What Pot Fits a Macrame Plant Hanger? A Simple Sizing Guide

The most common question we get about macrame hangers is not how to hang them. It is "will my pot fit?" A macrame hanger is a net, and a net adjusts, so the answer is usually yes, but there is a right size and a wrong one, and a pot that is technically held is not the same as a pot that looks good and stays put. Here is how to match pot to hanger, and plant to both.

How a macrame hanger holds a pot

The cradle at the bottom of a hanger is a set of knots that form a basket. When you set a pot in it and lift, the cords pull tight around the widest part of the pot, and the weight sits on the bottom knot. Two things follow from this:

First, the pot needs a wider top than bottom, or at least a lip, so the cords have something to grip below the widest point. A classic tapered flowerpot is ideal. A straight cylinder works if it has a rim. A pot that is widest at the middle and narrows toward the top (an urn shape) can slip upward out of the cradle when bumped.

Second, the cradle has a range, not a single size. Our set of three hangers is knotted to take pots from roughly 4 to 10 inches in diameter. At the small end the cords wrap high on the pot; at the large end they wrap low, near the base. Both hold. The sweet spot, where the cords sit around the pot's upper third and the whole thing looks balanced, is 6 to 8 inches.

Measure the pot correctly

Pot sizes are quoted by the diameter across the top opening, outside edge to outside edge. That is the number to compare against the hanger range. Height matters less, but a very tall pot (taller than it is wide) will look top-heavy and swing more; keep the height at or below the diameter for a hanger.

If you are using a nursery pot inside a decorative one (a cachepot), measure the outer decorative pot. And remember there will be a saucer or no saucer, which we will get to.

Weight: the limit that actually matters

The net will stretch to hold a pot that is a little large; it will not hold a pot that is too heavy. Each hanger in our set is rated to 11 pounds. For reference, right after watering:

• A 6-inch plastic pot with a pothos: about 2 to 3 pounds
• An 8-inch plastic pot with a spider plant: about 4 to 6 pounds
• An 8-inch glazed ceramic pot with the same plant: about 8 to 10 pounds
• A 10-inch ceramic pot, fully watered: 12 pounds or more

So an 8-inch ceramic pot is near the limit and a 10-inch ceramic pot is over it, even though it fits the cradle. If you love a heavy pot, put a lightweight plastic or resin pot in the hanger instead and save the ceramic for a shelf. Or use the 10-inch size in resin: our self-watering hanging planters are 10 inches and land around 9 pounds full, which is why they hang on chains rather than in a net.

Drainage and the drip problem

A hanging pot with a drainage hole will drip on your floor. There are three ways to handle it, from best to worst:

Take it down to water. The most reliable. Lift the pot out of the cradle, water it in the sink, let it drain for ten minutes, put it back. This is also the safest for the knots, since you are not sloshing a heavy wet pot on the hook.

Use a pot with an attached saucer or a reservoir. Some pots have a clip-on tray; self-watering pots keep the excess in a reservoir under the soil. Either lets you water in place, within reason.

Use a cachepot with no hole. Put the plant in a nursery pot and drop it into a solid decorative pot. Water carefully so nothing pools at the bottom, and tip out any excess after twenty minutes. This works, but it is the easiest way to rot roots if you forget.

What we would not do is set a loose saucer under the pot inside the cradle. It tilts, it spills, and it adds weight.

Which plants suit a hanger

Trailing plants are the obvious choice because their growth falls down through the cords and hides the pot. Pothos, heartleaf philodendron, string of pearls or hearts, spider plant, tradescantia, hoya, and Boston fern all look right in a macrame hanger and stay light enough.

Upright plants can work too, especially in the shortest hanger of a set where you see the plant from the side rather than from below: a peperomia, a small bird's nest fern, a compact calathea. Avoid anything tall and stiff (a snake plant, a dracaena) which fights the swing and looks awkward, and anything that grows very heavy.

Putting three together

Our set comes in three lengths, 41, 35 and 29 inches, because three plants at three heights look like a considered display rather than a row. A combination that always works: the longest hanger with a fast-trailing pothos in a 6-inch pot, the middle with a spider plant in a 7-inch pot, and the shortest with something fuller and rounder, like a fern, in a 6-inch pot. Keep the pots in one color (white or terracotta) and let the plants provide the variety.

Checklist before you buy the pot

• Top diameter between 4 and 10 inches, ideally 6 to 8
• Tapered shape or a defined rim, not an urn
• Height no greater than diameter
• Full watered weight under 11 pounds; go plastic or resin for anything over 7 inches
• A plan for drainage: take it down to water, or use a reservoir pot

If you tick those five, the pot will sit level, the cords will grip where they should, and the hanger will do what it is meant to do, which is disappear behind the plant. The full range of hangers and hanging pots is in our Hanging Planters collection, with the pot size range and load rating listed on each one.