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How do stores get their pothos so bushy?

16 years ago

Mine are never as tightly packed as the pothos I see for sale in the stores here. What exactly do they do to cause such dense, lush growth? Do they use extra light, or fertilizer? Thanks.

Featured Answer

birdsnblooms

16 years ago

Nick, it's not the stores that get Pothos nice and bushy..remember, plants are shipped from Fl where the humidity and general environment is perfect for growing plants. Pothos like humidity.
But there's ways to keep a Pothos bushy..Prune...Remove tip leaves (2-3 leaves per stems) every 2-3 months. In winter, mist foliage and use a humidifer. Do you let it hang, set on a table or grow upright? Toni

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Comments (8)

Mentha
16 years ago
A lot of light and a lot of fertilizer both. They are greenhouse grown in places like SO CA and FL and pushed with as many hormones as possible then sold as low light plants. They also plant a lot of cuttings in the pot, you could continue to have the semblance of bushiness by letting the vines grow around the edges of the pot or take cuttings when it gets too long.
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Thanks for the reply, Josh. >> How long have the cuttings been in the tray? Here is the full history. Jul 30: cut the tops and let them dry on a paper towel, Aug 1 (2 days): planted into dry gritty mix, Aug 12 (11 days): bottom-watered for the first time to the point where the mix got fully saturated, then drained, but all the greenery on top was totally dry, Aug 27 (15 days): watered from top; leaves got wet; put it back under lights to dry. Sep 2 (6 days): misted heavily to wet the very top of the soil - but of course the above-ground parts all got wet too. Noticed one tip cutting dried up (did not rot but looked like dried up) below the lowest leaves, so basically whatever part was in the mix. There were no roots on that cutting. I pulled another very gently, and there was a tiny bit of resistance. No roots visible anywhere through the walls of the transparent container. >> If you can see roots on the bottom, nope, cannot. >> The donor plants look just a touch pale It may be the lighting, which is very bright and cold/blue (6500K) - taken under the grow fixture. I'll check during the day and might post another picture if I can get one where the color looks true. >> I'd be curious as to how frequently you fertilize. Jul 23: repotted into gritty mix and watered generously, Jul 25 (2 days): afraid pine bark was dry, so I bottom-soaked it for 45 minutes or so. Jul 30 (5 days): took the cuttings, fertilized for the first time (fertilizer is Foliage-Pro 9-3-6, always at quarter-strength). Aug 15 (16 days): fertilized. Aug 21 (6 days): fertilized. Sep 5 (give or take a day, 15 days): will fertilize again. What would you say?
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amany
16 years ago
I would add that they seem to like oscomote(sp?) in the soil. I have one at work and one at home. They started out around the same size. The one at work is a lot bushier and longer than the one I have at home. I bought the one at work with oscomote already in the soil. The one at home doesn't have any. I fertilize the one at home once or twice a month from March to October.

The one at work also has 14 hours of fluorescent lighting (about five feet overhead) as well as natural light. The air at work is a lot drier than it is at home, but it doesn't seem to affect the plant in a bad way. I do agree, though, that pothos appreciate humidity.

I don't know what was done to the plant I have at work before I bought it. So maybe it was "pumped up" with hormones. It was a pot full of cuttings when I bought it (I took it out of the pot and looked at it when I bought it). The one I have at home came from another pothos, but I had about the same amount of cuttings.
susancva
16 years ago
Pruning mine regularly keeps it thick and dense looking.

Susan
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
16 years ago
Also remember that in nature they grow upward. The top of one growing up a the side of a three story palm tree is quite impressive. I have never seen the greenhouse culture but I would not be surprised if they grew them upward. I have seen poles sold for growing them upward. This never worked for me.
maidinmontana
16 years ago
I agree, keep them trimmed and you will get bushier plants. With mine, when I see a new leaf starting to form I clip it off, I will do so until it as full as I want it to be then I will let it grow. I don't like mine to hang, something about the 70's hanging plant thing I guess, I prefer to set mine on top of shelves,armoirs ets and let them spread rather than hang. They have a lot of air roots on them too, the bumps you see on the stems, if you stick them back in the dirt they will form a new plant and help fill in.
flicker
16 years ago
Interesting,thanks to you all. I never thought of cutting the growing tip of the vine's stem to cause it to bush. I am growing 2 different kinds on sphagnum poles. I wondered what to do when
they reached the top!
Johanna
birdsnblooms
16 years ago
Johanna, are you using the round or flat moss poles? If the round, you can buy extension poles..they have clips on either side that stick into the bottom pole..Toni

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