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How Fast Do Pothos Grow? Answered + Tips

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Under the right growing conditions, pothos are fast-growing plants. As tropical plants, their growth rate is highest in summer when they can grow 12 to 18 inches a month. Pothos vines can grow very large – from 10 to 40 feet long and 3 to 6 feet wide – and make impressive indoor and outdoor plants.

How Fast Do Pothos Grow

There are many factors that affect pothos growth rate. Here, we discuss these factors and share our tips on how to make your pothos grow big and beautiful as quickly as possible.

The way we care for these plants makes all the difference in how large and how fast they grow.

Is Pothos Fast Growing?

One of the things that make pothos such popular houseplants is how fast they grow. They can quickly be propagated from cuttings, so you can turn a single plant you buy from the nursery into a dozen in no time.

All pothos varieties are fast-growing plants under the right conditions. As long as they get enough sunlight, water, and nutrients, they can grow between 12 and 18 inches every month!

While all varieties of pothos are fast-growing, some cultivars grow faster than others. Variegated varieties grow slower because the white spots on the leaves do not contain as much chlorophyll for photosynthesis.

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Fastest Growing Pothos Varieties

  • Golden Pothos
  • ‘Jade’ Pothos

Slower Growing Pothos Varieties

  • ‘Marble Queen’ Pothos
  • ‘Snow Queen’ Pothos
  • ‘N’Joy’ Pothos
  • ‘Manjula’ Pothos
  • ‘Glacier’ Pothos

How Long Does A Pothos Take To Grow?

When you bring a new little pothos home from the garden center you will not have to wait very long for it to grow into a lush, bushy plant.

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In one growing season, pothos plants can grow around 4 to 6 feet in length. It takes a few years for them to reach their full size.

From a cutting in water, pothos takes about a month to grow inch-long roots. It takes 2 months for the roots to grow 2 to 3 inches long. After 4 to 5 months, the cuttings will grow their first leaves.

Manjula Pothos

What Is The Pothos Growing Season?

Pothos, or Epipremnum aureum, is native to Southeastern Asia. It is, therefore, adapted to growing in a tropical climate with lots of heat and humidity.

In tropical regions, with warm weather all year round, your pothos plant’s growing season can be 12 months long!

However, in more temperate regions, pothos growing season is from spring to early fall. When temperatures start to dip below 70°F, their growth begins to slow down.

During winter, pothos enters a state of dormancy. Their growth slows down to a halt, and they take up less water and nutrients.

How Big Does Pothos Grow?

Pothos plants can grow large – up to 40 feet in length and 6 feet wide! However, as houseplants, they generally get about 4 to 8 feet long and 3 feet wide. The size that pothos plants grow to has a lot to do with how you display them.

When pothos is grown indoors in a medium-sized pot and is trained to vine along the walls or up the stairs, they can grow 30 feet long.

If pothos is planted in a hanging basket so that the vines cascade down, they can get 10 to 20 feet long.

Factors That Affect Your Pothos’s Size

Several factors can affect how large pothos grows:

  • Light. Pothos plants grow fast and get big when they are kept in bright, indirect sunlight. If kept in full shade or under dim artificial lights without enough sunlight, they will not reach their full potential.
  • Size of the pot. If pothos’ roots have ample space, they can grow very large. However, if you grow pothos in a pot, it will limit the size it can grow to. Pothos need a pot that is 2 inches wider than the root mass so that they have enough space to grow. The larger the roots can grow, the bigger the plant will get.
  • Support. As a vining plant, pothos needs support to climb up against. This will help them grow larger. Give them a trellis, moss pole, or just a wooden stick for support, and the leaves will immediately start to grow larger.
  • Temperature. The warmer the environment, the faster your pothos will grow.
  • Humidity. Pothos will grow larger in humid environments. They prefer humidity levels above 50%, and their growth will explode when the humidity is above 70%.
Home and garden decoration of top view Epipremnum aureum in the

Why Is My Pothos Not Growing?

Overall, pothos is super easy to grow and does not mind a little bit of neglect. However, under certain conditions, pothos growth can become stunted.

Pothos can slow down or stop growing when:

  • It is winter. The cold temperatures will cause pothos to stop growing. This is not necessarily a problem, and unless the plant is exposed to frost, it will not harm it.
  • They get too much/too little water. Pothos like to be watered thoroughly and then left to allow the soil to dry almost completely before being watered again. If the soil is not given enough time to dry out, the plant will suffer from overwatering.
  • Their soil has inadequate drainage. Pothos need loose, well-aerated soil to grow healthily. Water must drain from the soil quickly so that the plant’s roots do not stay in saturated soil for extended periods. If this happens, pothos can develop root rot, a disease that will hamper its growth and can eventually kill the plant.
  • The light levels are not high enough. If pothos does not get enough bright, indirect sunlight or strong enough artificial light, their growth will slow down, and the new leaves may look misshapen.
  • They do not have enough nutrients. To fuel their rapid growth, pothos use up nutrients from the soil. In a pot with a limited amount of soil, pothos will run out of nutrients and stop growing.
  • They are infested with insect pests. Aphids, mealybugs, and spider mites are sapsuckers that can stop pothos from growing if they infest the new growing tips.

How To Make Pothos Grow Faster

If you take care to maintain your pothos and ensure their environmental conditions are right, your plant will grow quickly and healthily. The key to speeding up pothos’ growth is optimizing its growing conditions.

Follow these tips to boost your pothos’ rate of growth:

Use The Right Potting Mixture For Your Pothos

The soil in the nursery pot that you buy your pothos in will not sustain the plant for very long. It is important to transplant your pothos into another pot with better soil as soon as possible after you get it.

Choose the right potting soil to make your pothos grow as fast as possible. It needs to be loose and well-draining. A combination of potting soil, perlite, and coco peat is ideal.

The perlite increases the soil’s drainage capacity, and the coco peat retains just the right amount of water to keep the plant hydrated.

Make Sure Your Pothos Gets Enough Light

Pothos grow fastest when they get 6 to 8 hours of bright, indirect sunlight every day. Without enough light, their growth will slow, and the leaves will look pale. If the lighting is too intense, the leaves will get burned.

Keep pothos a few feet away from an east-facing window. Direct morning sun is great because it is bright enough to promote rapid growth but not so intense that it will damage the leaves.

If you are growing pothos in a south-facing window, make sure that you position the pot so that the plant is protected from hot midday and afternoon sun. Keep it 5 to 10 feet from the window.

Keep Your Pothos At The Right Temperature

As a tropical plant, pothos needs warmth to thrive. Pothos grow the best in temperatures between 70 and 90°F.

If they are kept in this temperature range, they will grow large. However, below 70°F, pothos’ growth will slow down, and they will not reach their full potential in terms of size.

Never expose pothos to temperatures below 50°F! Pothos are very sensitive to extreme cold and can die if exposed to frost.

Avoid Underwatering Or Overwatering Pothos

If pothos gets too much or too little water, they will not grow at an optimal rate. To make sure your pothos grows as fast as possible, you need to get the watering routine right.

How frequently the plant needs water depends on the climate where you live. Eventually you will learn how often you need to water your pothos.

Avoid underwatering by checking your pothos’ soil once a week. Use a soil moisture probe or just your finger to feel how much water is in the soil.

Water the plant if the top few inches of soil feel bone dry. Do not water your pothos if the top few inches of soil are moist.

Another way to test if your pothos is dry enough for a watering is to pick the pot up. If it feels relatively light, it is time for water.

Check Your Pothos For Pests

If you take care of pothos well, the likelihood of pest infestations is low. However, if the plant is overwatered, pot bound or does not get enough light, pests will be drawn to it.

Regularly check your pothos for signs of pests and treat issues as soon as you spot them.

Luckily, dealing with soft-bodies pests like aphids, mealybugs, and spider mites is not difficult – all you need is some neem oil and a spray bottle.

How Can I Get My Pothos To Grow More Leaves?

Sometimes pothos can start looking a little leggy, with too much stem and too few leaves. It is possible to supercharge your pothos’ growth and cause it to grow more leaves! Here’s how:

Give Your Pothos A Humidity Boost

Once you have made sure all the other growing conditions (temperature, water, soil, light) are ideal, consider ways that you can increase the humidity around your pothos plant.

Pothos love humid environments, which is why they grow so quickly in a bathroom or kitchen.

There are a few ways to boost the humidity around your pothos:

  • Mist the leaves every day with water in a spray bottle.
  • Get a humidifier in the room near the plant.
  • Place a saucer filled with pebbles and water under the pot.
  • Group your multiple plants together

Increasing the humidity levels will increase the growth rate, and the plant will grow more leaves.Read How To Propagate Pothos

Give Pothos Support

Pothos plants are climbers. Naturally, they grow on the forest floor and climb up nearby trees using their long aerial roots.

If you want your pothos to grow more leaves, you should look at how much support it has. If your pothos does not have a trellis or moss pole, make it one!

If you mist the moss pole, the added humidity around the aerial roots will definitely speed up your pothos’ growth and cause them to grow more leaves.

How To Make Pothos Bushy/Fuller

The key to making your pothos plant bush out is pruning it the right way. If you never prune your pothos, it will grow as a single, long, thin vine.

Pruning pothos encourages the plant to grow more branches so that it looks lush, full, and bushy.

Using a sterilized pair of secateurs, prune off any long, trailing stems that are growing outwards or hanging over the pot. This will cause the top of the pothos to bush out.

Always cut the shoots below a leaf node so that there is a leaf at the end of every stem. You can use the bits you prune off as cuttings and propagate new plants!Read How To Repot Pothos

Fertilizing Pothos For Growth

A surefire way to ramp up your pothos’ growth is to feed it a good organic fertilizer on a regular basis. During spring and summer, feed your plant every two weeks to a month.

Use a liquid seaweed fertilizer and only dilute it to half the strength recommended on the bottle.

Conclusion

Pothos are fast-growing plants that will quickly give your home that indoor jungle aesthetic.

Under regular conditions, they can grow about 12 inches every month, but if you take special care of them, you can boost their growth rate to 18 inches a month!