If you are just starting out and don’t have much experience with plants or you are looking for a birthday gift – Pothos is a great choice! There are many Pothos varieties that you can find and they are all so easy to care for.
Next to the most common Golden Pothos, you can also find: Neon Pothos, Jade Pothos, Manjula Pothos, Marble Queen Pothos, Jessenia Pothos, Pearls and Jade Pothos, Satin Pothos and Pothos Cebu Blue.
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I have the Golden, Neon and Manjula Pothos and the only difference I noticed between them is the growth rate. The Golden Pothos grows freakishly fast, the Manjula Pothos grows a bit more slowly and the Neon Pothos is by far the slowest grower.
The thing is that Gloden Pothos will grow even in medium light conditions. On the other hand, if you want to grow the Neon Pothos faster – you need to provide it as many hours of bright indirect light as you can.
In this article I’ll generally refer to Golden Pothos, but be sure you can apply these tips to practically any variety of Epipremnum Aureum.
Pothos is a sturdy, resistant, low maintenance and definitely beginner friendly plant. It’s also one of my favorite decorating plants because of its lush green vines that look amazing falling down a shelf.
Scientific name: Epipremnum Aureum
Commonly used names: devil’s ivy, money plant
The Golden Pothos is a fast grower. Depending on the amount of bright indirect light it gets – it can grow faster or more moderately. In any case, it’s great because it fills up spaces really quickly. You can keep it shorter by pruning it and propagate the cuttings to get new Pothos plants!
Pothos is often mistaken with Philodendron that is very similar and sometimes they are even wrongly labeled in stores.
Pothos is not a Philodendron.
Check out the differences between these two plants in the post – Do you have a Pothos or Philodendron? | How to spot the differences and identify your plant.
How often should you water your Golden Pothos | Watering
My general rule when it comes to watering Pothos is to let it dry out in between watering. Don’t let it be dried out for a long time though.
When the soil is dried out I water it thoroughly, wait for the excess water to drain and then place it back to its place. It’s important to throw away the excess water to prevent root rot and other problems that may occur because of overwatering.
When will the soil dry out? Well, that depends on numerous factors like the pot size and pot type, your house conditions, seasons etc. If you have your Pothos in a terracotta pot, the soil will dry out more quickly than if you have it a plastic pot.
Also, if your Pothos is in a bigger pot it means it has more soil, and more soil retains more water/moisture, and it will take longer for the soil to dry out than a smaller pot.
Lighting
Pothos is often advertised as a low light plant but while Pothos can survive low light conditions, they are not ideal for this plant and I would strongly advise you to keep it in a moderate to bright indirect light.
Placing it in a bright indirect light will help your plant to grow faster and healthier without loosing pigment. One of the reasons your Pothos is not growing may be lack of lighting.
Don’t put it in direct sunlight because it will literally burn the leaves. Not many houseplants like direct sunlight, and Pothos is one of them.
When you first get your plant, try out different spots in your home and see where it likes to be.
Pothos is a beautiful hanging plant, you can keep in on a shelf or let it hang from the ceiling, but you can also put a moss poll into the pot and have it climb upwards. It really is a great versatile plant.
Temperature
With the changing seasons I was wondering if Pothos plants prefer warmer or colder temperatures. My kitchen and living room are an open space that is heated on wood and it can get really warm, but my bedroom stays closed through most of the day, leaving it unheated during winter, so it’s quite cold there. I’ve had my Pothos both in my bedroom and kitchen and it likes it either way.
I’ve found different temperature ratios for Pothos, somebody says the ideal temperature is between 15°C and 25°C, other say between 21°C and 32°C. Taking this into account I would say it can be anywhere from 16°C to 32°C.
Humidity
Pothos likes humidity, but it won’t hold a grudge on you if your home is not humid. I found that I don’t have to mist it or keep any humidifiers near it so I just let it be.
It is on a shelf in my kitchen, so there’s probably more humidity than in the living room part. In my experience it is a really low maintenance plant so you don’t have to worry about that but if you want to mist is every once in a while, mist away!
Propagation
Probably my favorite part of having houseplants is watching grow new leaves and new plants that I propagated from mother plants, not to mention watching roots come out of a cutting. I get so excited I send out pictures of new cute little leaves like a crazy plant mom, seriously. And when it comes to propagation Pothos it’s a great start.
You can propagate it in water or soil.
How do you propagate Pothos? It’s really simple!
Pothos is a vining plant, so to propagate it you’ll need to cut one vine. Look closely and you will see small areal root shooting out near the leaf stem. That place is called a node and that’s from where your new plant will grow roots.
So, all you need to do is cut 1cm on both sides of the node (as you can see in the pic above) and you got yourself a cutting. Repeat that to the rest of the vine. The more cutting you cake, the fuller your plant will look.
Since the newest leaves are the most fragile ones, cuttings from those leaves do not tend to survive. Because of that I like to leave the last 3 leaves together, as sort of a mini vine and use that as a cutting.
Soil propagation
You can place cutting directly into soil. If you choose this propagation method you need to keep the soil moist for the first 3-4 weeks, until the cuttings start to develop roots.
Water propagation
On the other hand, you can also choose the water propagation method. In this way you’ll be able to see the roots growing, which is always exciting, right? With this method, the only thing you need to do is change the water frequently, at least once a week.
Once your cuttings developed roots, it’s time to transfer them into soil. Since the transition can be stressful for roots that are used to water – keep the soil moist for the first couple of weeks and then slowly switch to the regular Pothos watering schedule.
Fertilizer
Since Pothos is a relatively fast grower its also a heavy eater. As for all my other houseplants, I use a diluted complete houseplant fertilizer.
How often you fertilize Pothos will depend on the season. You will need to fertilize it more during the growing season (spring and summer) – every 2-3 weeks, but less during the non-growing season (autumn and winter).
Since Pothos grows all year long (at least mine does), I fertilize it once during winter also. It’s not necessary to fertilize it in winter though, especially if it’s not growing.
Pothos is one of the exceptions when it comes to fertilizing in the non-growing season, because aside from my Pothos and Dwarf Banana Palm, I don’t fertilize my other houseplants during winter.
Is Pothos poisonous to pets? | Toxicity
Pothos is toxic to humans and cats if ingested so keep it out of reach of children and pets if your pets like to nibble on your plants.
