Fixing a Plant Support

A couple of years ago I made a support for a passionfruit plant. This allowed me to grow the plant in a window garden 2 stories up. (3 American stories). It grew well and while no fruit grew it provided some welcome greener to brighten up my day. Then one morning it was no longer there. On inspection I found if hanging upside down over the balcony, thankfully the deep tap root had stopped it falling to the ground. The cause of the fall was a loss in structural integrity caused by the wooden base rotting through.

I replaced the base with a new one made from a flat piece of aluminum bar and a piece of hard wood. While hard wood is more resistant to rotting than soft, I wanted to protect the wood more. I learnt that rotting of wood was caused by a fungus which lives in the soil, so I figured to protect the wood i would apply an anti-fungi and make a physical barrier between the wood and the soil using a length of aluminum sheeting sourced from an aluminum beverage can.

Two empty aluminum beverage cans

Borax

Apparently, Borax (available in supermarket and used in the laundry) makes for a good anti-fungi. So, I made up a 12% solution in very hot water and painted it on to the wood.

To prevent the wood coming into contact with the soil I fitted aluminum cladding sourced from a couple of beverage cans.

• Cut a long spiral around a beverage can about 3 cm in diameter, trim the sheet and make it flat by moving it against the edge of a table. shape it into a mini 'slipper' and slide it over one end of the wood. Attach it with a tack. Do the same for the other end of the wood.

The attached aluminum cladding forms a barrier between the wood and the soil, it also prevents any borax salt which could leach out of the wood entering the soil.

After the aluminum cladding was attached to the wooden base, the stand was re-erected in the window garden and is supporting the passionfruit plant.