Hey all I live around Redondo Beach CA, it’s a bit cold and foggy this time of year (though not as bad as up north ofc) and these two pothos on the left are recently bought plants. Of course when I got them they were huge, dark green and the stems were very stiff. The ones on the right are older plants I’ve had for about 6 months. I live in a house with mostly east west facing windows, so I naturally put most of my plants on the western side of the house to get afternoon and evening sun, but am I just suffering from poor lighting? I lightly water once every 4-5 days, or if I absolutely need to I’ll do a thorough watering once a week. I’ve had experience with both over and underwatering, so I’m still trying to nail that down. Mostly I’m just looking for ways to interpret the symptoms. Im pretty sure I’m just not getting enough light. Any and all help is appreciated, thanks!
by StachioJoe
5 Comments
No such thing as too little light for pothos lol. Might be over watering. I can get away with once every two weeks on my established pothos. Newly repotted can be finicky and require more watering. It looks like acclimation die off and it’s thirsty. If the soil moist right now and it looks like that you may have root rot. In which case you’ll want to do a full overhaul.
Watering small amounts frequently is not what you want to do. You want to soak the soil thoroughly and then let it dry out between waterings.
Overwatering and underwatering can lead to the same symptoms, and are both from the roots not taking up enough water. With overwatering, the roots rot and then there’s nothing to take up water for the plant, hence the wilted look. If it’s underwatered… same story but there’s no water to take up.
First step would be to check on the roots to see if they’re healthy. Depending on how much water you’re using when you’re doing these “light waterings every 4-5 days” it’s possible that not all the roots are getting access to water, so it’s important to do less frequent/more thorough waterings
“Lightly watering” is not something you want to do! You want to water less frequently, but when you do, give it a GOOD soak, as long as the extra water can drain out. Like, literally pour water until you see it coming out of the bottom. Every 10-14 days is usually.
What’s the pot situation for those plants? I can’t really tell in the photos, are they all in pots with good drainage? That is key. Also did you ever report these since you had them? Some of the pots look pretty huge.
Also forgot to add, you want to think of pothos and lots of similar plants as being in a state of dry/wet. They want to stay moderately wet, they want it to rain and have a drink and then be allowed to dry out almost completely. They don’t like staying in between.
Small watering is not the way you wanna go with pothos.
For context, I water my pothos once every one to three weeks. I will literally soak the soak soil until it’s drenched and let It drain the excess. I keep humidifiers going, so the room is usually pretty high in humidity, so the soil doesn’t dry out as fast – that’s when I’ll let It go the full three weeks. Other times where I forget to refill the humidifier or they just don’t keep up, that’s when I’ll do weekly.
So I basically average one watering every two weeks. You absolutely have to let pothos dry out before you water again. For an average room with regular (low) humidity, I’d say it would be closer to once a week (maybe ten days max). Always check to see if your soil is dry before you water.
The other factor besides humidity is light. The more light, the more water (this is a very general rule, not an exact one).
In theory: more light = more energy (growth).
More energy(growth) = more fuel (water).
Focus on getting the watering schedule down and worrying about changing the light later. Water is more important. (You can also try taking a few cuttings from these and putting them permanently in water. It’s a great way to not have to worry so much about soil conditions.