Hi all. This has me stumped. I went to check on my plants today only to notice that my pothos has all the leaves on the bottom vines just. Gone. I checked everywhere for caterpillars, or anything that could be eating it but see nothing. It’s inside a sunroom. There’s some stringy stretchy stuff at the end of each… nub (pic 3). No pets. I have a weird roommate but I don’t want to accuse her of cutting them or anything until I can fully rule out pests. Has anyone ever seen this? It’s pretty much only on these long vines, and the leaves definitely aren’t anywhere in here. Plant is in leca and is watered normally. It’s inside a sunroom and gets indirect light most of the day.
by lilyolks
12 Comments
None of my other plants seem to be affected either
Spider mites?
Did the tips get eaten off before the leaves unfurled or were fully-formed leaves removed?
There is no way that you have WHOLE leaves disappearing from pests. I would 100% think its a cat, if you didnt specify no pets. Ask your roomate
Remindme! 5 days
Side comment: I seriously need your leca advice because Ive tried using it for so many plants and they’re not thriving. I think Im using too much water with the leca, but the concept of leaving a thin layer of water on the bottom that the leca pulls up itself seems… hard to believe. Im afraid they’re just gonna dry out and die. But most of mine are currently rotting/not growing new leaves/stunted and struggling.
This pothos is beautiful for being in leca so I would be forever greatful if you can summarize some tips!
Posting my opinion on the damage after this.
If you have reptiles , ones that can have free roaming at all even for 10 mins…dosent take long.
My fiance has a turtle and it demolished anything that resembles a plant, if it didn’t have to be in a tank My plants would all be in trouble
Very strange! What/whoever is removing the leaves, they don’t look to be cut with scissors. The cut isn’t clean. You definitely don’t have cats? 😭
Edited to say I may actually be wrong. Some look like clean cuts? I’m stumped too!
Are the leaves falling off and being left behind on the floor?
The jagged cuts and consistency of the lowest leaves being targeted strongly hints that it’s an animal. You said no pets, but could a bird get in there maybe? Its a bit of an assumption, but based on those cuts it does look like the way a bird would chew a leaf off, and theyd have access by standing in the lowest shelf.
There are a few problems with that theory though. (1) I dont see any fallen leaves. A bird wouldnt be able to eat the whole leaf, and instead would prob chew a bunch off onto the floor. (2) they would have more access to other leaves too, so its a bit weird that they only targeted the low ones. (3) they like to munch all over. There would be scarring all up the stems if birds were having enough of a go to knock that many leaves off. (4) I doubt you said “no pets” but then also had a wide open window that other animals could get through, and you just ignored that.
It is my better theory though. Realistically these look like a dog just homfed the leaves right off. Its low where they could reach, they would be capable of clipping a whole leave off and leaving behind no evidence, and some dogs like to rip apart plants like that. No pets in the house though, so that makes it tough.
Doesnt look like pests and doesnt look like a plant health issue. Neither of those could remove a leaf so surgically. With enough of an issue to cause this many leaves to fall off, you would have to also be seeing other side effects. Browning/rot near where the leaves fell off. Visible pests. Overall rot and browning. Leaves falling off multiple stems, not just the low ones.
I hate to be the accuser, but your roommate is the most likely suspect based on everything youve mentioned. Have they maybe brought animals over when youre not there and let them free roam? Aside from that Im not sure why they’d be picking SO many leaves off. One or two out of curiosity I could try to understand. But this many though? Idk.
Also doesn’t help their case that you threw “weird” in there when describing them 😂
We need updates if the case is solved. This reminds me of another post where someone was clearly pinching cuts into a succulent’s leaves with their fingernails. The poster was a mother that said “I already asked and my daughter didn’t do it.” Spoiler alert: 100 posts later calling out the daughter and yes, it was her pinching the leaves 😂
It could be a mouse.
We awoke to an odd noise and finally saw a tiny mouse jumping on a leaf to break it off and then watched as it ate the stem all of the way up to the leafy part. We guessed that it was finding water/wet stuff to eat the only way that it could in the middle of winter.
I’m convinced it’s a rodent of some sort. Do you have a motion camera by chance? That would be great. (Motion cameras come in distinct
Flavors – some ignore animals and some don’t)
You are only losing leaves that would be in reach of a small animal. Cat-sized or maybe smaller if it can stand upright. There are no leaves lost anywhere else. Start there. It’s not a person or an insect.