Pothos Care: The Plant That Tells You What It Wants

If somebody asks which houseplant to start with, the answer is pothos, and the reason is not that it is tough. Plenty of plants are tough. It is that pothos is legible.

It droops visibly and dramatically when thirsty, then recovers within hours of a drink. It grows fast enough that you can see whether what you are doing is working. It roots from a cutting in a glass of water on a windowsill. Almost nothing else gives a beginner that much feedback.

Water

Water when the top third of the soil is dry, then thoroughly until it runs out the bottom, then empty the saucer.

Roughly weekly in summer and every two to three weeks in winter, but check rather than counting. The seasonal difference is large and it is where most pothos actually die, from someone keeping the July rhythm in January.

The good news is that pothos telegraphs thirst. Leaves go soft and the whole plant droops. Water it and it is back to normal in a few hours. That is a plant giving you a very clear instruction, and it is fine to wait for it while you learn.

What it does not forgive is the opposite. Yellow leaves with damp soil means you are watering too often, and the fix is to wait longer, not to water more.

Light

Bright indirect is ideal. It tolerates low light better than almost anything, which is why it ends up in offices and windowless bathrooms.

Two things to know. In low light it grows slowly and puts out smaller leaves with long bare gaps between them. And variegated types lose their variegation in low light, because the white and yellow parts have no chlorophyll and the plant reverts to plain green to survive.

So if your Marble Queen has been turning green, that is not a disease. It wants a brighter spot. Neon and Golden pothos are more tolerant. Manjula and Marble Queen need the most light of the common varieties.

Direct afternoon sun scorches the leaves, so bright but filtered.

Why yours is long, bare and stringy

This is the most common complaint and it is normal growth, not a problem. Pothos is a vine. Left alone it produces a long stem with increasing space between leaves, especially in lower light.

Three fixes, and you can use all of them:

1. Prune it. Cut vines back to whatever length you want. The plant branches from below the cut, which is the whole mechanism for making it fuller. Cut just after a node.Prune to branch
2. Replant the cuttings into the same pot. Root them in water for a few weeks, then push three or four back into the parent pot. This is how nurseries produce those dense full plants.Fill the pot
3. Give it more light. Long gaps between leaves is the plant reaching. Move it two feet closer to a window and new growth comes in tighter.Light

Do not throw cuttings away. A single leggy pothos contains an entire second plant.

Propagating, which is the fun part

Cut about a centimetre below a node, the small bump on the stem where a leaf and a little brown nub emerge. Strip any leaf that would sit underwater. Put it in a glass of water in bright indirect light, change the water every three to five days.

Roots in one to three weeks. Pot up when they reach five to eight centimetres, not later, because water roots that grow long struggle when they hit soil.

The cutting must include a node. A leaf on a stalk with no node will sit in water looking healthy for two months and never root. This is the one thing beginners get wrong and it is worth checking before you wait.

Common problems

Yellow leaves, soil damp. Overwatering. Wait longer between waterings and check the roots if it persists.

Brown crispy edges. Dry air or underwatering. Common in winter near a radiator.

Black stems at soil level. Root rot. Act now: unpot, cut away everything soft and brown, repot in fresh dry mix.

Losing variegation. Not enough light.

Tiny black flies. Fungus gnats, which means the soil is staying too wet. A watering problem wearing a costume.

Sticky leaves or white fluff. Mealybugs or scale. Dab with rubbing alcohol on a cotton bud, repeat every five days.

Pot, soil and feeding

Ordinary potting compost with a good handful of perlite. It is not fussy. A pot with a drainage hole is not optional.

Pothos is happy slightly pot bound, so go up one size only when roots come out of the bottom, usually every two years or so.

Feed at half strength every few weeks in spring and summer, nothing in winter.

One caution

Pothos contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals and is toxic to cats and dogs. Chewing causes immediate mouth pain, drooling and sometimes vomiting. Rarely dangerous, because the pain stops them after a mouthful, but trailing vines are exactly what a cat swipes at. Worth thinking about before it goes on a high shelf with vines hanging down.

Not sure whether you have pothos or a heartleaf philodendron? They are constantly mixed up. The quickest tell is that new philodendron growth emerges wrapped in a thin papery sheath and pothos has none. Photograph a leaf with the stem attached and Identium will settle it.