Dying pothos plant need help to save it

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

My pothos plant has been with me for the last two years but all of a sudden it started dying. I have moved recently but it’s been two months so I’m not sure that is the cause. a few weeks ago it started getting brown tips to its leaves which went about a third down the leaf before the whole leaf went yellow and lost its shape. This happened to about 1/5 of the plant before I decided to remove the bad leaves in the hope that it would fix the problem. That worked for a day but then more started to get brown tips. I’m freaking out. I love this plant and have worked really hard to keep it alive. What should I do? Does it need to be repoted or watered more/less. I’ve been googling for solutions without luck. Please help!!

A week before I cut leaves, was much worse when I did

two days after I cut leaves

Featured Answer

Karen S. (7b, NYC)

5 years ago

No, no, no rocks in the bottom pls. That has been found not to work.

Good catch Dave, I agree, not quite bone dry, more like 3/4 or 7/8ths of the way dry. I remember that gorgeous, pristine plant!

HU: When was the last time the soil was changed? When you touch the soil, is it hard to your touch?

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Comments (9)

User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Hard to tell from here. Two months is plenty of time for a plant to get used to a new environment, so I agree that that's not a factor here :)

I'd check for pests, and take a look at the roots. It could be rootbound, which can prevent the roots from taking in enough water. You also could have watered it too soon after its last watering (overwatering = root rot), which is one of the quickest ways to kill a pothos. See if there's any brown/black or mushiness on the roots and let us know what you find!

Proper care for a pothos:
- Soil/Pot: WELL-DRAINING SOIL, you do not want a soil that retains water. Normal potting mix will not work for this plant. Mix in about 50% perlite or pumice if your soil doesn't drain well enough. Must have drainage holes in the bottom of the pot.
- Watering: Check soil with your finger, or insert a wooden dowel into the soil. Wet soil will stick to the dowel and come out moist, dry soil won't. Water thoroughly (until water comes out of the drainage holes) when the soil is mostly dry.
- Light: Bright, indirect light for best growth/color. Can tolerate low light.
User
5 years ago
From this article, mealybugs and scale insects seem to be the pests to look for:

"Mealybugs look like small balls of cotton, while scale are dark colored bumps on stems and leaves."

Thoroughly inspect the leaves and stems!
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Taylor Price
5 years ago
Yikes! Sorry about your poor plant, but I'm sure you can bring her back to life! I have many pothos at home and work and can definitely say that mine will turn yellow and funny looking when over watered. Pothos like being rootbound, but if you haven't repotted in a while I would try doing so and making sure to put some rocks in the bottom of the pot before the soil. I have found my pothos really thrive when neglected! I water about once every week and a half and keep all of them pretty far away from any direct sunlight. Good luck!
Dave
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Daxeek,

Some of your info is a little off. Do not wait for the soil to fully dry before watering. That’ll just cause undue stress on the plant as it’ll go into a drought response.

A standard potting mix mixed 50/50 with perlite will work fine.

These plants are one of the easiest to care for once you get watering on track.

Weve had this one a few years.
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Oh, really? I've always heard that pothos should fully dry! That's interesting! You truly do learn something new everyday I suppose.

Also, yeah, I personally keep my pothos in roughly half perlite half normal soil. That definitely works well enough. :)

Beautiful pothos by the way, Dave!!!
Dave
5 years ago
We bought a house and rented out that condo. The renters asked that we leave that pothos and I said yes for some reason. Hopefully they don’t kill it.

I took a bunch of cuttings to start a new one in our new house.
Dave
5 years ago
Daxeek,

One other thing: besides the fact that the plant will go into drought response if you let the soil completely dry, the peat will become hydrophobic and will no longer retain water unless you soak the root mass in a bucket for a while.
User
5 years ago
Thanks for the info!!! :)