How to care for a Pothos

Pothos — Epipremnum aureum — is the trailing vine that ends up in every plant shop, every office, and eventually most homes. There’s a reason for that. It grows quickly, tolerates neglect, communicates its problems clearly before they become serious, and looks good in a hanging basket or trailing down a shelf.

If you’ve managed to kill one, this guide is for you.

Light

Pothos is one of the most light-flexible plants you can keep. It grows in low light, medium light, and bright indirect light. The main thing to know is that variegated varieties — the ones with yellow or white streaks in the leaves — need more light to keep their variegation. In low light, they’ll revert to plain green.

Avoid direct sunlight, which bleaches and scorches the leaves.

Watering

Water when the top inch or two of soil is dry. In most conditions that’s roughly once a week in summer, slightly less in winter.

Pothos will tell you when it’s thirsty — the leaves will start to look slightly limp and less glossy. That’s your cue. It’s a useful early warning system, and if you water at this point the plant bounces back within a few hours.

Overwatering is the more common mistake. Yellow leaves on an otherwise healthy-looking plant usually mean the soil has been too consistently wet. Let it dry out between waterings.

Feeding

Once a month in spring and summer with a balanced liquid fertiliser. Stop in autumn and winter.

Pothos isn’t a heavy feeder. Monthly is genuinely enough — you won’t speed up growth by feeding more frequently, you’ll just risk fertiliser burn.

Common problems

Yellow leaves: Almost always overwatering, or a combination of overwatering and poor drainage. Let the soil dry out more between waterings and make sure the pot has drainage holes.

Brown, crispy leaf tips: Low humidity, or the plant is near a heat source. Move it away from radiators and mist occasionally.

Limp, pale leaves: Too much direct light or not enough water. Check both.

Very small new leaves: Usually a sign the plant needs feeding, or it’s in too little light.

Leggy vines with long gaps between leaves: Not enough light. Move it somewhere brighter.

Training and trimming

Pothos grows quickly and can get leggy if left alone. Trimming the vines encourages bushier growth — cut just below a leaf node and the vine will branch from that point.

The cuttings can be propagated easily in water. Place a cutting with at least one node in a glass of water, keep it in bright indirect light, and roots will appear within a couple of weeks. Pot up into soil once the roots are a few centimetres long.

Toxicity

Worth noting: Pothos is toxic to cats and dogs if eaten. The leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals that cause mouth irritation and digestive upset. Keep it out of reach of pets that are prone to chewing things.

Variegated varieties

If you have a golden, marble queen, or neon pothos, the care is the same — the main difference is light requirement. Variegated varieties need brighter indirect light to maintain their colouring. In low light they’ll survive but the leaves will become increasingly plain green over time.