Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) care

Aroids · easy to keep

Last updated 27 October 2026

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) wants anything from bright indirect to a dim corner. Water it every 8 days. Water when the top half of the pot is dry — pothos droops its whole canopy when thirsty and stands back up within a couple of hours of a drink. Pot it in standard potting compost with a handful of perlite. A balanced feed at half strength once a month in spring and summer, and repot once a year. Humidity: indifferent. Ordinary room air is fine. Toxic to cats, dogs and people if chewed — the sap carries insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which burn the mouth and throat.

Pothos, golden pothos, devil's ivy — the plant given to people who say they kill everything. It trails, it climbs, it roots in a glass of water, and it puts up with light levels that would finish most houseplants. Left to climb it eventually makes huge split leaves, which is why a mature wild pothos looks nothing like the pot on your shelf.

Quick facts

Water: Water every 8 days. Water when the top half of the pot is dry — pothos droops its whole canopy when thirsty and stands back up within a couple of hours of a drink.
Light: Anything from bright indirect to a dim corner.
Humidity: Indifferent. Ordinary room air is fine.
Soil: Standard potting compost with a handful of perlite.
Feeding: A balanced feed at half strength once a month in spring and summer.
Repotting: Repot once a year.
Toxic to pets: Toxic to cats, dogs and people if chewed — the sap carries insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which burn the mouth and throat. Keep it off the floor if anything in the house tastes its way through life. The ASPCA lists Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) as toxic to cats and dogs (checked 26 October 2026).
Difficulty: Easy.
Mature size: Vines to 3 m indoors; leaves 8–15 cm trailing, far larger climbing.
Native to: French Polynesia; naturalised across the tropics.

Watering a Pothos

Water every 8 days. Water when the top half of the pot is dry — pothos droops its whole canopy when thirsty and stands back up within a couple of hours of a drink.

That cadence is the one PlantParlour sets for this species when you name it, and it is deliberately on the cautious side — a plant that asks a day early is safer than one that asks a day late. Log each watering and the reminder moves with the plant rather than with the calendar.

Light

Pothos is the plant that made 'tolerates low light' a cliché, and it earns it — but tolerating is not thriving. In a dark spot the leaves come smaller and the variegation fades; in bright indirect light the vines run and the pattern is crisp.

Humidity and temperature

Indifferent. Ordinary room air is fine. Central heating in winter is what turns a comfortable room into a dry one, and it is the usual reason an established plant suddenly browns at the edges or picks up spider mites.

Soil and potting

Pothos is not fussy. Ordinary compost with perlite mixed through for drainage does the job; it will also grow indefinitely in a jar of water, though a plant raised in water sulks if you later pot it into soil.

Feeding

A balanced feed at half strength once a month in spring and summer. Stop feeding in autumn and start again when you see new growth in spring — feeding a plant that isn't growing just builds up salts in the pot.

Repotting

Repot once a year. Every other spring. If the vines have gone long and bare at the top, cut them back hard at repotting time and push the cuttings into the same pot — that is how a full, bushy pothos is made.

Common problems

Yellow leaves scattered through the plant
Overwatering. Pothos is much more often killed by kindness than by neglect.

Fix: Let it dry out properly between waterings and make sure the pot actually drains.

Yellow leaves: how to read it on any plant
Variegation disappearing, new leaves plain green
Not enough light.

Fix: Move it brighter. Cut back to the last well-marked leaf; all-green growth will otherwise take over, because it grows faster.

Variegation fading: how to read it on any plant
Long stretches of bare vine
Light coming from one direction and no pruning.

Fix: Cut the bare vines back to 15 cm; new shoots come from the nodes below the cut.

Leggy, stretched growth: how to read it on any plant
Black soft patches at the base of the stems
Root rot from standing water.

Fix: Take healthy cuttings from the top of the vines, root those, and start again — a rotted crown rarely recovers.

Propagation

The easiest cutting in the house. A 10 cm piece with two nodes roots in a glass of water in a fortnight. Change the water weekly.

A cutting taken in PlantParlour keeps its link to the plant it came from, so a propagation years later still traces back to the mother plant — which is the point if you ever sell or trade it.

Toxicity and safety

The ASPCA lists Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) as toxic to cats and dogs (checked 26 October 2026).

If your pet has eaten a plant, call your vet, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661. Both are open around the clock and may charge a consultation fee. Take the plant or its label with you.

This is general information, not veterinary advice. We don't test plants: what we say about toxicity follows the ASPCA's published plant list as it stood on 26 October 2026, and that list can change. "Non-toxic" means not poisonous — a pet that eats enough of any plant can still vomit, and fertiliser, pesticide or leaf shine on a plant can harm it. It also only helps if the plant is what you think it is. It covers cats and dogs only; ask your vet about rabbits, birds, reptiles or anything else, and a doctor about children. Read our terms.

Every houseplant in the library the ASPCA lists as non-toxic to cats and dogs

Named cultivars and variegations

Epipremnum aureum is sold under several cultivar names. Care is the same unless noted; variegated forms carry less chlorophyll, so they grow more slowly and want more light than the plain species.

Cultivar	Also sold as	Water
'Marble Queen'	Marble Queen pothos	every 8 days
'Snow Queen'	Snow Queen pothos	every 8 days
'Neon'	Neon pothos	every 8 days
'Manjula'	Manjula pothos	every 8 days
'N'Joy'	N'Joy pothos, Njoy	every 8 days
'Pearls and Jade'	Pearls and Jade pothos	every 8 days
'Global Green'	Global Green pothos	every 8 days
'Jade'	Jade pothos	every 8 days
'Harlequin'	Harlequin pothos	every 8 days

Where the variegated forms are grown differently from the plain Epipremnum aureum:

'Marble Queen'

Heavily streaked with cream and white; often half a leaf is variegated, and it grows noticeably slower than golden pothos.

Light: Bright indirect light. It survives medium light, unlike most heavily variegated plants, but there it barely grows and the cream fades to green.

Water: Water when the top half of the pot is dry. It grows slower than golden pothos and drinks less, so check the pot rather than keeping to a golden pothos's schedule.

Watch for: Brown, dry patches on the cream parts of the leaves. The cream tissue is the weakest part of the leaf and fails first: sun through glass, dry air, or a plant shedding what it can't support. Move it out of direct sun and raise the humidity. The damage doesn't recover; trim it off with clean scissors once it covers much of a leaf.

'Snow Queen'

Whiter than Marble Queen: some leaves are almost entirely white, with only flecks of green. Difficulty: needs attention.

Light: Bright indirect light close to a window, no direct midday sun. With this little green, medium light is not enough.

Water: Water when the top half of the pot is dry, and no sooner: it drinks slowly, and soggy compost rots it faster than any other pothos.

Humidity: Above 50%; the white leaf edges brown in very dry air.

Watch for: Brown, dry patches on the white parts of the leaves. The white tissue is the weakest part of the leaf and fails first: sun through glass, dry air, or a plant shedding what it can't support. Move it out of direct sun and raise the humidity. The damage doesn't recover; trim it off with clean scissors once it covers much of a leaf.

'Manjula'

Cream, silver and green patches with wavy leaf edges; a patented cultivar, and slower than golden pothos. Difficulty: needs attention.

Light: Bright indirect light, no direct midday sun. In medium light the cream patches shrink and it all but stops growing.

Water: Water when the top half of the pot is dry. It is more prone to rot than golden pothos; err on the dry side.

'N'Joy'

Small leaves with crisp white and green sectors; compact and slow. Difficulty: needs attention.

Light: Bright indirect light. It stays compact and well-marked in good light, and stretches and greens up in a dim spot.

Watch for: New leaves coming in plain green. The stem is reverting: green tissue grows faster than the variegation, and a stem that has made one plain leaf will usually go on making them. Give it more light, and cut the stem back to a node below the last leaf with good variegation; growth from that node carries the pattern on.

'Pearls and Jade'

Small leaves edged and speckled with white and grey-green; a sport of Marble Queen and the slowest of the common pothos. Difficulty: needs attention.

Light: Bright indirect light. In medium light it barely grows.

Water: Water when the top half of the pot is dry. Its small root system stays wet longer than you'd expect; err on the dry side.

'Harlequin'

Heavy white variegation, with some leaves mostly white; slower than golden pothos. Difficulty: needs attention.

Light: Bright indirect light close to a window, no direct midday sun.

Water: Water when the top half of the pot is dry, and no sooner: with this much white it drinks slowly.

Questions people ask

Can pothos live in water permanently?

Yes. A pothos cutting will grow in a jar of water indefinitely if you change the water every week or two and add a very dilute feed occasionally. It won't grow as vigorously as it would in a pot, and a plant raised in water sulks for a while if you later move it into compost.

Is pothos safe for cats?

No. Like all aroids it contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which burn a cat's mouth and cause drooling and vomiting. It is rarely dangerous, but it is genuinely unpleasant — hang it where a cat can't reach the trailing ends.

How often should you water a Pothos?

Water every 8 days as a starting point — that is the cadence PlantParlour sets for Epipremnum aureum. Water when the top half of the pot is dry — pothos droops its whole canopy when thirsty and stands back up within a couple of hours of a drink. Light, pot size and the time of year all move that number, so treat it as a reminder to go and check rather than a rule.

How much light does a Pothos need?

Is Pothos toxic to cats and dogs?

Toxic to cats, dogs and people if chewed — the sap carries insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which burn the mouth and throat. Keep it off the floor if anything in the house tastes its way through life. The ASPCA lists Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) as toxic to cats and dogs (checked 26 October 2026). If a pet has eaten part of a plant, call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435 straight away.

How do you propagate a Pothos?