Houseplant · Araceae
Pothos
Epipremnum aureum
Easygoing, quick to fill out, and content in a shadowy nook, pothos is the hardest houseplant to kill.
Bright indirect
Every 7–14 days
70–90°F · 21–32°C
USDA 10–12
Overview
A member of the arum family, pothos hails from the South Pacific islands, where it hauls itself up tree trunks as a thick-stemmed climbing vine. Brought indoors it grows softer and spills downward, which is why people let it cascade off shelves or guide it up a pole. Heart-shaped leaves and an unfussy temperament have turned it into one of the most widespread houseplants anywhere.
Its real charm is how few demands it makes. Low light doesn't faze it, a skipped watering passes without complaint, and it keeps pushing out leaves while pickier plants pout. Hang it high and the vines pour over the rim; pinch the tips and it thickens into a rounded, leafy mound instead.
Two caveats ride along with the plant. Every scrap of it is toxic to cats and dogs, so it belongs somewhere no curious pet can reach. And in mild regions it turns invasive the moment it breaks free of a pot, which keeps it an indoor plant across most of the country.
Care
The short version: give it bright indirect light, though it gets by on a good deal less, and water only once the top half of the soil has gone dry. Pot it up in a well-drained mix, keep it warm and shielded from cold drafts, and pinch the vines back once they stretch thin and leggy.
Light
Bright indirect light brings out the best in pothos, yet its whole reputation rests on getting by in medium light, partial shade, and even a dim, low-light corner. The plain green forms shrug off the gloomiest spots most easily. Spare it from raw direct sun, though, which sears brown patches into the leaves.
Water
Wait for the top half of the soil to dry out before the next watering, which tends to land somewhere around every 7 to 14 days. Sodden soil is the quickest path to a dead pothos, so when you're unsure, hold off. Pour away whatever water gathers in the saucer below.
Soil
A well-drained peaty potting mix covers everything it wants, and any ordinary houseplant blend will serve. Drainage is what matters, since roots left standing in wet soil rot in short order. Choose a pot with holes punched in the base and the plant handles the rest.
Temperature
Hold it between 70°F to 90°F (21°C to 32°C), a band that matches most cozy homes. Frost it cannot abide, and the chill leaves it sulking. Steer it away from icy drafts and any unheated room come winter.
Humidity
Ordinary indoor humidity sits fine with it, so there's no figure to chase down. It plumps up a touch in moister air, part of why it thrives in a bathroom or kitchen. Parched winter air can crisp the leaf tips brown and draw in spider mites.
Feeding
Feed once a month right through the spring-to-fall growing season using a diluted balanced houseplant fertilizer. Cut it to half the dose the label calls for and that's ample. Back off in winter, when the plant idles and hardly stirs.
Pruning
Pinch or clip the stems back any time the vines stretch too far or thin out near the base. A cut just above a leaf node prompts fresh side shoots and keeps the plant dense. Each piece you remove doubles as a free cutting ready to root.
Repotting
Shift it into a slightly roomier pot every 1 to 2 years, or sooner the moment it outgrows the one it's in. Roots winding around the rootball, threading out the drainage holes, or soil that drinks dry within a day all say it's time. Step up just one pot size so the new soil doesn't sit soggy.
Size & spacing
Indoors the vines run 3 to 10 feet (90 cm to 3 m) long and fan out roughly 3 to 6 feet (90 to 180 cm) across. Leave a hanging plant the depth for its vines to drape, or lead them along a wall or up a moss pole.
Troubleshooting
Nearly every pothos problem begins underground at the roots and surfaces in the leaves, and overwatering accounts for more of them than all the rest combined. Catch the first hints and you can turn a plant around before it tips into real decline. Find your symptom below, then move while there's still time to help.
Soft, blackened roots giving off a sour smell
Root rot creeps in when soil stays drenched for too long, and of every pothos ailment it's the one that can take a plant down quickly. The trigger is overwatering in a mix that clings to moisture. Ease the plant from its pot, snip away every root that has turned dark and slimy, then settle it into fresh, fast-draining soil before you water it again.
Fix:
- Unpot and trim rotten roots
- Repot in fresh well-drained mix
- Withhold water until recovery
Lower leaves fading to a soft, washed-out yellow
When pothos leaves go yellow, the cause is nearly always overwatering, not a thirsty plant. Waterlogged soil chokes the roots of air, and the leaves nearest the base lose their green color first. Hold off until the soil surface feels dry to the touch, and make sure the pot drains freely so no puddle ever lingers at the base.
Fix:
- Reduce watering frequency
- Check pot drainage
- Let soil surface dry before watering
Cottony white wisps lodged where leaf meets stem
The fuzzy white clumps wedged into the leaf axils and stem joints are mealybugs, a sap-draining pest that turns up often on indoor pothos. Press a cotton swab soaked in alcohol against each one, then treat the plant with insecticidal soap. Set it apart from your other plants until not a single bug remains.
Fix:
- Dab with alcohol-soaked swab
- Apply insecticidal soap
- Isolate plant
Firm brown nubs fixed in rows along the stems
Tough brown beads gripping the stems and leaves are scale insects, and a waxy shell keeps them anchored so they won't simply wipe away. Pry them loose with a fingernail or a worn toothbrush, then sheathe the plant in horticultural oil. A single pass seldom clears them, so go over the plant again a week or two on.
Fix:
- Scrape off scale
- Apply horticultural oil
- Repeat treatment
Hazy webbing over leaves gone dusty and pale
Thin webbing strung across the foliage and a freckled, faded leaf surface betray spider mites, which flourish where the air runs hot and dry. Hose the leaves down thoroughly to drive their numbers back, then add moisture to the air around the plant. Insecticidal soap or a miticide takes care of the stragglers.
Fix:
- Rinse foliage
- Raise humidity
- Apply insecticidal soap or miticide
Dark blotches or a gray woolly fuzz on the leaves
Dark patches or a soft gray coating spreading over the leaves mean a fungus has taken hold, set off by wet foliage and stagnant air. Strip away the marked leaves so the trouble has nowhere to travel. Open up some space around the plant for better airflow, and aim your water at the soil rather than the leaves.
Fix:
- Remove affected leaves
- Improve air circulation
- Avoid wetting foliage
Dry, crisped tips and rims along the foliage
Browning edges most often signal a watering issue, and overwatering darkens the leaf margins more readily than drought does. A cold draft or parched indoor air can pile on. Steady your watering rhythm, shift the plant clear of frosty windows and heating vents, and lift the moisture in the air nearby.
Fix:
- Correct watering
- Keep away from drafts and cold
- Raise ambient humidity
Fresh growth arriving a flat, uniform green
If the new leaves stop showing their cream and gold flecks, the plant is asking for more light. Too little light drives a variegated pothos back toward plain green, since solid leaves capture more of the faint light on offer. Set it in a brighter spot, still shy of direct sun, and the patterns return on the leaves that follow.
Fix:
- Move to brighter indirect light
Toxicity
Pothos is a breeze to share a home with, but it is no plant to nibble on. Tucked through every part of it are minute, needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate that sear the mouth and throat. Keep the vines, and any trimmings you take, clear of pets and small children.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Moderate
Bite into a leaf and a cat takes in a mouthful of needle-fine crystals. Watch for drooling, pawing at the muzzle, vomiting, and a struggle to swallow.
Dogs Moderate
A dog that chews a leaf suffers the same as a cat: a stinging mouth, ropey drool, and vomiting soon after. One bitter taste is usually enough to steer most of them away.
Horses Moderate
Those crystals scorch a horse's mouth and throat too, setting off drooling and a hard time swallowing. Keep dangling vines beyond reach in any barn or stable.
Rabbits Toxic
The crystals sear a rabbit's mouth and gut every bit as harshly. Set pots and trailing vines far past the reach of any rabbit.
Livestock Moderate
Cattle, goats, and sheep meet the same burning of mouth and throat from the leaves and sap. Keep the plant well away from any grazing animal.
Birds Toxic
The sap burns a bird's mouth and crop. Hang pots and trailing vines clear of pet birds and poultry alike.
People Caution
Nothing here is meant for eating, and the sap nips at bare skin and the mouth. Rinse your hands once you've pruned, and keep leaves and cuttings out of the way of small children.
Sap may irritate skin; wash hands after pruning
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Nearly all the pothos on shelves today belong to a small group of named forms, told apart by the colors and markings painted across their leaves. These are the ones worth recognizing on sight.
Golden Pothos
The original of the bunch wears heart-shaped green leaves brushed with bold strokes of golden yellow.
Marble Queen
White and cream marbling washes so thickly across its leaves that it inches along slower than its cousins.
Neon
It drops the variegation entirely for whole leaves glowing in vivid chartreuse green.
Jade
Jade stays understated, its rich green leaves carrying barely a trace of marbling.
Pearls and Jade
Born as a sport of Marble Queen, its green leaves are rimmed in white and silvery gray.
How to propagate
Few plants multiply as readily as pothos, and one thriving vine can hand you several new plants without costing a cent.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Year-round, spring to summer best · Roots in 3-4 weeks
Here's the simplest route, open to you in any season, though spring and summer push roots out fastest. Cut a stretch of vine right below a node and set it in a glass of water or a pot of damp vermiculite. Roots appear in roughly 3 to 4 weeks, and a fresh plant rises from there.
Air layeringModerate
During active growth · Several weeks
Air-layering asks for more patience, yet it rewards you on a long, established vine you'd rather not shorten. Do the work through the active growing season so the stem roots while still joined to its parent. Allow it several weeks to put out roots before you cut the new plant free.
Myths
A pothos on the shelf cleans the air in your room.
Those well-known chamber studies relied on sealed boxes, nothing like a lived-in room. A peer-reviewed review found that potted plants do next to nothing for the air in an ordinary home, where open windows and the furnace shift far more of it. You'd need hundreds of plants per square yard to rival one window left ajar.
Pothos grows fine with no light at all.
Its hardy name comes from clinging to life in shadowy corners, yet it still has to have some light to survive. Sink it into deep shade and the growth grinds nearly to a halt while the variegation drains away. Set it where bright indirect light reaches and it stays lush and patterned.
Variegated pothos wants the same light as the plain green kinds.
Those white and cream patches carry no chlorophyll, leaving a variegated plant to scrape harder for its food. Park it in the same dim corner that suits a solid green pothos and its new leaves emerge a plain green. It takes bright indirect light to lock the variegation in place.
Pothos is harmless around cats and dogs.
Sharp calcium oxalate crystals run through every part of the plant and bite the instant a pet clamps down. For that very reason the ASPCA marks pothos as toxic to cats and dogs both. Suspend it well overhead if animals share the space.
Pothos is safe to plant outdoors anywhere.
Where winters stay mild, the vines scale tree trunks and bury native plants once they slip past a garden's edge. UF/IFAS rates pothos a Category II invasive in Florida and urges homeowners to keep it out of the landscape. Hold it to a pot, where cold weather or four walls can rein it in.
Sources
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control
- NC State Extension Plant Toolbox
- Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension
- UF/IFAS Extension Charlotte County
- UF/IFAS Assessment of Non-native Plants
- Drexel University (Cummings & Waring, J. Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology)
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Plants of the World Online