I've had this pothos outside all summer. It LOVED it out there! I've had this particular one for a long time, and have rooted others from it. Anyway, this is the first season I've ever let it live outside, and it's grown so much! I need to bring it in for the winter, and I'm trying to figure out where to put it....some of those tendrils are 6 - 8 feet long! Any advice?
Trimming it back to a manageable size for indoor would be the best, the plant will be in stress from having to adjust to indoor living conditions and having fewer leaves to nurture will ease that stress. And they grow pretty quickly to make up for it. You can put the cut off portions in jars of water to grow roots and have more plants by next Spring.
I was afraid you were going to say that because it leads to a host of other questions, problems I've dealt with before when I've cut this plant back because I've had it for a long time. Some of those tendrils are 6 feet or more long, as I think I mentioned. I can cut them off, leaving the main plant full, but then I have these 6 or 8 tendrils all long and leggy, patchy in places, not very attractive when separated from the main plant. They will root easily, but then when I plant them they will still be long and leggy and not terribly attractive because there won't a a full main plant like the one in the picture is, just a several long pieces growing out from the soil. So what do I do about that? Can I cut each tendril into several smaller pieces and root each piece? If I do that, where do I cut? If not, what should I do?
The part of the stems that have long spaces between the leaves I just toss into the compost. They are not going to get fuller and like you said they do not look very attractive. The part of the stem that is closer to the body of the plant are the ones you want to root. Cut them into shorter sections about 6 inch long with at least two - four leaves per section, make the cut just under a leaf node, pull that leaf off and put the stem in water. That node is where the roots will grow from to make the new plant.
THANK YOU!!! This advice is exactly what I needed, and also exactly what I've been missing every time I've taken cuttings from pathos. I've had pathos as houseplants for 30+ years and I've never mastered the art of cuttings and repotting so that the new plants eventually attain the same attractiveness as the mother plant. I believe this wisdom will help enormously in that regard! You rock!
I have 2 glass bowls that I keep betta fish in. I put ALL my cutting into the top of the bowls and they root in the water. The fish love hanging in the roots and the plants will grow and the glass bowls look quite lovely with a lush growth of green coming out of them ........
Wow. Look how much this guy has grown!! First image is from when I put it outside, back in the spring.
Pothos in my favorite plant! You can cut it, prune it, and abuse it and it STILL comes back like new! Have fun and keep gardening!
