marco

Inside the entrance to our home we've got an exposed ledge above a closet that stands free about 8 ' from the ground.

A few years ago, when my wife remodeled the living room she thought it would be pretty cool to buy these big black bamboo decorative ' ladders ' to adorn the wall behind our living areas.

I decided that if we're going to spend bucco $$$ on ladders that I'm never going to be able to climb, that I may as well buy one more and put it under the 8' aforementioned ledge. Then of course I'd have to work tirelessly to grow something, ( I chose 'pothos vine') to grow 'down the ladder' to create a show of 'green' for us, and for house guests who should walk by it on their way to the can.

Well, the ladder thing in and of itself looks nice. And the pothos that had been growing well in another location had been moved to the 8' ledge and into a terra cotta planter. All went very well for about 2 years......and then
nothing!
The pothos stopped growing 'downward' after only reaching about 18" in length.

And granted, I was somewhat worried about the amount of 'quality' light available for ANY plant. There is a small window in the vicinity of the plant, but the exterior overhang of the eves blocks any real good refection.
So what I did was go out and buy a little directional 10 watt spot light with a 'honeycomb' filter.
I mounted it on the ladder about 3 'steps' from the top rung, and to hide it, I ran the cord inside the hollow interior of the bamboo to the floor.

So here I am now. Sigh........
I'm not ready by any means to give up on the idea of 'greening up the ladder', especially now since I've gone to the trouble of electifying the thing and all.

Anyone have any successes with OTHER interior vines that they've had grown in this manner?
In low light conditions year round, with varying humidity depending on season and temps ranging between 65 and 90 F ? (We're old fashioned. We open doors and windows in summer. Have lots of shade trees and breeze. Use as little A.C. as possible)

Maybe I did something wrong with the soil?
I thought I used a fairly 'lightweight' mix with perlite.
What soil would you ( or did you ) use ) ?

Tony O

Sounds like a great idea. Are you sure it gets enough water & fertilizer?

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Jane

Which pothos do you have? I have read that some require more light then others to grow well.

marco

Geesh!
No idea! The tag's long gone.
It's thick stemmed and variegated.
I'm pretty sure it was tagged as a 'low light' plant... but you know how that is.

Hmm... I'd be interested though in switching to another variety of pothos if I'd feel more comfortable about it doing better in lower light.
What varieties do you recommend?

Or what other 'low light' vines would have a chance to 'cascade' 3 to 4 feet in the aforementioned indoor situation?

laughaha

My asparagus ferns are NO maintenance, and will trail down that far. They are pretty much brought in the house and forgotten about all winter and they do great. Every spring I divide them into thirds and have lots of hanging plants for my porches. They seem to thrive on neglect. And our wal-mart has them on clearance for a buck per plant- small but they grow REALLY fast.

Just in case you might like an option other than pothos.
Jasz

marco

Hmmmmmmmm........
Yeah, I've had asparagus ferns too in the past. In brighter areas overall.

I think this spot's too dark overall for that plant.
But I'll not rule out that prospect until I check out all the other options.


I'd like something that is larger leaved, similar to the pothos, that would 'trail down' the steps of the ladder as far as possible.

It needs to be a plant that will happily put up with marginal light that corner of the room gets; with the addition of my 10 watt spotlight to not only help supply light, but to also show off the sillouette of the vine on the room's ceiling.

magicgreen

Hey Marco you could try a philodendron. One of those split leaf kind. It can cling and be trained to just about any surface! It takes low lighting. And since you have a light rigged up, it should be fine! It comes in many forms to choose from. Maybe an english ivy even! What do you think? Or cut back that pothos some and get some new growth. Magicgreen

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(Started growing bananas July 2007)
(Zone 6)

mskitty38583

"you could try a philodendron."

marco, magicgreen is right.i have a 'heart' shaped leaf philli that is awsome in a semi lite area. and they do vine like crazy. the longest vine i had on mine was 8 ft. long till i wacked it back. when you wack them back stick it in a glass of room temp. water and in 4-6 weeks you have the start of a new plant, some of the leaves will yellow and turn brown but its all good.ive had this in the brite july sun and ive had it in a dark bathroom. walmart has them for 7-10 dollars. keeping them in a small pot will cause them to vine quickly.(pot bound on a philli is what causes it to vine and vine, and vine.....) you can use miricle-gro on them 1 time a month and boom shakalak. in less then 6 mo. you should have all your ladder covered.

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