If you know even a bit about pothos, you would know that pothos or Epipremnum Aureum is the most-sought after indoor plant even kids can grow without any external help.
Being a tropical forest plant, this plant can withstand neglect for long periods and possesses the ability to purify the air around them.
Besides, low humidity, moderate indirect sunlight, well-nourished soil are a few things associated with pothos.
Out of its numerous varieties, one hot-selling species is golden pothos. No, don’t go by its name. Appearance-wise, golden pothos features proper heart-shaped leaves with an emerald green base and a yellow hue spread over them.
It’s also famous by Devil’s Ivy as it is almost impossible to kill this plant. However, remember that you ought to take proper care of golden pothos to help them thrive. And for this, here’s a quick care guide for golden pothos.
How to care for golden pothos?
As said above, despite being an undemanding plant, pothos requires specific care to thrive. These care tips include:
1. Allow Adequate light
Every plant requires light, but plants like pothos with variegated leaves have a particular need for sunlight.
It is because having variegated leaves, i.e., leaves with more than one color, inadequate light can fade away from the leaves’ golden shade, leaving behind an all-green golden pothos.
If the light isn’t enough, the plant’s green pigment called chlorophyll will increase and cover the leaves in all green. Plus, the shine of the emerald green will appear to get pale. Depending upon how much light your golden pothos is getting, you might notice other symptoms too.
As a remedy, immediately shift your golden pothos to a location receiving ample sunlight yet indirectly! Remember, even ample direct sunlight will do no good to your pothos as every pothos species thrive for indirect light.
2. Use Proper soil
When you’re taking care of your golden pothos, you can’t ignore the soil. While some plants thrive in acidic soil, others may droop in the same.
For pothos, you need slightly acidic soil with a pH of at least 6.1. If the soil is acidic, it ought to have a good drainage capacity, and such things contribute towards blossoming pothos.
On the other hand, if there is any alkalinity in the soil, your golden pothos will most probably bow down.
In a nutshell, for your golden pothos:
- The soil must have a pH of at least 6.1, and
- The soil should have a decent draining property.
3. Check temperature around the plant frequently
As you’d know that golden pothos or any pothos do well under moderate temperature ranges, say 50-90-degree Fahrenheit.
However, experts suggest that if the temperature is slightly over 60-degrees, the better.
Since maintaining such a temperature indoors isn’t recommended or possible, many people plant the pot outside. It again isn’t a good option with pothos.
As a remedy, keep the pothos under the shade or tree or near a window if indoors. This way, the temperature will neither be too low nor too high.
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4. Be mindful of the humidity
Besides an appropriate temperature range, every pothos also requires adequate humidity. For example, the humidity of around 70 is most appropriate for pothos as this prevents the golden pothos from drying and drooping leaves.
If the humidity level isn’t good, your plant will start showing symptoms like crisp leaves, brown spots over the leaves, etc.
Being a small indoor plant, you can place the plant in hot and humid surroundings like the bedroom or kitchen to obtain sufficient humidity. If still, the humidity level isn’t good, you can install a humidifier close to the plant.
5. Water the plant as and when required
You might feel like watering your golden pothos at regular intervals without realizing you’re doing more harm than good in this way.
Yes, pothos is one such plant with minimal water needs and can react negatively if watered in excess. That’s why, if you have just watered the plant, let the top 2 to 3-inches of soil dry out before the next wet spell.
If you keep on watering the soil, it will become damp and affect the roots with fungal infection. This infection will further intensify and grow upwards to affect the remaining plant.
Due to this, you must let the soil lose its water before being given more water. However, keep watching the leaves for signs of dryness like dry and brown edges, etc.
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6. Do not use fertilizer
Do you use fertilizer? If yes, you might have to stop using one! Fertilizers are simply the external sources of nutrition to the plants enriched with potassium, sulfur, potash, manganese, phosphorus, etc.
It is necessary for some plants, but not all! And pothos belongs to the latter category. If your pothos is getting enough nutrients from the soil, you should not add any fertilizer to the plant.
It will only increase the salts in the soil, blocking and preventing the roots from absorbing moisture & nutrients to make their food.
If the topsoil appears white and flaky, it determines the presence of salts in the soil.
In rare cases, if the plant is unable to obtain sufficient nutrients naturally, you can add a small quantity of good-quality fertilizer, however, only once or twice a year.
Don’t miss pruning
Pruning is another underrated care tip most people neglect.
Since pruning removes any dead or dried-out leaf or branch that’s impossible to revive by any means, it enables the plant to focus on the remaining parts for growth.
This further prevents outbreaks of pests, animal infestation and lifts plant’s growth in their natural shape.
So, these are the handy golden pothos care tips you can utilize.
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Conclusion
Having pothos, especially golden pothos, at home is a good idea. It not only purifies the atmosphere but also lends positivity around it.
With minimal requirements, you can even assign its care duties to children. However, that doesn’t mean that you can completely ignore the plant.
Not taking enough care of the plant can result in symptoms of an unhealthy plant, including drooping leaves, waning stems, brown spots, stunted growth, etc.
To avoid all these, you should invest insufficient care of the plant for which the above parameters are essential to look after.
At last, keep in mind that if nothing is wrong with your golden pothos and it’s still in bad shape, you should try repotting it to new soil and pot.