How to Get a Pothos Through Winter: A Complete Guide to Winter Care Precautions
Placing a potted plant at home not only makes people feel very happy, but also purifies the air and decorates the home. Pothos is a great choice: its leaves are emerald green, giving a very fresh feeling, and it absorbs harmful substances from the air. Now let's learn what needs attention when growing it.
How to Get Pothos Through Winter
Pothos likes warmth and is easier to grow in a milder-temperature environment. For potted pothos, choose fertile, loose, well-draining leaf mold soil, preferably slightly acidic. For water culture, change the water frequently, generally once every two to three days. To get through winter safely, the temperature must be above 10°C, and at the same time make sure the leaves are not close to heating equipment.
Winter Care Precautions for Pothos
1. Light management
In fact, pothos is not a plant that needs a great deal of light, but in winter in the north it is still easy for pothos to suffer from insufficient sunlight. So in winter, appropriately increase the light pothos receives. You can place it in a spot indoors with fairly ample light, or put it on a balcony, so that pothos gets sufficient light. Winter temperatures are low, so it must not be left outdoors for too long.
2. Temperature management
Generally, pothos is grown indoors. In winter, as long as the indoor temperature is above 10°C, pothos can overwinter very safely. If the temperature can reach above 20°C, pothos can even continue to grow. But note that you must not place pothos near heating equipment just to keep it warm.
3. Water management
In winter, pothos grows more slowly and needs less water. Because the temperature is low, water evaporates slowly, so there is no need to water too much; generally, reduce the amount of water to half of the usual watering. After heating is turned on, do not increase the amount of watering either. When watering in winter, you can first leave the water to be used indoors for a day, then water. This way the water can rise to a temperature close to the indoor temperature, and when you water pothos, it can prevent cold water from damaging the roots of the pothos.
4. Fertilizer management
In winter, pothos grows very slowly, so reduce fertilizing pothos in winter. During this period you can apply a little foliar fertilizer to pothos. Foliar fertilizer can be absorbed through the leaves and is better for the growth of pothos in winter.
What to Do If Pothos Leaves Turn Yellow
1. No matter what plant you are planting, including repotting, the water temperature must be above 20 degrees, so that the soil temperature finally stays at around 18 degrees. Tap water is only four degrees, and watering with anything now will not work, unlike in summer when the soil temperature can reach thirty degrees.
2. After planting, it must be placed in a place without sunlight. Only after five to ten days, when the roots have fully taken hold and grown new root buds, can it receive direct sunlight.
3. Do not use too much base fertilizer, otherwise it will burn the seedlings, because just after surviving it does not need much fertilizer; later, apply more fertilizer as the plant grows.
4. It is recommended to dissolve a few aspirin tablets into the water when watering, which can reduce the number of waterings by two to three times.
How to Prune Pothos
Shaping and pruning of pothos is done in spring. When the stems and vines have covered the moss pole and the tips extend about 20 cm beyond the moss pole, cut off 40 cm of the stem tips of 2-3 of the plants. After the cut points sprout new buds and new leaves, then cut off the stem tips of the remaining plants.
For potted plants that have lost all their leaves or the lower half of their leaves due to freezing in winter or other reasons, you can cut back half of the stems and vines by 1/2 and the other half by 2/3 or 3/4, so that the cut points are staggered in height. In this way, the new leaves growing below the cut points can quickly cover the moss pole.
Pothos can actually be considered one of the plants with the highest ability to absorb harmful substances from the air, and it has strong adaptability. After planting, it can grow well without any special care. But even a plant with tenacious vitality is prone to yellow leaves, and we need to identify the cause and treat it promptly.