How to Divide a Pothos Plant: Methods and Precautions Explained

Many people like to keep some plants and flowers at home, especially in the bleak winter. When you get home from work every day and see vibrant plants, doesn't it lift your mood? If you struggle with caring for plants, why not try growing a pothos (Epipremnum aureum), which is both easy to care for and beautiful.

Pothos is a shade-loving plant that prefers scattered light and is fairly tolerant of shade. It survives on contact with water, and because of its tenacious vitality it is known as the flower of life. Pothos also has an extremely strong air-purifying function, earning it the reputation of a green purifier. Keeping one at home couldn't be more fitting.

Break off a vine and stick it in water, and after a while it will take root and sprout. Or cut it into several segments like this, bury them in a flower pot, and it can also propagate quickly, with no need to worry at all about whether it will survive. The simplest thing is to just buy one and place it on a bookshelf, or a table. Or on a shelving unit, and let it grow freely. Wait for the vibrant vines to slowly hang down.

You can also place it in a corner and let its vines grow along the wall. That way, no matter how the seasons change, you will always have a wall that belongs to spring. If conditions allow, installing a patch of greenery directly on a wall is also a good choice.

Pothos propagation generally uses vegetative propagation by stem cuttings. You can also layer pothos, and once sufficient roots have developed you can divide it into pots. The main methods are as follows:

1. In late spring and early summer, cut 15 cm to 30 cm stems, remove the leaves from 1 to 2 nodes at the base, and plant them directly in pots with growing medium, 3 to 5 stems per pot. Water thoroughly, place in a cool, ventilated spot, and keep the potting soil moist. In about one month they will take root and sprout, and within the same year they can grow into plants with ornamental value.

2. Stem cuttings taken in spring and summer root easily; for making a totem pole, you must use tip cuttings with large leaves, as these take shape relatively quickly. Pothos can also be grown in water, but compared with soil cultivation the plant is smaller.

3. You can also cut at the aerial roots and pot them directly, or place the cuttings in water to soak until they root and then transplant them into pots.

Precautions:

1. Leaves turning yellow and dropping, stems rotting: mainly due to overwatering, especially in winter. Pothos requires potting soil with good drainage and cannot tolerate water accumulating in the pot. If this happens, repot promptly.

2. Leaf tips curling and turning withered brown: mainly due to air that is too dry; you should frequently mist the leaf surfaces.

3. Leaf margins turning brown, with withered yellow spots appearing on the leaves: insufficient watering during the growing season; water only when the potting soil has not completely dried out. For totem pole plants, be careful to wet the pole when watering, because some roots grow on the pole.

4. Leaves becoming smaller: when pothos is cultivated as a totem pole, the tip must always be kept growing upward; as soon as it bends downward, the leaves gradually become smaller. This can also be caused by insufficient fertilizer or light.

5. Leaves becoming soft and curled, stems rotting: caused by temperatures that are too low; pothos is very sensitive to low temperatures below 10°C.