How to Prune a Pothos
Tip
Large pothos plants are actually made up of several cuttings that have been rooted in soil. This makes good use of the cuttings, as they can be transplanted into more attractive pots and given as gifts.
Prune your pothos regularly to keep it full and well-shaped.
Warning
Pothos vines can attach themselves to walls and other solid surfaces, causing damage when you remove them.
Pothos plants also occasionally drip water from the ends of their leaves, so be sure to set the pots on some kind of protective tray or mat to prevent damaging furniture.
According to North Carolina State University, all parts of the pothos plant are poisonous if eaten in large amounts, and can cause severe mouth pain; burning and swelling of the lips, mouth, tongue and throat; and may also cause diarrhea. Frequent contact with the plant can also cause minor skin irritations in some individuals. In case of exposure or ingestion, call the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.
Pothos, or devil's ivy, is an easily adaptable plant that tolerates a wide range of indoor growing conditions. Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) will grow in low light or direct sun, cool or warm rooms, in tabletop planters and hanging baskets, and twining up totem supports. Its large heart-shaped leaves range from a solid green color to green with white, yellow, or cream-colored streaks. If not trimmed regularly, pothos sends out vines that can span an entire room, attaching itself to whatever surface its root knobs come into contact with.
Place the pothos plant on several thicknesses of newspaper. Select the vines you want to trim, and unravel them carefully from the main plant.
Trace the vines you are trimming down to the soil line, and carefully cut them at a point about 2 inches from the soil. Cut at a point just above a leaf so as not to create an unsightly leafless stem.
Continue trimming the vines until the plant starts to take on the desired shape, as pruning will promote more compact and bushier growth. Inspect the plant for mealy bugs, a common pest of pothos, which appear as a white fuzz under the leaves.
Treat mealy bugs, if necessary, on the leaves that remain on the plant by rubbing them off with an alcohol-soaked cotton swab. Trim off and dispose of any other discolored leaves or stems.
Cut the long healthy vines that you pruned off into sections containing one root knob, as they can easily be rooted in water or soil as new plants.
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Writer Bio
Rachel Lovejoy has been writing professionally since 1990 and currently writes a weekly column entitled "From the Urban Wilderness" for the Journal Tribune in Biddeford, Maine, as well as short novellas for Amazon Kindle. Lovejoy graduated from the University of Southern Maine in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
