How to make grow poles and custom potting mix for aroids | Indoor Plants | Gardening Australia

Jerry has returned to the home of plant collectors Jazmin Edwards and Jacob Wood in Caboolture, where care for more than 600 plants, including some of the most obscure and sought-after varieties around. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Jazmin and Jacob construct custom “grow poles” to train their climbing aroids up. “They’re the type of plant that wants to grow on a surface. They go nuts when they go on a pole they think they’re growing on a tree. Philodendron means ‘tree hugger’ ”.
Many growers will use sphagnum moss to construct these poles, but it comes with significant environmental concerns. Jaz and Jacob came up with an alternative that they feel also performs better.
To construct an aroid grow pole you will need:
- A power drill and a bit that will make a hole around 30mm in diameter
- Hydroponic felt
- Glue
- PVC or poly pipe in 90mm diameter and 1-meter lengths
- Cypress chips (available in bulk at landscaping yards as mulch)
- Sandpaper
- Gloves
- Tape measure
- Scissors
- Brush
What you do:
- Pre-cut your felt so it will wrap around the exterior of the pole with around 10cm overhang
- Use the drill to make holes at around 10cm intervals on 2 sides of the pipe
- Lightly sand the exterior of the pipe to provide a better surface for glue adhesion
- Use the brush to apply glue all over the outside of the drilled pipe
- Lay the felt on the ground, and carefully place the pipe on one end so it lines up
- Roll the pipe up in the felt and trim the excess
- Fill the interior of the pipe with cypress chip. You can also use orchid bark, but Jacob says “this is way cheaper and they like the acidity”.
The bark on the inside acts as a slow-release water reservoir, and eventually, the plant’s aerial roots will grow through the anchoring felt and find their way inside the pole. Expanding your pole is simply a matter of making another and connecting the pipe top of the last.
Once the glue is dry, you’re ready to install your pole and put a plant in! Jaz and Jacob recommend installing a thin layer of rocks at the bottom of the pot before putting the pole in, to keep it clear of the drainage hole.
CUSTOM AROID MIX:
Jazmin and Jacob also blend their own custom potting mix to get the best results out of their aroids. “We realised pretty quickly that regular potting mix wasn’t going to work,” says Jacob. “The best advice we got was ‘keep it chunky’.
“Aroids grow in leaf litter, so you want to mimic that natural environment”.
Their mix recipe:
- 40% coarse-grade perlite
- 20% large-grade vermiculite
- 10% coir chip
- 10% chicken manure
- 20% chipped cypress
The resulting mix is coarse, open and resistant to breakdown. “It doesn’t go solid like a rock and resist water over time. We do about 100 Litres at a time and use a cement mixer to mix it!”
Featured plants:
Philodendron tenue
Filmed on Kabi Kabi Country | Caboolture, Qld
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[@HGCUPCAKES]

I watched this on Friday night when it aired. The kindness of this couple to share their secrets is incredible! I cannot wait to try this. Absolutely loved this segment. Thank you for bringing it to us! Perth legends!! 🥰

[@pieceofpecanpie]

I agree, great couple. Their enthusiasm is brilliant.

[@jacoblukewood]

Thank you all for the kind words. Happy gardening!

[@EricaNernie]

Have that couple on again. They are great communicators. Going to try this idea out today.

[@jacoblukewood]

Thank you for the kind words. Hope it went well!

[@sarah3796]

Ooohh wow I’m going to give this a go

[@theworkinggardener5646]

This would be awesome for “tomato trees”, with some adjustments to the container and growing medium, of course.💁🏾‍♀️

[@jonathonredmond6491]

Can’t wait to try this out! I’m confused as to what mineral rock is? She used it in the soil mix with the fertilizer pellet.

[@Ineluki_Myonrashi]

I've always heard it called rock dust before.

[@jacoblukewood]

The one we used in the episode was called Soft Rock, but the brand isn't important, nor is its addition. We had a large bag of it lying around and felt it would be a useful additive to provide extra minerals to our mix as an additional amendment. From the manufacturer, they state that it is "a bio-friendly, colloidal clay-based calcium phosphate" and that "this exceptional fertiliser includes 8 - 9% phosphorus, 19.3% calcium, a high analysis of silicon and a rich lode of trace elements". Hope this helps!

[@kingkoy0072]

Where can we buy these hydroponic felts?

[@deannewilliams1003]

I'd like to know too I've called around no luck

[@jacoblukewood]

@@deannewilliams1003 JJ Davies

[@Micko350]

You could get a job at the cheese factory with jokes like that!

[@PrashantSharma-vf7vc]

Replace that with a bamboo pole and jute fabric instead of felt and I will buy it. Plastic is annoying, more so those small curled ones post drilling.

[@jacoblukewood]

Great idea, I addressed my thoughts on alternate materials in a reply to Scott’s comment on this video which you might find helpful. I’d love to see alternative ways to make these whilst being more environmentally friendly though! Please let me know how you go if you make anything similar.

[@PrashantSharma-vf7vc]

@@jacoblukewood I usually don't make these moss poles. What I rather do is plant some palms and then use them as support but its years before they are ready. Other way to do it is, I use bamboo with coir and wrapped on top with moss. A wire mesh holds them together and all of them are good for earth.

[@Gtumrths]

To bad the felt is not green or brown!

[@astyag8627]

how can I find this smart couple on Social media? any Instagram links?

[@sarah3796]

Yes I’d like to know too

[@jacoblukewood]

Thank you for your kind words. You can find us under the username 'imgladiprickledyou'.

[@komalthecoolk]

@@jacoblukewood I thought you were trolling with that name but it's the right account. Thanks! Can you share some detailed post on how the Felt poles are working? I can't get good moss either.

[@jacoblukewood]

@@komalthecoolk the poles are working well! Some modifications are in the works as we’ve moved and have a lot of space indoors now. The changes I’ll be making are: - more holes around the pole for better water distribution - cementing (PVC gluing) a PVC coupler to the top of the pipe before I wrap the pole in felt to allow it to be extended without having to remove the felt from the top. - cutting the felt more accurately to avoid the overlap where the seam is as it’s ugly. Ideally I’ll find a way to cut perfectly so the seam matches up perfectly. If anybody is having trouble sourcing the felt, a generic equivalent is Geofabric used to line dams, although I found many brands of Geofabric to be too thin which is why I opted for this product from JJ Davies made from recycled PET bottles. If you’re in the Brisbane area, Oxley nursery use these poles on many of their display plants around the nursery (a slightly different design but much the same) so you can see one in person. I think they get their felt elsewhere but I haven’t asked.

[@introtwerp]

What an awkie joke

[@scottoshea1980]

Plastic plastic plastic 🤷🤦‍♂️... really?!? try at least going for recycled building materials or salvaged metal for the pole. I'm surprised in the same episode where Millie is pushing for less plastic in turf, Gerry is promoting plastic materials 🤦‍♂️🤷

[@jacoblukewood]

Metal poles are too cost prohibitive and would have to be galvanising to prevent corrosion. The fabric we used in this episode is made from recycled PET bottles (like soft drink bottles) so whilst it’s not the perfect solution it’s better than using virgin plastics. We often use jute twine around the garden and even to attach the plants to the poles until they grow roots around it. It’s great how it decomposes over time, generally by the time it has broken down the plant has attached so it’s never strangles the plant and we don’t have to worry about removing it later in time. I have seen hessian fabric used to make a similar style pole however it’s longevity was short due to it decomposing and it’s stressful to the plant to remove them to replace the fabric. The idea is to extend these as needed so the longevity is a sort after trait in our setup. I understand PVC isn’t great but I feel like we make good use of it and try to minimise use of plastics in other areas of our lives from the terracotta pots in the garden to the glass jars in the kitchen. Thanks for your feedback!