I need a moss pole mentor!

Hi pothos aficionados! This is my original golden pothos. It was a sad neglected stretchy vine when I decided to learn what it needed to thrive. I knew absolutely nothing about moss poles (or pothos, for that matter), and I’ve been learning as I go. Clearly. 😜

I put this poor bastard on a pole in a 7” pot in June. Facing backwards. I figured that out pretty quickly but I didn’t get around to fixing it until probably early August. At the same time, I downsized to a 5” pot, which resulted in the section of exposed stem at the base.

Since then it’s been growing really well. Leaves are getting larger and almost look like they’re shingling. I just added the most recent pole segment yesterday but realized the 5” pot was just too unstable now that the pole is so tall.

While repotting back into a 7” pot, I didn’t know what to do about the pole. If I sunk it to the bottom of the pot, I’d be burying a few inches of moss. Is that a bad idea? I ended up positioning the pole at the same height it was previously (temporarily) so I could come here and get some advice.

My options as far as I can see:

1. Repot and sink the pole all the way to the bottom, burying a few inches of moss (I can’t empty out the pole and refill it with potting mix – I tried).

2. Extend the pole a few inches from the bottom. I figure I could cut off a piece of a new pole and connect it as I would from the top, with a nice secure overlap and maybe clear tape and/or zip ties. I like this idea best right now if #1 isn’t an option.

3. Chop and prop? Is it too early for that in the life of this plant? I don’t really want to, but it would be educational and I could maybe lose that wonky section of stem in photo #4. On the other hand, I have no idea how to do it and I really don’t want to kill this plant!

4. Just add a stake support. (I think this is a terrible idea, but I thought I would throw it out there.)

It’s kind of important that I figure out what to do, because there are 16 more pothos varieties on poles in 5” pots that are eventually going to need the same treatment (see last photo of 14 of them). 😳