Written from the home-garden experience of Shami, who has grown plants for 8+ years in Malappuram, Kerala. All photos are our own.
Pothos looks beautiful whether you keep it indoors or outdoors, and it comes in many varieties. It's easy to grow, so even a beginner can start with it. You can plant it in a small pot, a big pot, or a hanging pot as decor. I've grown pothos for years, and over that time I've kept almost 10 different varieties.
It goes by several names: devil's ivy, Ceylon creeper, taro vine, pothos, and money plant. Most people just call it money plant. Botanically it's Epipremnum aureum, in the arum family (Araceae), and it originally comes from the island of Mo'orea in French Polynesia.
A word on the sap before anything else
Pothos leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals. If the leaves are chewed or eaten, they can cause burning and irritation in the mouth, the sticky juice can irritate skin in some people, and the ASPCA lists the plant as toxic to cats and dogs. Reactions can be different from person to person, so keep it out of reach of small children and pets, and wash your hands after pruning or handling it.
Flowers? I've never seen one
I've heard from many places that some pothos plants grow white flowers, but that's not my experience. In all my years of growing it, with almost 10 varieties, I haven't seen a flower on any of them. It does seem to be rare: pothos hardly ever flowers in cultivation.
Pots, hanging baskets and PVC pipes
You can grow pothos in any pot size. If it's going on an office table, a ceramic pot looks good, and a big pot of 10 to 12 inches works too. It also grows in hanging pots and in PVC pipes. For a hanging pot, make the potting mix a bit loose and use less of it, so the pot stays light.
Light and temperature
Pothos grows where there's bright sunlight. If you want good leaf colour and variegation, it needs good bright light. Very hot direct sun isn't good either, because the tips of the leaves get burnt. It can't stay in shade all the time, so always keep it in medium bright light.
It also can't tolerate high temperatures: the leaves bend and get burnt. In our experience 20 to 35 °C is ideal for healthy growth. If it gets hotter than that, move the plant somewhere shaded.
Watering
Water and hydration matter for this plant. Indoors, I water once in 4 to 5 days. Outdoors, it needs water once in 2 to 3 days. Basically, you shouldn't let the soil dry out too much. When it does, the stress means the leaves don't have much colour, and the leaves can get burnt. If it gets too much water, the roots turn black.
Two potting mixes
Whichever mix you use, it needs good water flow. Water should never sit in the pot without draining.
- Normal pot, outdoors: soil, cocopeat and compost in equal amounts, mixed together.
- Indoors or hanging pots: a lighter mix of 40% compost, 40% cocopeat and 20% perlite.
Five things I watch on the leaves
The leaves are the main attraction of this plant, so I look after them in five ways:
- Dust: wipe the leaves with a cloth every week. Dust can block photosynthesis, and brown dots on the leaves can eventually turn into holes.
- Burnt and yellow leaves: cut off leaves with burnt ends, and the yellowish ones too, because they can affect the other healthy leaves.
- Yellow leaves and a black stem: this means you're giving more water than the plant needs.
- Colour fading: if the leaf colour is fading, the plant is getting more sunlight than it needs.
- Dull green: if the leaves are green but not bright, or the green colour is fading, the plant isn't getting enough sunlight.
In the ground, the leaves grow huge
In a pot, pothos leaves stay a normal size. But when I've seen it growing in the ground, climbing up a tree, the leaves get bigger and bigger as they go up, like the ears of an elephant. It's very beautiful to see. I've seen this mainly in the traditional varieties.
Green and white varieties grow at different speeds
One thing I've noticed in my own experience: the white-leaved pothos varieties grow a bit slower than the greener ones.
Feeding
This plant doesn't need many fertilizers. Compost or cow dung powder once a month is enough. If you'd like a liquid feed, fermented peanut cake works, and soaked soya water is very good for pothos. If you use a chemical fertilizer, mix 1 spoon of NPK 18:18:18 in 1 litre of water and spray it on the leaves, stem and branches. Make sure you don't overspray.
Pests
Not many pests attack pothos. Mealybugs are rare. For prevention, I mix a spoon of neem oil and 2 to 3 drops of dishwash liquid in a glass of water, then dilute that into 1 litre of water.
Snails attack it sometimes. At night I light up a torch, collect all the snails from the plant, and put some salt on them. I've tried a few other methods, but I didn't get much result from them, so I always do it by hand at night.
Pruning
To make the plant bushy, prune the tall branches. If you want it to grow taller and taller, trim all the branches to the same level instead.
Propagation
Pothos is very easy to propagate, in water or in soil. In either, you'll see new roots within 10 days. You don't need tall or long cuttings. Every node already has a leaf and a root, so you just cut that part, with the node, and you'll get a new plant.
One responsible habit: pothos can become highly invasive in tropical countries where it isn't native, so don't dump trimmings or cuttings in the wild. Compost them or bin them instead.