How to Propagate a Pothos Plant

If you've got an overgrown pothos plant or are looking for an easy way to get more plants, propagation via cuttings if the best way to go! In this instructable I'll show you how to trim your pothos plant, take cuttings, root the cuttings in water, and how to plant the pothos cuttings and take care of them.

I love this method of pothos propagation because it is super easy - all you need is some time and glasses of water!

Step 1: Tools for Propagating a Pothos

Thankfully, you don't need much!

• Sharp scissors or an x-acto knife
• Glasses full of water to hold cuttings
• Pot for planting
• Indoor or all-purpose potting soil for planting

Step 2: Trim Your Pothos Plant

As you can see, my plant was getting a little out of control. I had to wind its vines into the other pothos nearby to keep them up and away from my cats. It was actually as long as I am tall!

First things first: time for a trim! Decide how long you'd like the vines to be and trim them directly below the lowest leaf node you want to leave. Untangle the vines and lay them out individually to get ready to make some cuttings!

Step 3: Cut the Pothos Stems Into Individual Nodes

Now it's time to dismantle the pothos stems into individual cuttings. Some folks like to root a whole stem, but I find that takes a very long time and often doesn't produce a plant that transfers easily back to soil after being in water so long.

Instead, I cut along the stem to create individual leaf cuttings. Cut to the left and right of every leaf stem, leaving a small piece of vine attached to the bottom of the leaf stem. See the little brown bumps on the vine? Those are called nodes, and that's where new roots will form.

Step 4: Place the Pothos Stems in Water and Wait

I use small juice glasses for this, but have a look around and see what fits your pothos cuttings best!

Fill your container(s) with water and place the cuttings into the water so the cut ends remain submerged.

Place the cuttings in a warm, bright spot and leave them to grow roots. Check on the cuttings every couple of days and dump out the old water and replace it with new. (Oxygen dissolves in standing water after a time, so it's important to refresh!)

Step 5: How to Know When Your Pothos Cuttings Are Ready to Plant

I always leave my pothos cuttings in water until they have at least one inch of roots. In this case, I ended up with much longer ones waiting for more of the cuttings to root, so the roots are between two and three inches.

Keep in mind that the longer the roots remain in water, the harder it will be for them to make the change to soil. It's better to plant some of the cuttings while waiting for the rest. :)

Sort your cuttings and remove the cuttings with roots from the water. Cuttings without roots can remain in water until they form roots - some can take quite a while!

Step 6: Planting and Growing the Pothos Cuttings

Fill a pot about 2/3 full with fresh potting soil and start placing the cuttings around the edges of the pot, adding soil as necessary to keep the cuttings in the right place. Then fill in the middle of the pot with cuttings and add more soil as needed.

Water slowly and thoroughly, until the water runs out the bottom of the pot. Once it stops dripping, place the pot where you want it to live and care for it like a normal pothos. Congrats! You just propagated a pothos. :D

Comments

[Meat]

Hi !
I propagated some several pothos leaves in water with great roots yet they’ve been planted now for about 6 months and there’s no new growth on any of them. They are definitely still alive but won’t grow any new branches or leaves !

[monotopiia]

I just placed newly rooted stems into soil, how often it needs water, I'm afraid it might get root rot

[jessyratfink]

Just don't let the soil dry out completely for a couple weeks - the roots need a little more moisture while they acclimate :)

[terrafinch.tf]

Hi there! Will it stress the original plant to cut off stems?

[Smatt7]

No, it will more than likely make the parent plant flourish more 🙂

[jessyratfink]

Yup! I agree with Smatt7 - I trim back my pothos every now and then. The leaves eventually age and die off, so it's a nice way to make sure you're always getting a bit of new growth. :)

[Muhaiminah Faiz]

Wow! I had no idea! I'm trying this first thing tomorrow morning!

[girlsavingworld]

Help! I have a very green thumb normally but my cuttings refuse to root! Each one is now growing a new leaf but there’s no root visible at all. They’ve been in water for weeks now. I change it weekly.

[GaryG191]

Try root tone next time same thing happend to me then i used root tone and got roots on every nod i took good luck

[jessyratfink]

Oh no! There's a couple things you can do:
• Place the cuttings in brown/green/amber glass instead of clear (some folks swear by this, saying less light = more roots but I don't know about that)
• Add a little bit of fertilizer to the water (this seems to help all my cuttings!)
• Wash the black bits off the stems and try again (sometimes the stem ends get a little gross and moldy, and washing them can help get some oxygen back to the area)

I hope you'll see roots soon since they're growing new leaves :)

[girlsavingworld]

IT ABSOLUTELY WORKED! Within 2 weeks of doing the three things you suggested, I have lots of tiny white root matter emerging. There had been NONE prior. I also moved them to an East facing window that gets less direct light and I put them in coffee mugs instead of clear glasses. Thank you!!

[24mansis]

Hi , i have cut a stem of pothos transferred the cutting to a water jar, its been two days and the stem has withered..all the leaves are dried up and falling off..what should i do?

[Glossyskinandcharms]

Thank you so much for this post. I am going to try it with mine

[SHOE0007]

Cool very simple tissue culture results just with water. I have tried this and agars with sugars but they agars allow mold to grow so water works a lot better. Thanks for sharing.

[TheTess]

I had one of these (or the same one) for close to 40 years now. I just plant the cutting into the soil and start all over again when it starts to get too unruly. I love these and they make great gifts.

[R ‘n’ W]

If you have a fishtank you can put them at the surface of the water with a suction cup or something different. The nutrients in the water will help the plant grow. You can even
let it be inside the tank when it’s bigger. The plant doesn’t need substrate at all and it’s great for the water quality as it kills nitrates.

[Tweetysvoice]

You think yours are out of control? Get a load of my tangled mess... Got the plant (and another unknown vineing plant) as a housewarming gift 7 yrs ago and just do my best to keep it above cat's reach... I think its doing more than surviving, its thriving! Lol! Question... A lot of my plant is empty vine. When I begin to untangle and prune, have you noticed if leaves and nodes from the tips grow better or ones closer to the soil end of the vine?

[mrl7635]

I've heard if you trim them, from the tip side, they will get thicker. I haven't tried it yet.

[KatyM43]

How long does it take for the leaves to grow more leaves? Or do the these single leaf cuttings grow into vines?

[jessyratfink]

I'd say between a few weeks and a couple months! It can be a pretty slow process if they aren't in the right conditions.

Each of the cuttings should continue to grow additional leaves, letting it grow into a longer vine!