Pothos pruning and propagation is easy! These plants are houseplant classics because they’re easy to maintain and care for, and they grow very quickly when they’re taken care of. They also propagate well from cuttings, so you can easily expand your pothos collection or give cuttings away to plant-loving friends!
Here’s your simple guide to pothos pruning and propagation whether you’re brand new to houseplants or a seasoned pro.
Table of Contents
Pothos Pruning and Propagation
Pothos Pruning
First, let’s talk about pruning your pothos plants.
You might do this for several reasons.
The first reason is for the health of the plant. You may want to trim away damaged leaves so the pothos plant can redirect more of its energy toward healthy new growth. Leaves that have yellowed, dried out, or turned brown are no longer doing much work for the plant and the rest of the plant has to work harder to support them. Do your pothos plant a favor and remove this old, damaged growth!
The second reason why you might prune is to control your pothos plant’s size.
When given sufficient light, water, and fertilizer, pothos plants can grow very quickly, with their long vines trailing up to 10 feet indoors! If you don’t want your pothos to get that massive, you may want to trim those vines down to a more manageable length. It’s like giving your pothos a haircut!
Pothos plants are easy to prune. All you need is a sharp, clean pair of shears or scissors so you can simply trim the vines to the desired length, or snip off a damaged leaf near the base of the stem where it connects to a vine.
Alternatively, sometimes a yellow or browning leaf will already be loose, in which case you can easily remove it with a gentle tug. That’s it!
If you do prune your pothos to manage its size, don’t throw that cutting away! You can actually propagate that cutting to grow a whole new pothos plant.
This takes us to our next topic: pothos propagation.
Pothos Propagation
Method #1: Cuttings
Pothos is one of the easiest plants to propagate with cuttings, or smaller pieces cut from the mother plant.
How to take a cutting
The most important thing to remember when taking a cutting is to include a node, which is a little brown or black bump on the vine, usually located near a place where a leaf’s stem connects to the vine. This is where new roots will sprout!
If you’re pruning your pothos to control its size, chances are that the piece you just cut is perfect for propagating because it will most likely contain a node. You could also cut that long piece into several cuttings. As long as each piece has a node, you can propagate it!
It’s also a good idea to cut from a fairly new piece of the plant because that part is already growing and healthy, and it has a great shot of growing new, healthy roots quickly.
You can propagate a pothos plant at any time, but you’ll see the best and fastest results in the spring and summer!
How to get your pothos cutting to root
Once you’ve taken your cutting, place it in a glass of clean water with some Propagation Promoter with the end of the cutting submerged, but don’t let the leaves touch the water. Then place the container in a bright place and wait.
Make sure to freshen up the water every week. Within a month or so, you should see new roots beginning to form! Once those roots are at least an inch long, you can plant your new baby pothos plant in soil. After you plant the cutting, water thoroughly and watch it grow!
Method #2: Separation
Another easy way to propagate a pothos plant is by separation. This is a great method if your pothos plant is expanding laterally and starting to outgrow its pot.
To separate your pothos, tip the pot on its side and gently ease your pothos out. If the root ball is tightly packed, massage it to loosen it up.
Then gently break the pothos plant into two or more sections. You can also cut apart the root ball with a sharp, clean knife.
You can then plant your smaller pothos plants into separate pots. Water thoroughly, but wait at least a month to fertilize. The roots will be delicate after being separated and more susceptible to chemical burn from fertilizer, so give the roots some time to heal before you resume your fertilization schedule.
If you have trouble keeping your cuttings upright in their container or medium, you should try these easy-to-use node holders! This handy propagation tool is a simple way to keep root cuttings healthy and in place while they take root, which gives those roots more room to grow without the added pressure of supporting the plant’s weight. This plant node support also helps your cuttings root faster!
That’s it! Pothos plants are hardy and propagating them is a breeze. And as fast as they grow, you can expand your pothos collection in no time!