Hello angelbuck from z9 LA, I have a pothos that I've had for over 13 years. I hang it outside in the spring and summer then bring it back inside in late summer or fall. I have repotted it and trimmed the roots twice. When I hang it back outside in about mid spring I cut it back to about two inches from the soil when it starts to grow again. It was a gift given to me when my son was born. I have taken many cuttings and started them in dirt. I have started as many as 6 and up to 12 cuttings in a ten inch pot. I have heard of people starting up to 20 cuttings at a time. I have some growing under fluorescent lights inside as well. I feed all of them about a half cup or more of worm castings about every two months. The more plants that are in a pot the more you have to feed them and the sooner they will outgrow their pot. Let the soil almost completely dry out and then soak the soil very well if they grow outside. If they are inside, then let them dry about half way and then water just until a little water drains out of the bottom. Happy pothos growing! Buddy

I have mine potted in the same type of self-watering hanging pot. The only difference being that mine's the off-white color, not the green. I use a fast draining mix that doesn't hold on to too much moisture, no matter how much it gets watered. When it's outdoors, I just leave the water in the bottom reservoir. But during the colder months, when I keep it indoors, I drain the reservoir out. I don't ever bother with removing it. Perhaps yours is having issues with the soil? Does it drain fairly well? Do you water it thoroughly?

I was referring to potential damage that might have occurred between point-of-sale and your home. You didn't mention how deep the pot is, so I'll just say watering any plants in pots deeper than about 3-5" using that the top inch or two of soil is dry, is more often than not a recipe for over-watering. After a thorough watering, most bagged grow media will support a 3-6" layer of soil 100% saturated with water at the bottom of the pot. A 10" deep pot could easily still have 6" of 100% saturated soil at the bottom of the pot when the top inch or two feels dry. It's far more important to know what moisture conditions are at the pot bottom, and a moisture meter isn't a reliable tool for that; instead, a sharpened (in a pencil sharpener) wooden dowel makes a much more reliable tool. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

As leaves form along a branch or stem, they're a 1-time thing. IOW, no leaf will ever grow from the spot where the original leaf was attached. The best you can hope for would be a new branch/ vine growing from dormant/ suppressed buds arranged in a row above the attachment point of any leaf. The only way to make certain new branches will form where you want them is to prune back to just above the node where you desire a new branch/ vine to grow. Example: This rooted Ficus cutting was pruned above the lower 2 leaves. This forced activation of buds located immediately above the mature leaves' attachment point. While these activated buds might appear to be leaves, they are actually new branches which will, also produce 1-time leaves along its length as long as the branches are extending and the tip of the branch remains in place. When the tip of the branch/ vine is removed, extension of that branch/ vine can no longer extend. The compacted soil and the holes/ tears made me conclude too soon that a Ca deficiency was in play. Had I known about the caterpillars, I would have not mentioned the Ca deficiency, though the grow medium adds considerable support to that line of thinking. What IS that medium? AL