How to Grow and Care for Golden Pothos in Containers
Intro: Although the golden pothos is usually a container plant for indoor gardens, it can do well in shady balcony gardens. Also known as devil’s ivy, golden pothos is a fantastic container plant that thrives in almost the dimmest of light. It can be grown in hanging containers, be trained to grow vertically, or you can prune this plant often to keep it in the shape of a little bush. Even if you have a black thumb and kill any plant you touch, a pothos plant should grow well for you.
Scientific Name: Epipremnum aureum
Plant Type: Vine
Light: The golden pothos plant does best in indirect light, either in a shady spot outdoors or by a sunny windowsill indoors.
Water: Water your pothos plant once the top two inches of the potting soil has dried out. If you overwater pothos, it will begin to turn yellow and die. Read "Tips for Watering Plants" for more information about how to gauge how much water to give this plant.
Fertilizer: Pothos plants do quite well without fertilizer, but for the best growth, feed your pothos plant with a half dose of an houseplant fertilizer mix three or four times a year.
Temperature: Keep your golden pothos plant in temperatures between 60 and 85 degrees for optimal growth.
Pests and Diseases: Garden pests and diseases are very rare with the pothos plant. It is generally very healthy, but mealybugs may be a problem for some container gardeners.
Propagation: Propagate this container plant by taking cuttings (see more details about propagating the pothos plant). Cut at least four leaves down on a long vine, and place it in water for several weeks. Once roots begin to sprout, the new pothos plant is ready to be planted.
Misc. Info: This is one of the container plants that NASA has found to be most beneficial to indoor air quality. The golden pothos was one of the plants that removed the most formaldehyde and benzyne from the air when kept in an indoor garden. If you keep this plant outside in your balcony garden, watch it and make sure that it's not getting too much sun. If it is kept in darker conditions, pothos leaves will be a deep green; when in lighter garden conditions, the leaves will become speckled with lighter green, yellow or even white.
Make sure to wipe off your pothos plant's leaves every few weeks with a cloth. The plant will grow much better without dust on its leaves.
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