The joy of propagating Pothos at home

 

In this picture I am also reproducing a "Queen of the Night" or Night Blooming Cereus.

The Pothos, (Potus, Epipremnum Aureum), is also called "Devil's vine" or "Devil's ivy" because it is supposed it is almost impossible to kill. I can tell you this is not true.

I am an avid collector of Pothos, of different types, and yes, I had some failures, basically for two reasons:

1. I left the plant outside, under the sun. It will not survive for sure, even in the mild weather we have in Southern CA. It needs to be inside or under a roof with indirect light.

2. I left the plant close to the stove on a high shelf. It lived for years, with the kitchen light, very beautiful. Until the leaves began to turn yellow. It took me several days to realize, the smoke from all the cooking would cover the leaves with grease, and it was impossible to clean, it was too late. Of course, I clean the ceiling but it did not occur to me to pay more attention to the Pothos that was not breathing.

Nevertheless, I have had a great success with a Pothos I put in my front porch. I planted it in the ground, but under a roof. It receives the morning and part of early afternoon light, and it began growing and growing, to the point it reminds me the huge Pothos I have seen in the morros of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, (they are absolutely huge).

Here is my porch Pothos on the right, see the size of the leaves compared to the Gum Tree (Gomero) behind.

This Pothos extended so long that I have been able to hang it from my dining room window. Note the diameter of the stem!

I have always considered the Pothos as very decorative and I put them on the dining table, coffee table, etc. A couple of years ago, I found this super interesting decoration made with a single plant, the home owner had pinned the stems to the drywall and it looked very nice. If the stems are too long, they can be inserted back in the soil, to acquire more density. 

Here is one of my Pothos propagating from a cut, standing on the kitchen window sill. You only need to insert the stem in water, and of course it has to be long enough to have the tiny "future roots" protuberances immersed. See how beautiful the roots look inside a green glass jar, and I am thinking of adding more colorful glass jars with Pothos cuts just for the pleasure of enjoying the "art" of the roots as seen through the afternoon light. The leaf has the shadow of the screen on it.

Sometimes we need to look at the small details, the beauty of the plant could be in the graceful roots as well.

All pictures by Myriam Mahiques, from my personal archives.