Propagating pothos in a glass of water
The easiest plant to multiply, and the best one to learn on. Where to cut, how long to wait, and when to move it to soil.
If you have one pothos, you can have ten by spring. It is the plant we give to people who say they kill everything, and it is the plant we use to teach propagation, because it forgives almost every mistake.
Find the node
Every pothos vine has small brown bumps where the leaves join the stem. Those are nodes, and roots grow only from nodes. A cutting without one will sit in water, green and hopeful, for months and never root.
Cut just below a node with clean scissors, so each piece has one or two leaves and at least one node. Pull off any leaf that would sit under water: it will rot.
Water, light, patience
Put the cuttings in a clear glass so you can watch. Tap water is fine; let it stand overnight if yours is heavily chlorinated. Keep the glass in bright light but out of direct sun, which warms the water and feeds algae.
- Change the water every week, or when it turns cloudy.
- Roots appear in 1–3 weeks in summer, longer in winter.
- A small piece of charcoal in the glass keeps the water fresher.
When to pot it
Water roots and soil roots are not quite the same. Roots grown in water are thin and brittle; move them to soil when they are 3–5 cm long, not when they fill the glass.1 Plant several cuttings in one pot for a full plant, keep the soil slightly moist for the first two weeks, then treat it like any other pothos.
Or keep it in water
Pothos can live in water for years. Add a drop of liquid fertiliser every month, change the water, and it will keep trailing. It will never be as big as one in soil, but on a shelf that is often the point.
Notes
- Long water roots do eventually adapt to soil, but the plant spends weeks growing new ones first, and looks miserable in the meantime. Jump to footnote reference 1
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