How can I hang ferns from this hollow porch ceiling?

Instead of a plain painted board, I would install a ceiling medallion with a hanging hook.

install a board between the ceiling joists, then install the hook at the desired place. The board can be painted to match the ceiling.

I don't think that would work because a ceiling medallion would also need to be fastened into a support beam. The support beams are not near the center of the posts where I want to hang ferns. 🤔

Thanks, That was the only solution I could think of too. Makes sense. 👍

I see you have plenty of beams......can you not buy some decorative plant hooks or any hook for that matter and hang them from those. Remember your ferns and remember what they like.......as far as sun and shade, I mean.....

There aren't plenty of beams. What you see is just a vinyl covering. Boston ferns work very well here. My yard had gone from full sun to shady in the 19 years I've lived here. I actually hung ferns with toggle bolts into the vinyl for years but eventually the toggle bolts pulled through and left big holes. The beams are nit in ththe center of the openings where the ferns need to hang.

What about concrete nails? They worked in cement wall. Use two and tie a wire to each. Just a guess. Not sure. Is there soon ch a thing as concrete hooks?

Are the posts wood or are they vinyl covered metal support posts? I would suggest putting a cross beam between the two posts if you can mount hangers on each post to attach it. Then you can put your hooks in anywhere along that cross beam you want and with it being hung as a beam you will be able to hang many from it since it will hold the weight of a water soaked planter. I would do this across the whole front of the support posts making it look like it's capped and finished. Then go buy more ferns! lol

Can you attach a hanger to the front of the posts instead of from the ceiling?

Screw some large eye bolts or hooks into the posts and run a length of chain between them. Hang the potted ferns from the links in the chain. You could use rope but it would probably stretch too much.

Have you considered attaching something to the floor and going up from there?

Maybe try tension rods between the Post

I had same problem. I used a shepard's hook in the ground next to porch. Looked like they were hanging from the porch.

Using a lighter potting soil and lighter pots will also help them from pulling through used toggles that are large or if you have access to the space above the ceiling go in and put cross Boards of two-by-fours that you can drill into from the ceiling and put heavy duty bolts in to hang from

Use pipes. Get a length of pipe that would fit snugly between two of your columns. Each end should be threaded. Get the circular end pieces that have screw holes in them and the inside of the hole where the threaded end of the pipe would screw into should be the same size and threaded just like the ends of the pipe. In other words, they screw together. If you have measured correctly, the pipe and its two ends will fit snugly between your two columns. Because you can screw the ends onto the 4x4 (that is what they look like to me) columns, you can decide how high or low you want your pipeline (lol) to be. Now using flower baskets with the hook as the "handle", hang your ferns from the pipe. As long as you don't put hundreds of pounds of weight into those baskets, the pipe should not bend. (Copper should NOT be used. It is too soft. PVC should NOT be used. Iron pipes are strong and should hold up.)

I'm with Marie Panko, A shephards hook or plant stand.

Try to get to the space above the ceiling. If you can, then put a board there and screw your hangers through the ceiling into the board. You can put a long board that fits between the posts or use smaller boards and put them only above where you want to hang a plant. The board won't be visible but it will hold your plants securely.

You said you have support beams up there. Run a length of board between the support beams, like a 2 x 4 close to the ceiling you show above. You would have to remove a portion of the ceiling in order to do that. It looks as if it's easy to remove and put back.