Cable Pots

Looking for a fun, quick way to display some plants? How about giving these cable pots a try? For very little cost and a little bit of effort, you can have a couple of these hanging in your patio by this afternoon. All you need are the following items:

• Some galvanized wire cable (We started with about 5′ to give us some working room.)
• Two cable ferrules (one to make the loop at the top and one to hold a washer or bolt in the bottom.)
• 4-4″ pots or 3-6″ pots
• 1-3″ pot to hide the washer at the bottom
• Potting soil and some plants.
• A crimper to clamp on the ferrules

The cool part about this project is it takes advantage of the pots natural design features. The cable runs down the center of the pots through the drainage hole. As the pots are stacked on top of each other, they naturally slant to one side. Follow the diagram to see how the pots are assembled. Starting at the bottom and working up, you loop the cable around a large washer (big enough so that it won’t go through the hole of the small bottom pot) pass the ends through a cable ferrule and crimp it down tight. Next, run the cable up through each of the pots until you have stacked the desired number of pots. This part is a little tricky because the pots naturally want to slide into each other. Best way to work this is by laying it out on a carpeted surface. Extend the cable a bit beyond the top pot (you want to leave some space at the top so the uppermost plant doesn’t have to grow into the ceiling) and loop it through the last ferrule. Crimp it down and you are ready to plant. (You can click on the photo to enlarge it.)

It will now be easier to hang the planter in a position that is low enough for you to work with. Start filling each of the pots with soil and arranging them as you go. The soil will help stop the pots from wanting to slide into each other. Plant with your choice of plants. Succulents make an excellent choice if you are using the smaller size pots because they need less root room. Also because the pots are slanted, water does tend to run over the sides a bit so drought tolerant plants are a good way to go.

Total time spent in completing each planter was about 20 minutes. Total cost not including plants around $7 for each one. Now you just need to find a place to hang your new cable pots and enjoy them.