Pothos Care and Guide 101

A detailed guide on pothos, the most common houseplant for the newbies to get along with easily. This guide shows how much water, light, soil, fertilizer is required for your pothos and the right way to grow them healthy.

A photo by Severin Candrian on Unsplash

Pothos is very low-maintenance and hardy plants. They need less attention and care to grow healthy and faster. As a beginner, this plant will be an easy companion to get along with. This indoor plant is a spectacular piece of decoration for your indoor spaces. With the proper care, it will pay back you the best. So let’s get to know how to grow pothos (a.k.a money plant) faster indoors.

Water

Pothos need water only when needed. Water them after every 2–3 days but always notice the soil before pouring the water over it. The soil of the plant must be dry out before you water them. Over-watering will show signs of discoloration in pothos leaves. Moreover, it will be the main cause of root rot. But it doesn’t mean you keep your pothos dehydrated. An adequate amount of water for pothos will not only provide growth but enough nutrients.

Know when your pothos need water

There are basic tips to know that your pothos is asking for water or not.

1. Finger test: Poke your index finger in soil deeper to know is it moist or dry? If the soil stick on your finger it means the soil is wet and have to wait for a few days more. If the soil doesn’t stick to your finger then it requires water. You can use a knife/skewer instead of the finger as well.
2. Soil Moisture Meter: If you have a few bucks more in your pocket. Buy a soil meter kit to measure the soil moisture, light, and pH acidity of your houseplants. It will give a better result to know the lower level of soil condition. It is a more effective and practical way to know the soil’s current state through this tool.

Light

The pothos thrives in bright indirect sunlight indoors. They can work better outdoor in a shade to partial shade area. The indirect sunlight will help them to absorb necessary nutrients aside from water.

The inadequate light exposure will leave your pothos leaves wilted and won’t grow. Yet, too much light exposure will also have adverse effects. The leaves will be yellow to brown or black color and will get a sunburn.

The best medium-light for pothos is set to be the early morning or late afternoon sunlight.

Lighting condition for your pothos

The bright indirect sunlight refers to, sunlight crossing through some filtered medium. Also, the direct sun rays won’t hit the plants. and for how long should be they in the light? At least 8 to 10 hours of daylight are enough for pothos to thrive best.

Choose the spot and place it at least 2–3 feet apart from the window. Use the best way to filter out sunlight through blinds or curtains so your pothos will grow healthy.

In summers, you can avoid the hot sunlight through sheer curtains to not let the leaves get a sunburn.

In winters, move them closer to windows in bright sun or under the lamp, or place them on your balcony shady area. So they can get enough light in winters too.

Soil

Always use ordinary well-draining potting soil for pothos. Pothos doesn’t like to sit in wet soil. Because soggy/wet soil will ruin the roots of pothos. So make sure that your soil is well-drained. To increase your soil drainage capacity, use perlite with your garden soil.

Prepare potting soil mix for your pothos

To make your own potting mix soil mixture you only need basic 3 or 4 ingredients. So, let’s get into ingredients and their ratio:

• 50% Peat-moss/coco coir
• 30% Compost
• 20% perlite/pumice

Or

• 1 part soil garden
• 1 part coco-peat
• 1/2 part compost/vermiculite
• 1/4 part perlite

Mix all these ingredients with a change of a little bit ratio according to your watering method. as in sense, how often you water your plants. are you a heavy waterier or light?

In the case of a heavy waterier go with the first DIY soil mixture by increasing more perlite/pumice ratio.

Also, make sure your water goes through all the way down to the soil and drains out. If it ain’t draining out you need to re-pot in fresh soil. To re-pot in fresh soil, better wait until that soil is completely dry.

Temperature and Humidity

The ideal room temperature for pothos lies at 70 to 90 F.

Also pothos like high humidity around them but they can work well in low humidity as well.

Right level of temperature and humidity for your pothos

Place pothos at an ideal room temperature and try your best to maintain the temperature so they can grow healthy. Exposure to extreme cold and heat will make your pothos die quickly.

In winters, try to avoid placing pothos near heaters/fireplace or near to window at night as extreme cold draft will catch them.

In summers, try to keep them away from the air conditioner and also from direct intense sunlight in the daytime.

To increasing the pothos humidity level, mist your plants or place a humidifier near them. Also if you have a fish aquarium, you can place your pothos near it as well.

Fertilizer

Pothos doesn’t rely heavily on fertilizer. Pothos can work well with all these basic ingredients (water, light, soil, temp) but if you want your pothos to grow faster, you can give liquid or organic/homemade fertilizer to your pothos.

Best kind of fertilizer for your pothos

The best time for fertilizing your pothos is spring or summer time. Also, you should fertilize your pothos every 2–3 months. Organic or home-made fertilizer such as compost or worm-casting will be a great source of nutrients to boost your pothos growth. Though it will take time to grow, nonetheless healthy and stronger base will be brought out. Only the flip side, organic fertilizer has its foul smell that might irritate you, so if you want to use still organic one, place your pothos out at your porch, deck or patio and feed them. So the smell won’t be clouded in your room.

Liquid fertilizers are easy to use and more likely the best ones for your pothos, especially if you place them indoors. Dilute the liquid fertilizer in water and feed your pothos without worrying about smell. Water-soluble fertilizer like fish emulsion or seaweed solution is a great kick for your pothos metabolism to boost.

Propagation and Pruning

Pothos doesn’t grow from seeds, the propagation can only be done while cutting the stem below the node and place it in water or soil. If you place them in water, the roots will come out in 14 to 20 days roundabout then you can shift them in soil.

Pruning pothos is a healthy method to let the pothos keep growing and bushier. To ensure a good trimming of pothos, always separate the vine before cutting it with a clean knife or scissors. It will give room to the growth of new vine from where you’ve pruned it.

The right way to propagate your pothos

Cut the stem at the tip, as you can see the tiny brown bump at the opposite of leaf or vine that is called the node. The node is essential for the propagation of pothos. So make sure always cut in half an inch of each side of the node and dip the cuttings rooted in water. The node must be under water so that roots can grow. Once the roots come out an inch or two, shift them in soil.

The common varieties in pothos are marble queen, neon, silver satin, pearls and jade. Combing together them will be a spectacular piece of decoration around your indoor spaces.

Till then, happy gardening!