Houseplantfoliage houseplantStraightforward

Pothos

Epipremnum aureum

The plant to recommend to somebody who believes they cannot keep houseplants. It tolerates low light, irregular watering and dry air, roots from a cutting in a glass of water within a fortnight, and tells you clearly when it is thirsty by wilting and then recovering completely.

Position: Moderate light
Water: low demand
Drainage: Free-draining
Grows to: 30–60 cm × 100–300 cm
Frost: Frost tender
Difficulty: Straightforward

August

Take cuttings

Pothos’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

Activity	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Prune				April.	May.	June.
Take cuttings			March.	April.	May.	June.	July.	August.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light: Partial shade, Dappled shade, Full shade
Frost: Frost tender
Grows best at: 18–27 °C
Soil: Peat-free compost
Soil pH: 6–7
Drainage: Free-draining
Water needs: low
Drought: good tolerance
Waterlogging: poor tolerance
Heat: good tolerance
Wind and exposure: poor tolerance

Where these figures come from

LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Pothos — position
Checked 2026-08-13
FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Pothos — hardiness
Checked 2026-08-13
Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Pothos — temperature
Checked 2026-08-13
SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Pothos — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Epipremnum aureum — culture
Checked 2026-08-13
DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Pothos — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

Soil	Verdict	Why
Heavy clay	Works, with one condition	Pothos will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Sandy	Prefers this soil	Sandy suits Pothos as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Chalky and alkaline	Works, with one condition	Pothos will crop on chalky and alkaline, but one thing has to be dealt with first. The soil is substantially too alkaline for it: it wants pH 6 to 7, and this soil sits around 7.8 to 8.5.The pH is the obstacle. Small shifts are achievable and slow; large ones are not. On chalky and alkaline the dependable answer is a container of the right compost rather than an attempt to change the ground.
Loam	Prefers this soil	Loam suits Pothos as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Silty	Prefers this soil	Silty suits Pothos as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acid	Works, with one condition	Pothos will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rock	Prefers this soil	Shallow over rock suits Pothos as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Made ground and urban soil	Works, with one condition	Pothos will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height: 30–60 cm
Mature spread: 100–300 cm
Rooting depth: 15 cm

Where these figures come from

Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

In a container

Minimum volume: 3 litres or more
Minimum depth: 15 cm

Where the container figures come from

Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

Method	Suitability	What it needs
Indoor pot	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Container	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	Indoors, or outdoors in summer only
Hydroponics	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	One of the few houseplants that grows indefinitely in plain water.
Windowsill	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Open ground	Not suitable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	Tender: will not survive a British winter outdoors.

Growing it

PruningPinch out the growing tips to keep it bushy. Left alone it produces long bare trailing stems with leaves only at the ends, which is the usual complaint about older plants.
PropagationTake a cutting with at least one node and stand it in water on a windowsill. It roots within a fortnight and can be potted up or left in water indefinitely.
WateringSoak it thoroughly and let it approach dryness again rather than watering little and often, which keeps the surface wet and the base sour. Pothos tells you clearly when it is thirsty — the leaves lose their gloss and go slightly limp — and it recovers from that completely, so erring dry is safe and erring wet is not. Cut back noticeably from October, especially in a cool or dim room where it may be growing hardly at all. Yellow leaves with brown soft patches mean too wet; crisp brown edges mean too dry or too near a radiator.
FeedingMonthly at half strength from spring through to about September, then nothing. Pothos is tolerant enough to survive on very little, and a variegated form is a special case worth knowing: the white or yellow parts of the leaf make no food, so a heavily variegated plant grows more slowly and cannot be pushed with fertiliser. If variegation is fading to plain green the cause is too little light, and if the plant is producing nearly white leaves that then brown off it has too much.

Where this guidance comes from

PruningSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Pothos — care
Checked 2026-08-13
PropagationSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Pothos — propagation
Checked 2026-08-13
WateringSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Epipremnum aureum
Checked 2026-08-13
FeedingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Epipremnum aureum
Checked 2026-08-13

The bud you cut to becomes the new shoot, and it grows in the direction it points — which is why an outward-facing bud opens the plant up and an inward-facing one crosses the middle.

The rule is the same in all four: the new piece needs both a growing point and roots of its own. A cutting is the exception that has to make its roots afterwards, which is why the node matters so much.

Safety and edibility

Cats and dogsPainful or persistently unwell; veterinary advice worth taking

Listed as harmful to cats or dogs

Pothos is listed as harmful if eaten. All parts carry needle-shaped insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which drive into the soft tissue of the mouth on contact. The pain is immediate, which is why an animal rarely takes a second bite and why fatalities are rare — but the drooling and swelling that follow are real and distressing.

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — toxic and non-toxic plant list — American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Epipremnum aureum — toxic plants list

Checked 2026-08-13

Affected parts: all parts.

Pets and livestockpetschildren
Contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals like other aroids. Chewing causes burning of the mouth, drooling and swelling. Painful rather than dangerous, and the trailing stems put it within easy reach of cats.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Epipremnum aureum — toxicity
Checked 2026-08-13
Hang it or place it where trailing stems cannot be reached by pets. Rinse the mouth if chewed and seek advice if swelling affects breathing.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.

If something is wrong with it

Lower leaves turning yellow — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for pothos

Something else? Work through it with the diagnostic tool.