Pothos Care: Light, Water, Pets and Yellow Leaves
Epipremnum aureum
Pothos is one of the easiest trailing plants to keep. It tells you when it is thirsty, and it recovers quickly.
How to care for a pothos
Pothos grows in low light but fills out best in medium to bright indirect light. Variegated types lose some of their markings if the room is too dark. Direct sun can scorch the leaves.
Trim the vines to keep the plant full, and cuttings root easily in water. Cebu Blue is a related type with narrower, blue-green leaves and the same basic care.
Where pothos works
Low light
Pothos grows, but variegation fades and growth is slower.
Bright, indirect light
Fuller growth and better color.
Direct sun
Direct sun can scorch the leaves. Keep it back from hot glass.
How often to water a pothos
Water when the top 1 to 2 inches of soil are dry, typically every 1 to 2 weeks. A thirsty pothos droops, then perks up within hours of a good watering, which makes it easy to read.
Avoid letting it sit in water. Constantly wet soil causes far more problems than an occasional droop.
Why pothos leaves turn yellow
Yellow leaves are most often caused by too much water. Check that the pot drains and let the soil dry a little more between waterings.
Other causes are low light, which can make older leaves yellow and drop, and plain age: the oldest leaves near the soil yellow naturally. Pale, small new leaves mean the plant wants more light.
Pots, drainage and water
Pothos tolerates a lot, except sitting in wet soil. How it is potted decides that, especially in hanging and decorative planters.
- Rocks on a pot collar hide the rim of the liner and the soil line.
- The plant stays in its liner, a nursery pot with drainage holes, so water can leave the soil.
- A filler under the liner sets the height so the rim sits just below the top of the decorative pot.
- The decorative pot has no hole. Water that drains from the liner collects here, and has to be emptied.
My pot has no drainage hole. How do I water?
Keep the plant in a liner with holes and set it in the decorative pot. Water at a sink, drain, and return it.
Water is sitting at the bottom.
Empty it. Constantly wet soil causes far more problems than an occasional droop.
Does a hanging pot need drainage?
Yes. Use a liner or a pot with a saucer, and empty the saucer so water does not stand.
How big should the pot be?
Pothos is happy with roots filling the pot. Go up one size when it dries out within a few days.
Is a pothos toxic to cats and dogs?
Pothos is toxic to cats and dogs. The leaves and stems contain calcium oxalate crystals, which irritate the mouth and can cause drooling and vomiting. Hang it or place it out of reach. Pet-safety information here follows the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant list.
Pothos in offices
Pothos softens shelves, planter edges and partitions, and it copes with a wide range of indoor light.
In the plant list for a recent office install of about 120 planters, 10 Cebu pothos in 8 inch pots were included alongside the larger statement plants.
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Plants for Friends designs, installs and maintains interior plants for commercial spaces and homes across San Diego County, Orange County and Los Angeles County. Every project starts with a walkthrough of the actual space, light, scale, traffic and access, before anything is chosen.
Since 2021, our team has completed more than 200 projects for clients including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, JLL, Bristol Myers Squibb and ClickUp.
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