10/26/2025
Ok, here's the tea: I HATE moss poles.
I know a lot of people really live by their moss poles, and don't get me wrong, they do serve a good purpose. Most vining houseplants, such as pothos, philodendrons, and monstera, are truly climbing plants. If you were to go where these plants are naturally found, you would never be able to recognize them. When left to their own devices, these plants will climb up the sides of trees and other plants and use those (annoying) aerial roots to grasp onto the surface. This gives the plant extra strength and allows it to grow the largest, most stunning leaves. This lifestyle classifies them as "hemiepiphytes." This category is quite controversial in the scientific world due to the lack of definition of each individual term, but it is generally broken up into types. Firstly, "primary hemiepiphytes" are plants that start their life as seeds high up in the canopy. The seed gets moisture from rain and humidity and is able to sprout and begin growing. When these seedlings sprout, they will then grow aerial roots that will attach to whatever surface they may be on (usually a tree) and begin their lifecycle as a true epiphyte, or a plant that grows without soil. They will then continue to grow their aerial roots until they can reach the ground and absorb nutrients. The second category is "secondary hemiepiphytes," which is what most people will be most familiar with. This includes most of the philodendrons. These plants start their life cycles on the ground in soil, and as they grow, they will attach those aerial roots to the trunks of trees and other plants. When they are not able to attach to some sort of structure, it causes the internodal spacing (the portion of the stem in between each node or leaf) to elongate and the leaves to stay in a smaller "immature" form. Epipremnum (pothos) is a great example of this; when allowed to climb, its leaves can grow to be more than a foot across and develop fenstrations.
Of course, we want our houseplants to show off their best selves, so replicating this natural environment is obviously our goal. So why are moss poles so popular? Moss poles do a great job at providing extra moisture and nutrients to those aerial roots that will grow into the pole. That is really the only benefit that I can place on the moss pole vs. a rough wood plank. While the moss pole is great for providing that moisture to the plant, it is not great at holding moisture. Most moss poles struggle with either drying out to quickly (along with the roots) or staying too wet for too long and growing mold, bacteria, and everyone's favorite houseplant pest, fungus gnats. It's really hard to argue that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. When using a wood plank, the aerial roots are able to be removed quite easily and usually break free with just a little tug. The moss pole, however, encourages root growth and will quickly fill with a tangle of roots. Moss poles can also be quite costly and hard to find, while sticks are quite abundant.
Moss poles definitely still have their place but specifically with plants that might require extra humidity or nutrients, Philodendron melanocrysum would be a good example along with many of the other "velvet leaf" philodendrons.
With that being said every persons environment is different and every one will have something different that works best for them.
ANYWAY, Here's some stunning Epipremnum Aurea that have been able to show off their best selves
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2021.125620
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-uqLQfbXl-kC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&ots=z2xJL80sKN&sig=oRORjvfTZwbtzDXppaQ_wjFMjGw =onepage&q&f=false
