plants in general.

I'm genuinely curious. Drop it in the comments.

🌿 Grow Vertical — growvertical.shop

27/08/2026

I am very aware I am a straight white man with a beard telling you how to grow plants.

There are a few of us. I've looked into it. I don't fully understand it either.

What I can tell you is that I have strong opinions about media filled plant supports, aerial root production, and why most supports on the market are undersized. I'll be posting this disclaimer periodically. The plant content will continue regardless.

Grow up. We didn't but our plants might as well.

🌿 Grow Vertical — growvertical.shop

25/08/2026

Moss poles don't work.

We've all seen it said online. And for a lot of growers that experience is completely real.

But the problem isn't the concept of a media filled support. It's the poorly designed supports and traditional moss poles more specifically. Not the concept itself.

A traditional moss pole a stake, tube or plank wrapped in a thin layer of sphagnum moss and mesh has a fundamental limitation. Media volume.

Too little media means it dries out fast, rewets poorly, and gives aerial roots very little to actually establish in.
The growers you see having genuine success with them either live in ideal environments or are highly consistent attentive waterers.

That's a skill, and not everyone has the time or setup to develop it.

Our Propstick supports are not moss poles in the traditional sense though they can hold moss if that's your preference.

What they offer that most traditional moss poles don't is significantly larger and adjustable media volume, combined with a plastic backing that limits how quickly the media dries out.
Both work together to dictate how long a support holds moisture between waterings, how much root space aerial roots have to establish in, and how forgiving the whole setup is for growers who can't water every day.

Larger media volume also opens up better media choices beyond sphagnum.

Tree Fern Fiber holds moisture well, rewets easily, and produces thicker more robust roots that handle dry periods far better.

If you've tried a moss pole and given up the pole was the problem, not the concept.

A support with real media volume and the right media for your environment and habits inside it changes everything.

Grow Vertical

09/09/2026

07/09/2026

04/09/2026

02/09/2026

31/08/2026

30/08/2026

29/08/2026

28/08/2026

27/08/2026

25/08/2026

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