How to cover this fence with a climber?

[Loulou22]

Me and my not so bright ideas! Wanted to cover this horrible fence with a climber and thought maidenhair creeper vine would look great. Off to Bunnings I went and bought loads and planted about 6 months ago and despite it being supposedly a twining climber, instead of growing up and twining through the fence, it is growing out instead of up. I am spending many hours threading it through the fence and I'm fed up. Also want this higher than the existing fence .... another little issue I didn't think about. Is there a cheap and cheerful way to extend the fence and hopefully with something that this creeper wants to creep on? Many thanks in advance for any help ..... I'm desperate

[EricL]

Hello @Loulou22

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's terrific to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your Maidenhair fence climber.

Thank you for posting pictures of your fence. Looking at the photos it seems that the branches of the Maidenhair are spreading out to the floor. It's time for a bit of tough love and training for the Maidenhair. I suggest lifting the branches that are on the floor. I recommend using Whites 120mm Adjustable Plant Ties - 50 Pack to hold the long branches to the fence. The plant must be encouraged to grow in this direction only. Any branches that stick out or decide to grow in a different direction must be tied to the fence or clipped. Nothing must be left on the floor and everything must be pointed to the fence.

Your next step is to inspect the soil condition of the Maidenhair. If it is looking a bit dry and dusty a bit of top up with Yates 17.5kg Dynamic Lifter Organic Soil Improver And Plant Fertiliser should help with its growth. I also suggest using Seasol 1.2L Seaweed Health Tonic Concentrate. Water at least twice a week but don't waterlog the soil.

Let me tag our experienced members @Noelle and @Adam_W for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Noelle]

Hi @Loulou22 

Yes, I agree with Eric - the plant needs to be trained to grow vertically upward and horizontally so eventually the fence cannot be seen and you end up with a 'hedge'.

If it was mine, I would go along the base of the fence and cut off everything growing below it and out on to the path.  This will encourage new growth from the stems growing up and through the fence.  Keep cutting off any growth below the fence line. To encourage thickening of the growth on the fence, do as Eric suggests and use plant ties and try to twine shoots through the fencing wire yourself.

Feeding and pruning will see a fine result in a couple of years.

[Adam_W]

Agree on all count swith @EricL & @Noelle, @Loulou22  - it's all about training & pruning.
Any of the climbers, or mounding scramblers as Muehlenbeckia is more accurately described, will follow the path of least resistance. That means if flopping flat on the ground lets them maximise sun exposure while needing minimum effort that's what they'll do.
You just need to convince it that it need to go other directions