First of all, sorry for your loss. While plants are a lovely way to remember someone they can be a lot of pressure to keep up and lots of guilt if something happens to them. Plants die sometimes and that is ok. Plants should bring joy when you look at them, not sadness. So keep that in mind and be kind to yourself!
Secondly this doesn’t necessarily look like it’s dying, the spots could be from overwatering or too much direct sunlight. I can’t tell if there’s soil under the moss but you can pull up the whole thing and inspect the roots.
Healthy roots should look White, feel firm, and smell like dirt. Root rot smells gross and is squishy and often black. If you have any root rot trim it back to healthy roots. Then repot in some chunky Aroid mix! Water when the pot fees light or a finger in the soil to your knuckle feels dry. Pothos will also look a bit wilted when it needs water.
Good luck!
Chrimaho
Repot one smaller size up with rocks at the bottom, water once or twice a week with plant food in the water, and keep in indirect light for a little bit.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
I totally understand wanting to keep something to hold onto.
Sending you love and light.
Fancy-Insurance-1053
Thank you both so much for your kind words ! The dirt that it’s in is very dry, even when I water it so yes I’m going to repot. What kind of mix would be good?
Shoddy_Matter_4940
Don’t worry that plant is far from dead. Repotting with some new soil and going like one size up for the pot would be good. They aren’t very picky when it comes to soil, or so I have read, I would go with an aroid mix. Once you find it a good spot with the right amount of light it will start to thrive
plantgirl7
Looks quite dehydrated so it’s most likely the soil being compacted and hydrophobic, give it a bottom watering for an hour or so.
InternalAd4456
Re pothos. Few months ago I received tiny clipping pothos from lobby hospital. I was an outpatient. I asked for wheelchair help. They said 1/2 hr wait.
Anyway finish story another time. The cutting now has good roots going. No new leaves. Want Pic? It is in water. A little afraid to report! Ty
Time_Possession2066
Sorry for your loss. I dont have much advice about the pothos, but perhaps try to propogate part of it so you have a backup if anything does happen to the main plant 🙂
holly421
Pothos are very resilient and this one looks very salvageable!
In addition to what others have said, I would take a clipping from it to start the propagation process! If you start with a leaf, move down the stem towards the roots. You’ll find nodes (bumps) along the stem. With a clean pair of scissors, make a cut so you have a piece that has 2-3 nodes on it. Stick it in water so the nodes are submerged, place it in indirect light, and you’ll have another pothos ready for planting in a few months! Pothos have a really strong rooting hormone, you’ll start to see white roots emerge from the submerged node.
Pothos are very resilient and it might make you feel better to have a little bit of insurance by propagating.
Ok_Purchase1592
Water it
artfig
I know this wasn’t your question, but I would think about clipping a leaf when the plant perks back up and pressing it – maybe preserving it in a double glass frame. That way you can love the plant and potentially release some of the intense memory pressure. I’m not the most experienced but pothos were the first plants I kept alive and are now what I gift everyone who thinks they can’t keep houseplants alive. So far, they’ve proved everyone wrong 🙂
SnooRegrets2645
Did you say thank you?
There’s an old wives tale that if you say thank you for a free plant, it will die.
This has been true for every plant i’ve said thank you for when there’s seemingly nothing wrong with it.
Very sorry for the loss of your sister
lovespelled
I am so sorry for your loss. 🖤 I’m someone who often gets advice from plant care subreddits instead of giving advice, so I’m crossing my fingers that folks here may have some tips for you!
When my dad died a few years ago, someone gifted me a plant that unfortunately got pests and I couldn’t save it. I wish I had thought of this then — but perhaps taking a leaf to press and frame could be another nice way to keep this plant with you always while it hopefully recovers. I know this has to be stressful for you. 🖤🌿 It’s a lovely plant and it sure looks like she’ll be okay!
fukthepatriarchy
I’m very sorry for your loss. Looks like you have your answers here, but I just wanted to share that I have a pothos hanging in my window right now that is a cutting from a plant from my mom’s funeral – 38 years later, it is still going strong.
These plants are tough! Just follow the advice here and give it a little love ever so often, and you’ll have it for years to come.
CannaConsumer0306
Pothos love to live in water, I always have some growing in water and its as simple as cutting them and putting them in a jar that can see the window (not getting hit by sunlight as it will kill the plant from heating the water) and then topping up / swapping out the water! It can live forever in water and if you want to you can always fertilize the water every so often to promote growth!
Soil can be hard to tell when to water but wgen growing in water all ya need to do is keep the water level the same, sometimes refresh the water, and watch for brown roots (cut those guys off)
Silent-Bad4089
Underwatering. Isn’t that SO obvious?!
Silent-Bad4089
Literally all it needs is to be soaked in a bowl for a half hour.
16 Comments
First of all, sorry for your loss. While plants are a lovely way to remember someone they can be a lot of pressure to keep up and lots of guilt if something happens to them. Plants die sometimes and that is ok. Plants should bring joy when you look at them, not sadness. So keep that in mind and be kind to yourself!
Secondly this doesn’t necessarily look like it’s dying, the spots could be from overwatering or too much direct sunlight. I can’t tell if there’s soil under the moss but you can pull up the whole thing and inspect the roots.
Healthy roots should look White, feel firm, and smell like dirt. Root rot smells gross and is squishy and often black. If you have any root rot trim it back to healthy roots. Then repot in some chunky Aroid mix! Water when the pot fees light or a finger in the soil to your knuckle feels dry. Pothos will also look a bit wilted when it needs water.
Good luck!
Repot one smaller size up with rocks at the bottom, water once or twice a week with plant food in the water, and keep in indirect light for a little bit.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
I totally understand wanting to keep something to hold onto.
Sending you love and light.
Thank you both so much for your kind words ! The dirt that it’s in is very dry, even when I water it so yes I’m going to repot. What kind of mix would be good?
Don’t worry that plant is far from dead. Repotting with some new soil and going like one size up for the pot would be good. They aren’t very picky when it comes to soil, or so I have read, I would go with an aroid mix. Once you find it a good spot with the right amount of light it will start to thrive
Looks quite dehydrated so it’s most likely the soil being compacted and hydrophobic, give it a bottom watering for an hour or so.
Re pothos. Few months ago I received tiny clipping pothos from lobby hospital. I was an outpatient. I asked for wheelchair help. They said 1/2 hr wait.
Anyway finish story another time. The cutting now has good roots going. No new leaves. Want Pic? It is in water. A little afraid to report! Ty
Sorry for your loss. I dont have much advice about the pothos, but perhaps try to propogate part of it so you have a backup if anything does happen to the main plant 🙂
Pothos are very resilient and this one looks very salvageable!
In addition to what others have said, I would take a clipping from it to start the propagation process! If you start with a leaf, move down the stem towards the roots. You’ll find nodes (bumps) along the stem. With a clean pair of scissors, make a cut so you have a piece that has 2-3 nodes on it. Stick it in water so the nodes are submerged, place it in indirect light, and you’ll have another pothos ready for planting in a few months! Pothos have a really strong rooting hormone, you’ll start to see white roots emerge from the submerged node.
Pothos are very resilient and it might make you feel better to have a little bit of insurance by propagating.
Water it
I know this wasn’t your question, but I would think about clipping a leaf when the plant perks back up and pressing it – maybe preserving it in a double glass frame. That way you can love the plant and potentially release some of the intense memory pressure. I’m not the most experienced but pothos were the first plants I kept alive and are now what I gift everyone who thinks they can’t keep houseplants alive. So far, they’ve proved everyone wrong 🙂
Did you say thank you?
There’s an old wives tale that if you say thank you for a free plant, it will die.
This has been true for every plant i’ve said thank you for when there’s seemingly nothing wrong with it.
Very sorry for the loss of your sister
I am so sorry for your loss. 🖤 I’m someone who often gets advice from plant care subreddits instead of giving advice, so I’m crossing my fingers that folks here may have some tips for you!
When my dad died a few years ago, someone gifted me a plant that unfortunately got pests and I couldn’t save it. I wish I had thought of this then — but perhaps taking a leaf to press and frame could be another nice way to keep this plant with you always while it hopefully recovers. I know this has to be stressful for you. 🖤🌿 It’s a lovely plant and it sure looks like she’ll be okay!
I’m very sorry for your loss. Looks like you have your answers here, but I just wanted to share that I have a pothos hanging in my window right now that is a cutting from a plant from my mom’s funeral – 38 years later, it is still going strong.
These plants are tough! Just follow the advice here and give it a little love ever so often, and you’ll have it for years to come.
Pothos love to live in water, I always have some growing in water and its as simple as cutting them and putting them in a jar that can see the window (not getting hit by sunlight as it will kill the plant from heating the water) and then topping up / swapping out the water! It can live forever in water and if you want to you can always fertilize the water every so often to promote growth!
Soil can be hard to tell when to water but wgen growing in water all ya need to do is keep the water level the same, sometimes refresh the water, and watch for brown roots (cut those guys off)
Underwatering. Isn’t that SO obvious?!
Literally all it needs is to be soaked in a bowl for a half hour.