Plants start to decline once their in need of a repot

Even though you don't see/feel any sliminess, the dark roots are dead. I also see some lighter colored ones which have shriveled. All the root should be light-colored and "fleshy."

Oh damn! What do I do? Is this plant salvageable?

To me it just looks dried out. Try soaking the root mass in water for a while and see how it responds. The upper leaves are withering but the lower leaves are being shed by the plant to try to conserve and 'ration' the limited water it did have. If there's no root rot that's another indication the problem is most likely too little water. They can come back from being fairly dried. I've 'resurrected' them from as bad looking as yours.

Okie doke, I'll soak it overnight and see how it goes! Fingers crossed...

The roots it has aren't 'water roots' so don't drown them or keep them too soggy. There should still be some life in amongst them so warm and moist with a bit of air around them would be best.

Thanks for your help! I soaked it for almost a full day, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference at all - actually, now all of the leaves are curled... which to my understanding indicates not enough water??

The leaves closest to the roots - the older leaves - are very limp and yellow, and brown in some parts. The newer leaves (towards the end the vines) are mostly healthy green, although they are all curled. In the middle of the vines there are generally no leaves left as they have already died.

Problematically I'm going away for 3 days now.

What should I do? Just repot the whole thing and give it a big drink, or repot it without watering, or should I maybe cut off the vines and try to root them individually in water jars, and hopefully replant them in a few weeks/months once they have a healthy new root system?

Appreciate any advice you folks can give. A plant dying isn't the end of the world, but I've had this guy for quite some time now and he's been thriving until these last couple of months - would love to bring him back if I can!

If it were me, I'd cut off the vines and root them in some water. It's easy enough to do with pothos and then they'll be OK when you go away.

It's hard to tell from your photos, but was there any soil left in the pot or just those roots? Were you in the habit of watering by running water through the pot vigorously? Were all those long vines growing out of a pot no bigger than that little root ball? It looks to me like it could be the result of so much soil washing away or breaking down that there are big air spaces in the soil, drying out the roots. Or, if not, at least that the plant was growing in such a too-small container that the plant was drying out rapidly.

Provided your temperatures are right you should be able to moisten the root mass (what's left of it) and leave it in a closed plastic bag in good light (not direct sun. Three days won't be too long for that and when you come back just wash the plant with fresh water and put it back into the bag. Make sure it doesn't get cold and don't leave it longer without washing otherwise fungus could start to build up. I've found when plants start to dry out parts can begin to die but the areas around the leaf nodes last the longest. That's where new growth usually starts.

The leaves on it now are most probably too far gone to recover. I'd wait for new growth which can happen all along the vines or from the base. The job is to keep the humidity and warmth up without letting fungus take over.

I'm not sure exactly how long one is supposed to keep roots submerged, but I've never dared to submerge my pots for more than half an hour because they'll die without air, and I can't imagine they'd continue to take up any more water after that point.

Am I completely off base?

That mass of foliage could use the moisture from what must have been a very small amount of soil around such a small root ball, often, like every day if it's hot.

OP - and please update what you did and how it went. Thanks!

Hi folks!

Thanks very much for your replies.

I ended up cutting the vines and placing them individually in glass jars filled with water.

Yes there was soil left in the pot - and actually looking at the size of the rootball compared to the size of the pot (that it came in) I'm surprised that roots were poking through the drainage holes and the top of soil! There was still space.

Yes when given a drink there was water running through the drainage holes. Never sat in water though. So @theparsley I think you could be right about the air spaces drying out the roots.

@Tiffany it's winter here now, but either way each vine is now in its own jar of water, so hopefully that helps :)

@Paul I had already left by the time you posted your advice - right before leaving I cut the vines and they have been sitting in their glass jar in a bright room ever since.

They are looking mostly fine, although there is still some leaf yellowing. So the yellow leaves were due to a lack of water thanks to the dried up rootball?

Quite possible. Might even have just been old leaves.