Benign neglect can be a house plants best friend, as long as light levels are met :)

When you say, I then repotted each of the 2 stems in separate pots with dry soil, do you mean bone dry soil?

If the soil was bone dry, this would be a major problem. When using potting mix, it must be moist (not wet). If it has completely dried out, then it can only be used if you manage to re-wet it.

Also, when re-potting a plant, or potting up a plant, it is important to water the plant in well. Water all the soil in the pot. Drench it. Then let the water drain from the pot and don't water the plant again until it seems necessary. Then you will, once again, fully water all of the soil in the pot.

We never want soil or potting mix to ever dry out, so it's just a figure of speech, really (or ignorance), when people advise, "Let the soil dry out between waterings." What is really meant by this statement is, "Don't water the plant all the time because roots need oxygen as well as water and if you keep the soil wet, then the roots will die."

Regarding your cutting in it's jar of water, do exactly as you did the other time you did this. When you pot it, use a good quality potting mix and a small, clean pot that is the right size for the rooted cutting (not a giant pot). Water it in well. Allow to drain. Place in good light levels and as the plant grows and requires more space, pot it up. This way, the plant will not get over-watered when you water.

Good luck. Sorry about the length of the post.

It there any advantage of using a rooting hormone when planting it into the soil? Like I said, I have just one chance at this. I'm surprised because after 18 years this plant has seemed invincible.

I wouldn't think so. Also, where would you place the hormone?

If you want to use a bit of hormone, then you would be best to use it now, but of course you will need to root the cutting into a cutting mix. (I have in fact tried some rooting hormone on a cutting in water just to see what would happen, but the results were so ordinary that I have forgotten them.)

Take a deep breath and relax about it. We make mistakes and very bad decisions when freaked out.

With 18 years of growth, I would have thought it has even some side shoots for you to use , not just the main stem growing out of the potting mix. However as that seems to be the case, then you are not just limited to the growing end of the plant.

Basically, every node where the leaves are growing off from can take root in soil or water. This means that if you have a 6-ft length plant, you could cut it into segments at every 1 or 2 nodes, and those could become new plants. I would choose 2-4 nodes to use though, as you would want to strip away the leaves at the bottom node when you stick it in water or plant it. Also some people are content with one node but I generally like two nodes, that's why I suggested it could be as high as a 4-node cutting -- 2 below the soil/water surface and two above.

If you plant it in soil, you could also plant it horizontally to get more growth points that would start a new branch.

I think what you saw is the plant's reaction to being repotted. There is naturally some loss of leaves or stems as the plant's roots readjust to their new home. In a different plant, it would have probably been suggested to remove some branches or leaves so that the new plant can focus on establish roots or adjusting to the repot, but I understand you would have wanted to keep the entire plant as intact as possible.

I would also suggest to cut the leaves in half while the plant re-establishes itself. This way, you keep the length of the plant intact, but reduce transpiration by some percentage, depending on how many leaves you want to cut.

By the way, could you post a picture of the plant(s)? It would be great to see an 18-year-old pothos ivy.

There is really next to nothing to see because it has all died...all but a stem and one single leaf that is still alive after nearly 3 weeks now in a glass of water. It's not showing any signs of developing any roots so this leaf may be it. The plant had been growing so nicely that I am now sorry that I had not made some cuttings of it last summer but hindsight is 20/20. A freak accident knocked it off of its shelf and I'm responsible for nearly entirely killing it off by over-watering it out of concern when I replanted it.

Any sign of roots yet, Steve?

No roots and it has been weeks now. There's just the stem and 1 single leaf in the glass of water and it's as green and alive as any leaf has ever been on it.

If this is all there is I'll just leave it and let it live for as long as it lives. At least something is alive from the original plant from 24 years ago.

Maybe you should try rooting it in a different medium if there is still no sign of any roots.

Then you can apply some rooting hormone.

If it were my cutting, I would fill a small squat pot with moist perlite. Make a fresh cut of the stem of the cutting, apply rooting hormone to that fresh cut immediately and then poke the stem into the perlite. Be careful not to damage the stem of course and it may be best to first poke a clean, straight, narrow stick into the perlite to make a space for the stem. Press the perlite around the buried stem if necessary, mist the leaf and wait.

Then mist it whenever you walk past.

It seems to have liked that place where it used to grow. Can the cutting sit there while (hopefully) making some roots?

This is a cutting in only the most loose sense of the word. A maybe 3 inch stem with just 1 leaf--that's it, that's all that is left. If it were just a plant I'd toss it but it has sentimental value and I did manage to keep it alive for 18 years.

It's actually doing quite nicely for having just 1 leaf so I don't know if I'm up to risking trying to plant it. It was a bizarre accident that caused the original pot to be knocked over and then I nearly killed it off by over watering it which flew in the face of my plant philosophy of benign neglect which worked well for years.

Yes, I know that it only has one leaf and I know that the plant has great sentimental value.

As long as it continues to look healthy, there is still hope.

The point being is that I think I'd rather let it live for as long as it does--a single small stem with one leaf doing well--than risk it dying trying to root it. I don't know if there is enough left to do any more than it is doing.

Hi Steve. I have a 7 year old plant that I took some cuttings from to start for a friend. 2 months ago. They are just finally putting out roots. Be patient. They can be slow.

You may be right about being patient because after weeks of a stem with just one leaf in a glass of water it looks as though another leaf is slowly forming. This is actually simple because since it's in water I just leave it alone, so we'll see what happens. No roots yet though.

After having these vines grow like crazy in full sun in Asia... bought 2 commercially grown pots in oz end of August (=end of winter, Southern Hemisphere) from a BBS.

Hung them outside on balcony near ceiling... where they 80% just shrivelled & yellowed within a fortnight 8( found the potting soil hydrophobic peaty, didn't hold any water. Installing driptray to soak the soil did nothing to help; suspect they were greenhouse grown & temp shock was too great.

Managed to rescue only a handful of cuttings of 1-2 leaves, plus a longer strand connected to a large brown rootball.

Had half the cuttings put in trough of water & leca beads, hung back in balcony location. A few of the cuttings yellowed & succumbed in following months, leaving only 2 big and 1 leafless stub of stem but at least they stayed green... and only by December did anything really happen. White roots popped out, new leaves sprouting and even the stub has grown leaf! :)

Rootball bit was washed of dirt, together with some cuttings floated in a vase of water kept indoors. Again nothing happened except for brown mess constantly shedding & rotting :( frequent water change & a few shots of peroxide helped clean up, as did a bubbling airstone. Still took 2-3mths to see any action, now growing ok putting out a new leaf every other week.

There seems to be totally different type of root grown depending on soil vs water grown. Plant appears to want to totally regrowing to suit, hence the long time rebuilding its legs. Keeping the brown rootball in water was probably pointless as it all rotted off eventually anyway, should've just chopped it off before going in water.

Local oz prices are crazy high for these "easily grown" vines... and stock seems very seasonal. They just appeared start of spring for 2 wks and have not seen good stock again since buying the first pair.

Well it's been nearly 3 months now and what remained of my pothos plant, a 4" stem with one healthy leaf and the beginnings of a new leaf or stem growing slowly but nicely in a glass of water seems in jeopardy as that last leaf is beginning to curl and doesn't look well. I did have hopes that slowly but surely it might revive. Oh well, I suppose all things must die sooner or later, but I was hoping for later.

have you changed the water regularly? As I was reading your additional posts, it occurred to me to ask about your 4" cutting. Does it have any additional nodes in the water? Typically, new roots will come from near the node. As I mentioned above, a good kind of cutting has 2-4 nodes on it, and that 1-2 nodes will be in water or soil to make the roots. The remaining 2-3 nodes will be above the medium, and allowed to grow more leaves as the plant adapts and puts out roots.

The ivy also makes some adventitious roots but that is probably from a healthy plant, not from one that is struggling just to make regular roots.

Yes, I did change the water regularly. The one and only remaining leaf was doing famously for over a month, then it withered and died. Now all that remains is the stem and on a node opposite the final leaf that died there has been something growing out of where the leaf there has been which I assumed was another leaf but it's the opposite end of the stem that is in he water. I really have no hope but will let it go until the bitter end.

I would put it in a pot of soil. I think it would grow well there.

I have occasionally had trouble getting roots to grow on cuttings when using a glass of water that allows the roots to be exposed to light. You could try wrapping dark paper or cloth around the glass, or try rooting in a soil or mixture that keeps the roots in a dark environment.

After nearly 5 months now with just a 4" stem left in a glass of water that has just a single leaf very slowly pushing its way out but with no root formation I will try blocking light from the lower portion and see how that works. Thanks for the tip.

If it doesn't work, could you maybe post a photo of what you are working with? That might help with advice / troubleshooting. Good luck!! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and the pothos stem. :)

Yes, I could post a photo. It had gotten down to that short stem but had 1 leaf growing nicely for a month or so and then that leaf died but there was also a bud of another leaf that has very, very slowly been growing out and is now showing although it has not yet uncurled. As I said, though, it is growing very slowly. I do change the water once a week and it does not get direct sunlight.

Growth is a good sign! Is there any reason you haven't tried rooting it in moist soil or perlite versus just plain water? Please do post a photo when it's convenient.

A cutting in water is how I got my plant some 18 years ago and it's the only method I have used. Since this small stem is all that is left and so I'm not in a gambling mood since it is all that is left from my original plant or even the original original plant.

Hopefully the tape will provide enough shade for roots to form at the 2 (?) nodes that are below the surface of the water. If so, roots should start forming within the next week or so. If not, it would definitely be worth buying a bag of perlite and rooting it in moist perlite instead of water. Good luck!

I know that you are not wanting to take too many chances, but I do know that with that kind of long stem as shown in the picture, I have potted them up and just kept the soil moist for a few weeks. Then, as the plant did not show any signs of dying and I didn't know if it had roots or not, I just treated it as any other plant and watered it at regular intervals.

One pot in particular stayed in a similar state for almost 6 months, but when spring came around the following year, it began putting out 2 and then 3 separate vines of growth.

I think the important part of this post is to say, if it's not dying yet, don't give up!

It's been a month now since the post about shading the roots and it still shows no sign of growing any roots and the single leaf that grew out has still not uncurled any more than it was a month ago. But it IS still alive. I think its only chance of advancing and growing more than the very little it is now is to plant it in perlite because nearly 5 months of being in water it still has grown no roots.

No, I haven't given up yet.

If you pot it into perlite, you will be able to put some sort of rooting hormone onto it. That would be good.

Perhaps make a fresh cut on the stem before dipping it into the rooting hormone.

Be careful not to break the stem when putting it into the perlite. Using a stick to make a deep hole first, avoids this.

Steve, I wouldn't have taken the chance of going from water to perlite or soil since pothos and philodendrons can live indefinitely in water, plus it's the safest option for rooting. But I'm glad it's worked out okay and you're seeing new growth in soil mix, a very good sign it's going to be fine.

I'd like to suggest that as soon as you have some growth of 6 inches or so, take a cutting. I would keep taking and rooting cuttings until you have at least 3 to 4 plants in separate pots. These backup plants will be good insurance against calamities such as you've had with your old plant which has such sentimental value. Some might think this is over-kill, but I've learned this strategy the hard way. Besides, a plant in several different rooms will be a constant reminder of good times and good memories.

Keep us advised how it goes.

Russ

I root my pothos in aquariums. The water flow helps them root. The biggest problem I have had is it taking a while to start growing.

Yes, I've successfully done that in the past when I had a healthy plant with lots of vines from which to choose to make a cutting, but in this case I was left with a very short stem with a single and tiny leaf. So I went from water and when there was a little root development to a perlite/vermiculite mix and finally to a loose potting soil. Like I said, after a year I just have the small stem but there are now 3 leaves and it looks healthy. I have it in a plastic cup with holes in the bottom and setting on a small saucer. I've been putting water in the saucer were it seems to get drawn up to keep the soil moist.

I have some in aquarium. I am starting to use them in Coco Coir. Does your have good lighting? I have noticed faster growth in good lighting.

Mine is sitting near a southern window now so it gets good winter sunlight.

Steve, how’d it go???