Care Guide: How to Grow Your Pothos Plants

How to care for pothos plants:

1. Sunlight
2. Water
3. Temperature and Humidity
4. Soil conditions
5. Extra care
6. Propagation
7. Common problems

The pothos plant: one of the most popular beginner-friendly plants that you can find. This plant is considered as an easy way to get started on your houseplant collection because they’re just so easy-going and undemanding on top of being an excellent decorative plant.

That said, if you want to adorn your home, office, or store with pothos plants, you should know how to take care of them — even if they’re hardy and forgiving plants, they still need some TLC. Here’s our guide on how to care for pothos plants to help you out.

Sunlight

Pothos plants are known to be relatively fast growers, which depends largely on their exposure to sunlight. These plants thrive in bright and indirect sunlight, but do well even in medium to low indirect light conditions. The one thing you should avoid is leaving this plant in intense sunlight — their leaves will quickly burn and shrivel up!

Another thing to note is if your pothos plant is variegated, they will do better in bright, indirect light. If you leave them in low light conditions, they may lose their variegation and struggle to get enough sunlight for its growth.

Water

Pothos plants don’t need constant watering — once every week is good enough for them. That said, you should water more often if your pothos plant is in a bright, warm area, and less if it’s in a lower light area.

Each time you water, allow the top inch of soil to completely dry out in between waterings. Otherwise, your pothos plant will suffer from overwatering — which will cause root rot and yellowed leaves.

Temperature and Humidity

Pothos plants are from the tropics — so it’ll do best in warmer temperatures. That said, it will tolerate any temperature from 18°C-30°C. They will only begin to wilt if you leave your pothos plants in areas as cold as 15°C and below.

When it comes to humidity, don’t sweat it — pothos plants do just fine in any humidity. You don’t necessarily have to spritz their leaves with water to keep them happy, either as they’re tolerant of average to dry air.

Considering their preferences for light, temperature, and humidity, we recommend keeping your pothos plants near windows. This way, they receive plenty of indirect light, and avoid any cold drafts or temperatures.

Soil conditions

Pothos plants thrive in nutrient rich soil, of course, but do just as well in any kind of potting mix. One thing to note is the soil’s pH levels, as pothos plants do prefer their soil to be on the slightly acidic side (within the 6.1 to 6.5 range).

To prevent root rot and overwatering, you can mix in ingredients like perlite, pebbles, lava rocks, and the like to increase soil aeration — which your pothos plant will thank you for! Keeping it in a container with drainage holes and 1-2 inches wider than its root ball will also help your pothos plant grow well.

You can also grow your pothos plants without soil! They can grow just as well suspended in water. As long as the plant gets water and nutrients, it will grow normally! We recommend using a clear container and all-purpose liquid fertilizer if you decide to grow your pothos in water.

Extra care

Your pothos plants don’t necessarily need lots of extra care to grow lush and healthy — but it does help.

For fertilizing, you can use a liquid fertilizer about once every three months if you really want your plant to grow quickly and densely.

For pruning, you can keep your pothos plant in a more compact look by trimming back long runners. Doing this will encourage bushier growth. You can also cut bare stems back to soil level to encourage new branches to sprout.

Otherwise, you can skip pruning altogether to encourage their vining habit.

For leaf care, all you need to do is wipe their leaves with a damp cloth every few weeks. This should keep its foliage healthy and fresh-looking.

For repotting, you’ll find that you rarely need to do so. The only time you should is if they’re rootbound — which causes its leaves to become droopy and yellowed.

Propagation

Pothos plants are very easy to propagate — you can take cuttings from the mother plant. Just cut a stem 6 inches below a leaf node if you want to propogate. You can root these cuttings in either water or in soil. These cuttings can grow with little to no encouragement from you, so you can just sit back and wait for it to sprout roots.

Common problems

Pothos plants are generally pest-free, so you don’t have to keep up with any pesticide routines. If pests do appear, you can take care of them with natural solutions, like neem oil and regular wipe-downs.

However, because pothos plants are so easygoing, it’s typical for beginner plant parents to overwater or underwater. If you’re seeing your plant wilt, then it’s likely that it’s lacking water. Likewise, yellowing leaves and mushy, black stems are a sign you’re overwatering your plant.

Another problem to keep in mind is that this plant is potentially poisonous. Though ingesting it is rarely fatal, it can still cause irritation and vomiting. Also, its sap can cause sensitive skin to break out in rashes and redness. So, it’s best to keep this plant out of reach of any pets, children, and allergic people.

Key Takeaway

Though they’re nearly foolproof plants for beginners, it’s still important that you know how to grow your pothos plants. It will help you avoid neglecting such an aesthetically pleasing plant, and make sure it looks great wherever you put it — be it your home or your office!

And now that you know how to care for pothos plants, it’s a great time to shop for one — so check out Unbeleafable’s Pothos collection! We carry several pothos varieties, and offer speedy and reliable delivery services all over Metro Manila!