Everything You Need to Know about Pothos Care
Pothos, commonly known as “Money Plant” in India, is one of the easiest plants to grow. Though lacking blooms, this tropical vine—similar to philodendron—comes in an array of foliage colours and patterns that appeal to a wide range of tastes and decors. Pothos can be planted or tended to indoors throughout the entire year and will grow quickly, often adding between 12 and 18 inches of length a month. Be careful if you have pets as pothos is toxic to animals. Check out our pothos collection.
Pothos Care
Pothos can grow up to a height of 30 feet long when grown indoors, though most are kept at a much shorter, neater length. They like bright, indirect light but also, they can thrive well in areas that so not get a lot of sunlight. Let’s discuss Pothos care in details.
Light
When grown indoors, pothos prefers bright but indirect light. Variegated plants sometimes lose their leaf pattern and revert to all-green plants if they don’t get enough light—moving them to brighter conditions usually restores the variegation. Suddenly paler-looking leaves means the plant is getting too much sun.
Soil
Pothos thrive best in ordinary, well-draining potting soil. Soil pH is also not of consequence to the plant, and it can thrive in a range of conditions, from neutral to acidic.
Water
Pothos likes to have its soil dry out between waterings and therefore accepts erratic watering care. It definitely dislikes soggy roots. The black spots on the leaves will indicate that the soil has been kept too wet. The plant will tell you when it needs water. However, don’t wait until the leaves start to shrivel or you will lose some leaves. Dry, brown edges mean the plant was kept dry for too long.
Temperature and Humidity
Pothos should be kept in temperatures that are consistently above 10 degrees Celsius, though they most appreciate a common room temperature that hovers between 18 degrees Celsius and 24 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, pothos plants like high humidity, so you can increase the moisture in the air around the plant by keeping it in a typically humid area of the home, such as a kitchen or bathroom. Still, the plant is very tolerant and can thrive even where there is low humidity, so there’s no need to invest in a space humidifier.
Fertilizer
Pothos plants are not heavy feeders but you can still feed the plant in every 1-3 months with any balanced houseplant fertilizer as there are hardly any nutrients in the ordinary potting soil mix.
Common Problems
- Symptom: Brown/Yellow leaves
Cause: Under-watering. - Symptom: Loss of foliage colour
Cause: Low light. - Symptom: Pale/Brown Leaves
Cause: Too much light. - Symptom: Blackened leaves or stems or sudden plant collapse
Cause: Over-watering. - Symptom: Shrivelled, yellow, wilted or brown edges on leaves
Cause: Under-watering.
Caring for a pothos plant is very easy and they’re pretty tolerant of neglect and growing environments that are not totally ideal. Pothos is a quick-growing houseplant, and can potentially add over a foot of length in one month.
NASA includes the Golden Pothos on a list of recommended plants for air purification. It removes benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, and xylene from the air. In fact, the NASA study saw that Golden Pothos was one of the best household plants for removing toxins!
Even though it is such a low-maintenance plant, Pothos never fails to impress the eye. You can grow as trailing/climbing vine or hang in a pot; its beautiful waxy leaves and evergreen vines make any corner look pleasant.
Moreover, Pothos is an avid climber and it can fully cover any area with its foliage in no time, which makes it a great plant for creating a green wall.
Pothos care reference: TheSpruce