My dad had people come out and do our yard today and they mutilated my pothos vine. It was well over 5ft long and now it’s nothing. I actually full on bursted into tears when I saw it, not even exaggerating, because it was the one I was most proud of. I know it’s not a “houseplant” since I keep them outside but most people keep them inside so I’m posting here, where people understand my devastation. It still has two nodes, but it’s absolutely mutilated, is there any saving it? I got it on FB when it was 4ft and it grew so much since then. There’s honestly no words to describe how upset and sad I am right now. I know it’s “just a pothos” but it was my favorite, I was so proud of its growth. I was even thinking about clipping it soon to get some new plants but that dreams gone now. I stupidly never took a picture of its growth, but I’ll include a picture from the seller when I bought it and what it looks like after the murder. Thanks in advance for telling me if it’s salvageable or not. Anyone else have any devastating plant experiences?
by Dandylioncrush6303
38 Comments
It’s not “just a pothos,” of course — it’s a plant you nurtured! I’d be angry. What did they do?! I’m so sorry.
I’m so sorry about what happened to your pothos. I will say though, if it makes you feel better, I feel like pothos are just very hardy in that I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they could survive a nuclear war.
Your (now) little guy looks pretty rough but honestly, it’s likely he’ll be sprouting new leaves in no time. Just keep up with whatever was your previous routine, don’t touch him, and keep doing whatever it liked before, and keep an eye on it. It might be a little shocked for a bit and you may not see any growth for a few weeks, but in my experience after chopping off 5 ft of growth on my own pothos down to almost nothing… it’ll be back to normal in no time, lol. I even propagated stems that had no leaves and 99% of them lived.
Demand compensation. They were to do your yard, not your potted plants on your porch.
[removed]
I am so sorry that happened to you!
I feel like it’s worth it to try and save it. These things can withstand a lot. I chopped mine down pretty far and it grew back over time.
Well, it might recover. It’ll take a while to regrow, but once these guys get going they REALLY get going. I have one in a sink ilar sized pot that’s probably 200 feet long by now with something like 15 different vines. I’m growing down and up a 20 foot wall in my living room.
Pothos are REALLY tough so just hang in there and be patient and trust the process. It’ll be back and much bigger, and since it was topped, you’ll probably get more than a single vine too.
This happened to me with my bay tree (never hire friends to do yard work when you know they’re potheads). Whippersnapped it from five feet down to two…three years of growth. It came back.
Don’t worry too much. It was a good, healthy pothos and they can take way more damage than that before they shuffle off their mortal coil. It’ll come back, and probably pretty quickly given that it’s already established in its pot!
Should come back as roots are still viable along with 1 remaining leave
Do you still have the vine. You can propagate and root it and the cut off vine can become a plant. To do this, remove a few of the bottom leaves and put the part of the stem without leaves in a cup of water. When it had roots, move it to dirt. Some people do it directly in dirt, I prefer water because I can check on the progress. You could also cut the vines into a few propogations if you would like. I’m sorry this happwnwd
I’m really sorry this happened. I’m angry and sad for you. I think it could bounce back though. My dad had a Pothos in his home office for 14 years up on a book shelf. It was a specimen from a science fair project I’d done in school. It was dusty but generally healthy. He got sick in 2020 and for 3-4 months the plant was completely ignored because we were focusing on his health crisis. When I found it eventually it was dried out and mostly dead. I was devastated because he’d taken care of it for so long and I wanted to be able to save something after all we’d gone through. I had to cut it back a lot, repot it, and really baby it for a few months, but it’s thriving in my home office now! Don’t give up hope. These things are hearty.
My short story is I babied a couple morning glories from seeds. When I deemed it ready to go outside, I planted one outside.
Within a few weeks f*cking RABBITS came and ate ALL the leaves off except the stem. I was so angry. But my rule of things is that if it’s green, it’s still alive.
Low and behold after I put a cage around it, it grew its leaves back and is better than ever.
Your baby ain’t done yet, it has roots, and that is what will keep it going!
One of the good things about a pothos is when u chop it, a new stem grows in its place. Sometimes, it pushes out multiple new stems. If it were me, I’d chop off the damaged stem right above that good node. Should have new growth in a few weeks.
Aww OP don’t cry, it’s ok. Let me tell you a story.
A while back I clipped a small piece off of my pothos and sent it to my partner’s house. It was only a few inches long, it had like three leaves and two roots. They kept it on the porch for a few months, then it got too cold outside and the plant just kind of melted and dropped all of the leaves. Brought it inside to check the roots and they were mostly gone (my partner isn’t great at watering lol). It was just a bare piece of stem with a couple nodes and dead roots. Decided to put it into a jar of water to see what happens. Weeks pass and we kind of forget about it. The crispy roots become covered in algae. The water dries out a few times. Somehow, incredibly, it started making leaves again. Then more roots. Now it’s just…totally fine. Leaves look healthy, more coming in, plenty of roots.
So anyway, I don’t think pothos can be killed. Yours will be completely fine. It still has roots, nodes, and even a leaf. It will come back bigger than ever.
Definitely report this. Seems very deliberate, considering the ignored instructions and the pole being gone. And even if they don’t compensate you, the people working that job could be told off or reprimanded in some way so they don’t do this to anyone else if the company cares to any degree, which is worth at least attempting. Sounds like your dad will understand. Hope things go well. I understand losing plants, as I recently lost like fifteen plants that I’d had for two years to Job Corps, because the staff running the dorm I lived in either got rid of them or took them home when I left, despite that I was coming back for them. They could have at least waited until after graduation instead of assuming I wouldn’t be there, but the program and staff were horrible. The only one left was an elm, which I later got rid of myself because they’re invasive here.
This is so bizarre that they would tear apart a potted plant.. the only thing I can think that would cause someone to do this is if they didn’t like your dad. I also don’t know why a roofing company would offer to mow and weed a yard for free.. unless of course they messed up on the roof in the first place and we’re trying to get on good terms of the home owner. The whole situation is so strange.. lucky for you it’s still the growing season and pothos grow super quick so your plant is going to be okay, although I would cut off the stringy parts from where they tore it apart. Probably by this time next year it’ll be pretty close to where you had it this year, but still that is so ridiculous.
Nahh, let me know what company they were and I’ll cause problems
My dear, I had a huuuuge pothos that a friend gave me and then I discovered it was full of thrips. I cut all the leaves and rescue a node or two that weren’t infested. 3 years later – I’m cutting this m…cker almost every week to give away and propagate because it grows like weed. It will perk right up 💚
https://preview.redd.it/1tabhyguqiaf1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f683197773723d665b4049f1564c64368c9cafa
Pothos are EXTREMELY resilient. This pothos was cut completely back to nothing more than short stems, zero leaves at the beginning of this summer after neglecting it this winter. Sometimes, the chop actually will bring back a healthier, fuller plant.
My plant that started my hyperfixation was a what I thought was a weed in a neglected garden at a house I was renting that turned out to be a yellow rose. It was a football with a wisp
Of a live stem on it. I got it to about 2 feet tall and it was blooming. All sorts of nice red new growth. New lawn company did this exact thing. I was devastated to the point that I have never hired anyone to do my lawn ever again. And I have like 300 plants now. So I feel like I won in the end.
Also, it’ll be fine. Pothos respond really well to pruning. They start pumping a ton of growth hormone when they are stressed so you will be alright, just keep caring for it as you have been and tell her that she looks great with the short hair
If its green theres hope
He will live. Pothos are nearly indestructible. The landscapers? Definitely call them, ask them what the fuck, and get *them* to replace your plant. They are not supposed to destroy the landscape, they are supposed to groom it. Contact the roofing company and let them know what their “landscapers” did, let them know you aren’t happy with their “bonus” that caused you damages.
It may seem like overkill, but those people should not be used as incentive to generate revenue for the roofers, and they definitely shouldn’t be allowed to butcher anyone else’s plants.
Its about the time and effort you put into this for it to look so beautiful, say an artist spends 50hrs making a hige detailed drawing and someone rips it up cause its ‘just a drawing’ like nooo its about the planning, the time, effort, money spent to grow it!
Sorry for you loss!
Friend this is a tragedy but thar is a pothos, it will come back!!
I feel for you- I’ve had my mom murder some of my maps beloved plants and was upset for a looooong time (who am I kidding, I still am). The beauty of nature is it finds a way. It’ll take time, but it will grow back, and probably grow back even stronger and bigger this time around. Plants can withstand a lot of trauma- and they usually come back even bigger and stronger.
Pathos are known to be resilient. My plants have taught me a lot about recovering from setbacks (unless if it’s my polka dot plant, that thing was sent from hell to torture me, but I digress).
It is normal and okay to grieve this, you watched this grow and have nurtured it. I’m sorry this happened, any of us would be extremely upset. ❤️
A deer ate my pothos 🥺nothing left at all. Just gone. I’m assuming it was a deer because I don’t know what else could have stolen it.
This can totally survive. You’ll have to adjust your watering because there’s less plant to consume the water, but if it’s a pothos and it’s still green, there’s a chance
You can save this. They aren’t called Devil’s Ivy for no reason. Cut off the splintered bits and give her time to heal, once she starts putting out new nodes you can chop and prop for a fuller plant or let her keep growing as she was before.
Omg the same thing happened to me while I moved states. I had a 6 ft pathos that I packed with so much care and it travelled across 3 states over 4 days and it was THE ONLY plant that survived. We are setting up the new house and I had it spread on my walls but we had some renovation going on and someone snipped it from the bottom!!
I absolutely lost my shit and I was sobbing like someone died but I couldn’t explain the pain of losing the only plant that survived my move.
So I understand. I’m so sorry about your situation. Your reaction is valid.
It’s super hard to kill a pothos. Sucks what happened, but it will grow back.
Nothing may come of it, but I’d have your dad hit them up. Tell them they need to reimburse you something for the screw up. They killed what was obviously a cultivated plant. Looks like you still have the original ad and what you paid for it, plus how long it’ll theoretically take to grow it back.
You may get nothing. If you get something, you can put it toward fertilizer or something. I’d definitely ask him to bring it up. My uncle has had to have his guy pay to fix two windows and damaged siding because he let his idiot sun string trim near the house and the guy swings it around pretending it’s an air guitar. They also made the owner pay when he chewed down some newly planted shrubs.
Depends on if they’re legit and if they care about your business, but one with a shred of decency will do something to help balance the scales. Your dad should have a number in mind, that’s reasonable. It’s not gonna be what it’s worth to you, but it’ll be something.
Hey, you can save the vine!
Use a clean knife or scissors to make a clean cut to the bottom of the vine and strip off the bottom few leaves.
Put the cut end in water and give it plenty of light. That baby will throw down roots in a few weeks. Give it a month or two to really get those roots going and then pot it and you’ll have TWO pothos!
If the water gets algae just change it. No biggie.
Absolutely sucks, and I’m sorry you had a run in away an asshole who likes to create their own schadenfreude. 🤬
Pothos are quite tenacious.. and it still has that little one leaf.. it’ll take some time, but I think you can recover it
I wonder if they wanted to take it so they chopped it…
Wtf!!!??? It’s in a pot, absolutely no excuse for cutting it! I would do a new, clean cut right above a node. You might think about repotting into something smaller because it’s gonna probably spend a lot of energy filling that pot with roots instead of growing new leaves, but either way, I’m positive it’ll survive.
We have a beautiful fig tree in our yard, technically our tenants yard but it’s been there as long as I can remember and I’m now 41. It was in the process of fruiting. My dad had a bunch of fruit trees actually, and this was one of my faves cuz I love figs fresh off the tree. He passed away last year and I was so excited for the bounty this summer. My mom hires the tenants brother to do the lawn and he went too scissor happy with the fig because it was hanging over a path that led to the gas canister (for cooking, etc) and demolished maybe 3/5. I cried too. Literally…there were figs along the ground where he dragged the branches. He wasn’t even careful when he took the branches off. Devastating.
I will send you a long vine to root and plant next to it! ❤️
I think it will recover! Two nodes and a healthy root system will accomplish a lot! Especially on a plant as robust as pothos! Would love to see updates in the future