A Detailed Guide to Pothos Cultivation, Care and Propagation
Pothos is a perennial evergreen climbing plant. Its stems and vines are fairly slender and soft, with aerial roots at the nodes; the leaves are heart-shaped or oblong-elliptical, marked with irregular golden stripes or blotches, thick and glossy in texture, with entire margins.
Pothos likes warmth, tolerates shade and fears cold, growing well in fertile, loose sandy loam and a humid environment. Therefore, cultivation and care must pay special attention to meeting these characteristics.
(1) Cultivation. There are two ways to grow pothos in pots: one is column-style pot cultivation, the other is ordinary pot cultivation. For the potting soil, it is best to use a mix of leaf mold or peat soil, garden soil and coarse sand as the growing medium. Plant in warm spring, place in a shaded spot after planting, and move to a semi-shaded spot for care once the plants have recovered. Repot young plants once a year, and mature plants once every 2 years.
(2) Care. ① Light and temperature. Pothos tolerates shade and can be kept indoors all year round, or placed in a semi-shaded spot outdoors. If kept indoors, place it near a well-ventilated east, west or north window in spring, summer and autumn, and move it near a south window in winter, protecting it from cold drafts and giving it as much sunlight as possible. It must not be kept in a dark place for long, otherwise the stems and vines will grow leggy, the plant shape will become loose, and the leaf color will fade, losing its ornamental value. If placed on an outdoor balcony, it must not be exposed to direct strong light; place it in a semi-shaded spot, especially in summer when it needs shading, or put it on a north-facing balcony (windowsill). The optimum growing temperature for pothos is 20 to 30°C. If grown outdoors, it must be brought indoors in winter, and the room temperature should be kept above 15°C, never below 10°C, otherwise it is prone to cold damage. ② Water, fertilizer and humidity. Pothos likes humidity; during the growing season the potting soil should be kept moist, but not waterlogged. If it dries out, the leaves tend to turn yellow; if water accumulates, the roots will rot. In summer, water more often and also spray the leaves and surrounding area to increase air humidity; in winter, control watering. During the peak growing season, apply a liquid fertilizer containing nitrogen and phosphorus, or a compound fertilizer, once every 2-3 weeks. ③ Proper pruning. If there are too many branches or yellow leaves appear, prune appropriately to keep the plant shape attractive. ④ Disease control. Pothos often suffers from leaf spot and root rot due to poor ventilation and other causes; remove diseased leaves and spray or drench the roots with a 500-fold dilution of 50% carbendazim wettable powder.
(3) Propagation. Pothos is easy to propagate, and cuttings can be taken in both spring and autumn. Select healthy stems, cut them into sections of 2-3 nodes each, insert them into plain sand or peat soil, water thoroughly after inserting, place in a semi-shaded spot, and spray the leaves 1-2 times a day to keep the medium moist; at 25°C, roots and shoots will appear in about 3 weeks. You can also bury the creeping stems in soil; the aerial roots will take root once they enter the soil, and after new tender leaves grow, cut the stems section by section and plant them separately in pots.
Home Cultivation and Care of Pothos
Family and genus: Araceae, genus Epipremnum
Aliases: Golden Pothos, Devil's Ivy
Native to the tropical rainforests of Indonesia and the Solomon Islands.
(1) Morphological characteristics: A perennial evergreen climber. Both stems and leaves are fleshy, and the stem nodes bear aerial roots. Leaves alternate, ovate-oblong, heart-shaped, waxy, 10-15 cm long, dark green and glossy. There are variegated cultivars inlaid with irregular golden stripes or spots.
Its main cultivars are:
Marble Queen (E. a. 'Marble Queen'): Leaves have creamy white markings and are more robust than the original variety.
Golden Pothos (E. a. 'Golden Pothos'): Leaves have irregular yellow stripes.
Tricolor (E. a. 'Tricolor'): The leaf surface has green, yellow and creamy white markings.
(2) Habits: Likes warmth and humidity. Likes light but also tolerates semi-shade, and prefers a loose, fertile growing medium.
(3) Cultivation and management: Pothos is very robust and can be grown in pots indoors in all four seasons; placed in a bright spot indoors, it can be kept there for a long time. If kept in a dark place for a long time, the leaves will become smaller and the internodes longer, and for colored-leaf varieties the leaf color will fade, affecting its ornamental value. In summer it needs a semi-shaded environment, avoiding direct sunlight.
The optimum growing temperature is around 25°C during the day, and in winter the optimum temperature should be kept at 10-13°C, generally not below 7°C. In the warm winter regions of South China and Southwest China, it can be grown outdoors.
Pothos likes a hot and humid environment, so it needs frequent spraying of the leaves and the ground, and the potting soil should be kept moist. During the growing season, apply a compound fertilizer about once every 2 weeks.
It is often grown in pots, and can also be used in hanging baskets or planted in indoor planting troughs. Usually a support is set up in the pot for its vines to climb on; it is best to use dead wood covered with moss or tree fern (the trunk of a tree fern), or a cylinder made of wire mesh can be used for planting. If grown in a hanging basket or planting trough, the stems and vines are generally allowed to hang freely, and no support is needed. Usually repot once every 2-3 years. In May-June each year, carry out appropriate pruning and renewal to encourage new shoots to sprout from the base stems, making the clump fuller. A mix of leaf mold and garden soil is best for the growing medium; it can also grow in water.
(4) Propagation: It rarely flowers, so cuttings are commonly used. In May-July, take shoots from the stem tips or base, cut them into sections about 10 cm long, insert them into a propagation bed mixed with equal parts fine sand and peat, keep appropriate humidity and a temperature of 21-25°C, and in a semi-shaded environment new roots will form in about 3 weeks. Once rooted, they can be potted up, with 3-4 plants per pot. Older branches can also be used for cuttings: cut branches with buds into sections of 4-5 nodes and insert them as above, and they will also grow into new plants. Layering can also be used, and it can be done at any time during the growing season.
Pothos Propagation and Care Tips
Propagate by cuttings. Both stem cuttings and leaf cuttings can be used. In spring and autumn, cut two-node stem sections 15-30 cm long as cuttings, remove the leaves from the basal 1-2 nodes, trim the cut end smooth, and insert into plain sand to root. For leaf cuttings, use a clean, sharp small blade to cut off a healthy upper leaf, wash it clean with water, leave it in a cool place for several hours so the cut end dries slightly, then insert the base of the leaf stalk into clean water, place in a shaded spot after inserting, and generally change the water once every 3-5 days; roots will form in about 1 month. Using sandy soil as the cutting medium makes rooting easier. Sterilize the sandy soil well before cutting, keep the soil and air moist at all times, and at a temperature above 25°C in a semi-shaded environment, it will root and sprout in about 3 weeks, becoming a new plant.Layering can also be used for propagation. This can be done in a sand-filled pot: press the creeping stems of the pothos in the pot onto soil or sand; once the aerial roots enter the soil they will take root, and when new leaves grow, they can be cut off and planted separately.
[Cultivation and Management]
For pot cultivation, choose loose, breathable, well-drained soil; leaf mold can be the main component, mixed with 20-30% garden soil, or a mix of peat soil and perlite can be prepared. Pothos is very robust and can be grown in pots indoors in all four seasons; placed in a bright indoor spot, it can be kept there for a long time. If kept in a dark place for a long time, its leaves will become smaller and the internodes longer, affecting its ornamental value. It can also be moved outdoors to a semi-shaded spot after spring warms up, and moved back indoors at the end of autumn. Indoors, it should be placed in a bright spot with little direct sunlight. In a dark room, the leaves grow small and the internodes long, so it should usually be moved to a brighter spot every 2-4 weeks to recover its appearance. It likes hot and humid environmental conditions, so it needs frequent sprinkling of the leaves and the ground, and the potting soil should be kept moist. In summer it needs a semi-shaded environment. In winter the room temperature should not be below 15°C, otherwise growth will be poor. In the north, the climate is fairly dry in spring and winter, so besides keeping the potting soil moist, it is necessary to spray the leaves frequently and wipe dust off the leaf surface. To keep the plant growing vigorously, apply a complete fertilizer once every 3-4 months. During the growing season, apply a compound fertilizer about once every 2 weeks. In May-June each year, pothos should be pruned and renewed to encourage new shoots to sprout from the base stems.
Pothos has characteristics such as liking hot and humid conditions, with an optimum growing temperature between 20°C and 30°C and the ability to adapt to temperatures above 65°C; the north does not have these conditions in autumn and winter, so care in autumn and winter becomes a crucial part of the pothos growing cycle. Creating a growing environment as comfortable as summer for it in winter can keep pothos lush all along.
When caring for it, pay attention to the following aspects:
1. Light: The original growing conditions of pothos are in forests shaded by towering trees, so it is not strongly heliotropic. However, in the north in autumn and winter, to make up for the lack of temperature and photosynthesis, its light exposure should be increased. The method is to place the pothos in the brightest spot indoors, or move it to a sealed balcony at noon to bask in the sun. At the same time, when the temperature is low, open the windows as little as possible, because the leaves may be frostbitten in a very short time.
2. Temperature: In the north, pothos can safely overwinter at a room temperature above 10°C, and can grow normally at a room temperature above 20°C. Generally, households have no problem reaching this temperature; what needs attention is avoiding too large a temperature difference, and also making sure the leaves do not come close to heating equipment.
3. Humidity: This refers to the water content of the air in the plant's growing environment. While ensuring a normal temperature, increasing humidity is extremely beneficial to plant growth. The following methods can be used to increase humidity. Place the plant near a humidifier, running the humidifier for more than 5 hours a day, so the plant can enjoy the mist sprayed out by the humidifier; use a sprayer set to the mist setting to spray the plant's leaves, stems and aerial roots several times a day; keep an appropriate amount of water in the saucer under the pot, so that evaporation increases the local humidity around the plant; gently wipe the leaf surface with a cold wet towel or toilet paper, or lightly apply it to the leaf surface for a short time (1-2 hours a day); cover the plant with a transparent plastic film to create a mini-greenhouse effect, supplementing the plant's water through evaporation of water vapor from the soil, for no more than 2 hours a day, as too long will affect the plant's ventilation and photosynthesis.
4. Water: In autumn and winter, the amount of watering should be strictly controlled according to room temperature. Before heating starts, the temperature is lower and the soil in the pot evaporates more slowly, so watering should be reduced, with the amount controlled at 1/4-1/2 of the original. Even after heating starts, watering should not be too frequent; when watering, pour less into the pot and let water seep through the coir. In addition, spray water on the places where the aerial roots grow on the coir column, to reduce insufficient water uptake by the roots caused by too-rapid evaporation. For winter watering, water that has been left to stand for a day is better; water that is too cold easily damages the roots.
5. Fertilizer: In the autumn and winter in the north, plants mostly grow slowly or even stop growing, so fertilization should be reduced. Before winter begins, mainly apply liquid inorganic fertilizer, about once every 15 days. After winter begins, fertilization should mainly be foliar spraying, applied mainly through the stomata on the leaf surface; the fertilizer is absorbed through the stomata on the leaf surface, so the fertilizer effect can act directly on the leaf surface. Special-purpose fertilizer should be used for foliar fertilizer; ordinary inorganic fertilizer is not easily absorbed by the leaves. Beida Huhuashen series and the Japanese-made Hua Yifan, among others, can all be used as foliar fertilizer.
Pothos column: Pothos does not set seed; buying one from a flower shop or cutting some tender, sturdy tip shoots from relatives or friends will let it survive. After the tip shoots sprout, a pothos column can be added. The pothos column has the function of fixing and supporting the pothos as it grows, and can also provide necessary moisture. Usually, the pothos column is placed in the pot, covered with a little soil, fixed with wooden sticks arranged in a triangle, and then more soil is added; since plants will still grow, the soil should not be too much. Insert the sprouted pothos seedlings into the soil; generally speaking, the denser the pothos seedlings in the pot, the better it looks after growing, and about 4-5 plants should be planted per pot. Use string to tie the seedlings on one side and secure them to the coir column on the other, and water toward the coir column to keep it moist; after some days, the pothos aerial roots will take root and grow inside the coir column. The best time to add the pothos column is at the turn of spring and summer; in winter the temperature is low and the seedlings are easily injured, so when adding the column, be careful to get the temperature right.
Pothos is an aerial-root plant; the lower part of the stem between the leaves bears thick, fleshy aerial roots. It can be grown in pots or hung up. It can also be trained into various forms such as baskets, columns and balls to change its ornamental effect.
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