Software
Houzz Logo Print
sharlee_taylor

Help with my Pothos?

5 years ago

Hi there! I'm looking for some help with my Pothos, which I know is typically a low-maintenance plant.


I've had this pothos close to a year and a half, and it's been great - lush, green, thick. It has medium/high light pretty much all day, and has been growing like crazy. However, a few weeks ago, I noticed changes. The leaves were limp and yellowing, and were beginning to fold.


Like I said, I've had this plant for over a year, and, seeing the roots bursting out the bottom of the pot, I assumed it was time to repot it. I repotted with a mix of 1/3 potting soil 1/3 perlite and 1/3 compost, and watered well. At first, it looked like the pothos was perking up, but a week later, it was back to it's condition before I repotted it, which I'm now worried may have been a mistake! I just plucked yellowing leaves off yesterday, so the yellow leaves here are from overnight.








I am noticing a new leaf that is strong and green, but I'm not if this is because of the repotting or in spite of it lol.




Please give me any thoughts you may have! Would love to save this plant, as this was one of the first house plants I purchased. I'm wondering if pruning would help? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.



Comments (8)

  • 5 years ago

    It's etiolated from lack of light. I would cut it way back and put it outdoors in shade for the summer. If this isn't possible, give it a brighter window after pruning. You can root some of the prunings if you like, or just compost them.

    Sharlee Taylor thanked callirhoe123
  • 5 years ago

    I don't think being etiolated would cause the leaves to curl and turn yellow. It could be from overwatering . How often do you water this plant ?

  • 5 years ago

    its highly stressed from the repotting.. its roots arent pumping water thru the very long vines to support the leaves.. resulting in leaves dying and turning yellow as they do ...


    you need to propagate some new pieces.. and then pot them like the plant you bought back when.. and then throw this mess away ...



    you should be able to get about 100 pieces off it.. so if you do it right.. you can give everyone in town a free plant for xmas ...


    ken


    https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=pathos+propagation&iax=videos&ia=videos

  • 5 years ago

    @callirhoe123 thanks for your feedback. I think ultimately I'll need to prune this guy, and I've moved it to a brighter place. We'll see!

  • 5 years ago

    @woodrose I water about once a week, sometimes a little longer. I've been maintaining the same water schedule for the most part, and this happened about a month ago suddenly. It was fine with the water schedule before - would that rule out water as the issue?

  • 5 years ago

    @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 thanks for your comment! I agree the repotting has added to the stress, but would your thoughts change knowing that the plant, before the repotting, was also yellowing and wilting? I thought the issue was that it had outgrown it's pot, but the repotting hasn't helped. I do think propagating the ends are a good idea. I've pruned and will try to add the propagated pieces to this pot.

  • 5 years ago

    Over watering could cause the leaves to yellow, but I don't think it would cause the curling. I think you should follow Ken's advice and try to propagate some new plants. Also, try waiting until the soil in the remaining plant dries out before you water, instead of following a weekly schedule and see how that works.

    Good luck, hope you can get your plant back to life !

  • 5 years ago

    Buy some bamboo skewers at dollar tree, stick one all the way into the bottom of the pot before watering. If it comes out fairly damp, wait to water it. If it’s mostly dry, water it. These plants grow up tree trunks in tropical areas w/ not much soil around their roots at the base of the tree. They like watered often but to dry out fairly quickly- like in about a week. Not all the way dry-they will curl when they’re too dry but mostly dry or barely damp soil is a better way of putting it. FYI-these plants will detest you for months after repotting- I did my 6 ft long, 7-y.o. pothos last year ear b/c it had needed a repot for awhile from outgrowing its pot & I hadn’t had time to do it, so I did it before I brought it in in the fall. I know it was a bad time but I had no choice- I was having to water it daily b/c it was almost all roots & no soil in the pot. Man, did it hate me!! Lol it continued to get yellow leaves that died sporadically for SIX MONTHS, despite me continuing its normal, proper care. I knew it was just from root loss in an off season & finally it returned to normal in the spring as I suspected it would. I work full time & have over 100 house plants, plus many outdoor flower beds to care for (call me crazy) so stuff sometimes has to wait till I can get to it (or are on death’s door). Most oblige. At least they get the right watering, fert & sun. It’s the repots that trip me up, finding time for that. I have my pothos planted in Al’s 511 mix & it loves it! I just trimmed it back early spring to make it fuller. It got mad at me again for that too & lost some leaves but not nearly as angry as after the repot. Your plant will bounce back, pothos almost always do..