How to Divide a Pothos and Repotting Precautions

Pothos is the most common household potted plant, and pothos is known as the “king of toxin absorption”, with an excellent effect on absorbing formaldehyde and purifying the air. Many people keep several pots of pothos after renovating a new home to remove formaldehyde. Pothos is especially easy to grow and easily fills its pot, so how should pothos be divided? Below, the editor will introduce the techniques for dividing and repotting pothos!

How to divide pothos

1. First, move a pothos that has already grown for one year out to an open position, and rotate it to inspect the vines. Select branches that already have lateral roots growing.

2. Next, use scissors, select an appropriate length, and cut off the pothos branches that already have lateral roots.

3. Pour half a bottle of water into a water bottle, enough to submerge the branches.

4. After the pothos grown in water develops large roots, it can be transplanted into a new flower pot.

Precautions for repotting pothos

1. Usually, pothos is repotted once every year or every other year. The best time for repotting is when the pothos has ended dormancy and new buds are beginning to sprout.

2. Pothos should be given a flower pot of an appropriate size. When repotting, choose the flower pot according to the size of the pothos root ball; a flower pot diameter 3-6 cm larger than the diameter of the pothos root spread is more suitable. You can also choose the flower pot according to the pothos leaf crown; a pothos crown diameter 20-40 cm larger than the flower pot diameter is more suitable. It is not advisable to change to an overly large flower pot. Although a large pot can give pothos more room to grow, a large pot makes it difficult to control the amount of water and fertilizer pothos needs, which instead affects the growth of the pothos.

3. The choice of flower pot when repotting pothos. Considering cost-effectiveness and breathability, a clay pot is best. Pothos likes a shady and humid living environment and has little requirement for the drainage of the flower pot. Lühang pothos advocates using flower pots made of environmentally friendly materials to reduce energy consumption. Absolutely avoid using black flower pots.

4. New pots need to have their dryness removed, and old pots need to be sterilized. If a new pot is used, it should be soaked in clean water for a day and a night before planting the pothos, then scrubbed, dried, and used, in order to remove its dryness. If the pot used is an old pot, it should be placed in the sun to sterilize it by exposure, and before reuse the old pot should be scrubbed clean inside and out to remove any possible insect eggs; if necessary, a pesticide should also be sprayed for disinfection.

Detailed steps for repotting pothos

1. Trim the roots: Before entering the new pot, trim away some of the pothos's coiled roots, old roots, overly long roots, and injured roots. If too many roots are damaged, some leaves also need to be trimmed off.

2. Watering: After repotting the pothos, water it thoroughly so the pot soil absorbs enough water; spray water on the pothos leaves.

3. Fertilizing: A pothos that has just been repotted cannot be fertilized, because after transplanting the root system cannot immediately absorb nutrients. Wait until the pothos grows new leaves or sprouts new roots in the new pot, and then fertilize. Fertilize with small amounts but many times.

4. Placement: A pothos that has just been repotted should be placed in a cool place. It cannot be exposed to direct sunlight, nor placed in a drafty spot with strong wind, so as to avoid harming the plant.

Do pothos long roots need to be cut off

Actually, when most flower lovers find that pothos has grown long aerial roots, their first thought is to cut them off. After all, these long aerial roots do not necessarily give the pothos a good ornamental effect, so it is better to cut them off. But the editor wants to tell you that the aerial roots grown by pothos are best not cut off.

First of all, this is because the aerial roots of pothos play a good auxiliary role in its growth and development, so by keeping these aerial roots, your pothos will certainly grow more vigorously.

Secondly, if the aerial roots are cut off, the pothos may show some adverse consequences, such as damaged leaves, cracks appearing, and so on. Because cutting off the aerial roots will reduce the leaves' absorption of water, the leaves will develop problems, affecting the ornamental appearance.

Finally, if the aerial roots of pothos are cut short, the root system will certainly leave wounds, and the direct consequence of these wounds is that pathogens can invade more easily. Only when the roots are intact will pathogen invasion be reduced. If the root system is cut short and has wounds, pathogens will find an opening to invade, and in severe cases this will lead to rot of the pothos roots. Therefore, it is best not to cut off the long roots of pothos.

As described above, if pothos fills its pot, you can choose to divide it, which is not only more beautiful and attractive, but also gives you one more pot of pothos! Pothos is a very good foliage plant, but it is best not to keep too many pothos in the bedroom. Keeping too many plants in the bedroom will have a certain impact on health!