Everyone should grow a pothos plant! It’s easy to care for, hardy, and long-lived, making it the perfect introductory plant for beginners. Although tough inside our homes, it does appreciate some care to grow bushy and full. Without proper care it’ll grow leggy with age and lose its leaves, creating a less-than-ideal display.
Whether you have a young or a mature specimen, you can use these five tricks to boost your plant’s health. We’ll use methods like propagation and repotting, and we’ll cover simple changes you can make today to achieve the vines of your dreams.
5 Tricks for a Full and Bushy Pothos Plant
These tricks come from a YouTube video featuring Kevin Espiritu, the founder of Epic Gardening. Watch it here if you’d like!
Repot Mature Specimens
The first step in boosting your pothos plant is giving it a bigger home. Plants often outgrow their containers after a year or more. Their roots begin circling the lower parts of the pot, and they grow frail. Repotting grants your houseplant additional soil, space, and nutrients so it continues thriving!
To repot, start by removing your mature specimen from its container. Try to keep the stems intact, but do not worry if any parts fall off. They’ll form new roots and grow as if nothing happened! After removing the container, loosen the roots so they dangle downwards. Remove circling or binding roots that may restrict your plant later in life.
Prepare the new container by placing fresh soil in the bottom. Drop your plant on top, then backfill the soil so it covers the roots. Water well and let the excess water drain freely. Boom! Your plant has a new home. Monitor it while it adapts to its new environment to catch any issues early on.
Trim Long Stems
As you transplant, pieces of the vines might fall off. Save these to propagate, and take a look at the current vines. Are they long and straggly with few leaves? Cutting them back gives you new pieces to propagate while encouraging bushy, dense growth on the vines you leave behind.
Start by removing long stems with pruners or herbal snips. Slice off the vines after a root node—it’ll appear like a knobby, brown aerial root where a leaf sprouts on the opposite side of the stem. The root nodes are where new roots form once you propagate the cuttings.
You may leave a few long stems if you’d like a mix of bushy and lengthy growth. Wherever you trim the stems, new leaves will sprout from each node behind the cut.
Propagate Cuttings
With all those extra vine pieces lying around, what else can you do aside from propagating them? Propagating pothos is an exciting, fun, and rewarding to produce ultra bushy plants. It’s also one of the easiest plants to propagate, perfect for classroom demonstrations involving botany, horticulture, or other plant-related subjects.
To propagate pothos, start by stripping each cutting of its lower leaves. Leave one or two leaves on the stems where new growth sprouts. Place the stripped parts with root nodes below soil or water. This houseplant grows well in either, meaning you get to decide which method works best for you!
Water propagation is simple enough. Place the cuttings in glasses of water, then situate them near bright indirect sunlight or partial shade indoors. For soil propagation, use containers with potting soil and keep them moist but not soggy. Give them similar lighting conditions, and they’ll sprout roots and shoots in no time.
Move It Closer to Light
Pothos vines appreciate bright indirect light indoors to promote bushy growth. Some species originate from the Society Islands, while others come from Malesia and Bangladesh. They grow on forest floors, where they creep about until they find a suitable tree to grow up. They use strong aerial roots to latch onto tree trunks and catapult themselves into the canopy.
This is why these plants have two forms—they have small leaves and thin vines in low light, and large leaves with thick vines with more light and height. This species will never reach its adult form indoors. However, they still appreciate bright light to grow their best. The small leaves will grow larger, you’ll see more sprouts along growth nodes, and the plant will be healthier overall.
If your window lacks bright indirect sunlight or partial shade with one to two hours of direct sunlight, try using grow lights to help the plants grow in dark rooms. They simulate the sun’s rays through similar light frequencies and colors. Place them on a timer near your vines for a daily light boost they’ll appreciate.
Care For Pothos
While large changes like pruning and transplanting help pothos grow bushier and fuller, so too can little consistencies like continuous watering and adequate fertilizing. Give your pothos what it craves so it rewards you with dozens of leaves throughout its stems.
This popular houseplant appreciates consistent moisture with some drying out in between waterings. Give it well-draining soil with perlite or vermiculite to help tolerate excess water. Yellow leaves and soggy soil are signs of root rot, while yellow or brown leaves and dry soil indicate a thirsty plant. Keep a consistent watering schedule, and use your finger to check how wet it is before adding more moisture.
Aside from proper lighting, watering, and pruning, fertilizing also benefits these tropical vines. Add a normal dose of fertilizer according to the package’s instructions. Do so once or twice a year during the growing season while new growth sprouts. Your plant will thank you with bright green, perky, and shiny leaves that stay on the vines for a long time.
Popular Varieties
Dozens of beautiful pothos cultivars exist for the curious houseplant collector. Most are varieties of Epipremnum aureum, while a few originate from other genera. Most grow in the same fashion with rooting stems and lush foliage. Choose your favorite, then propagate it so it grows all over your house!
Satin Pothos
Satin pothos is an outlier from most others, as it’s a member of the Scindapsus genus. It sports luxurious forest green foliage with spots of silvery white throughout. They form on thin green vines that climb tall supports or dangle downwards off hanging baskets.
‘Jade’ Pothos
‘Jade’ is perfect for houseplant lovers who want simple green foliage. This variety has no variegation and the foliage stays green throughout its lifetime. ‘Jade’ is a hardy cultivar that thrives in lower light conditions than most other types.
‘N’Joy’ Pothos
If you want the growth habit of ‘Jade’ but with flashier leaves, choose ‘N’Joy.’ It sprouts small dark green leaves with splashes of white all over them. This type requires bright indirect light near a windowsill or grow lights, and it’ll reward you with lovely foliage for years to come.
‘Neon’ Pothos
‘Neon’ is similar to ‘Jade’ pothos except it has bright yellow leaves with a neon hue! It’s perfect for contrasting with other varieties, or on its own as a specimen houseplant. The yellow leaves work well as a backdrop for solid green houseplants.
Key Takeaways
- Follow the fab five tricks for bushy pothos every time. Repot old plants, trim leggy stems, propagate cuttings, give plants more light, and care for them consistently.
- Water is one of the most important factors for pothos health. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy.
- If you water consistently and plants still suffer, they could need more light. Ensure indoor specimens have bright indirect light or one to two hours of direct sunlight daily.
- Keep a close eye on your pothos and you’ll catch additional issues before they happen!
