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Pothos Care: Best Pothos Soil and Pot - Repotting Guide
Pothos leaf
There is a certain duality to the Pothos. Culturally, the Pothos represent wealth and prosperity, but their vininess and suitability for hanging planters makes them fitting for cottage-core décor. Having a cottage home may be humble, but it is prosperity nonetheless. No matter where your Pothos had their beginnings, they will always have a chance to shine in a new homey planter!
When to Repot your Pothos
The Pothos (often called the Devil’s Ivy) love to sprawl and crawl. As their vines grow outward, so do their roots. As above, so below. If your Pothos has been growing for a while, a repotting may be in order. It’s a perfectly routine and healthy thing to be repotted periodically, and can provide a good opportunity to upgrade to a hanging pot to help manage the vines as long vines can take up a lot of space on the table and windowsill. Here are some situations where it’s a good time to repot.
- Your Pothos could do with a bit more ventilation and drainage. The generic plastic pot your Pothos may have been rescued in may have been designed with drainage that is incomplete, and more likely than not there will be inadequate ventilation. Make sure to get a pot designed for houseplants.
- Your Pothos is cramped in its current container. Is your Pothos looking a bit cramped? Are roots starting to emerge from the surface of the soil or out through the drainage holes on the bottom? If it's been a while since the last repotting, such as a year or two, it may be time for an upgrade. If the roots are closer to the wall of the pot by within about 2 inches (or 50cm), a larger pot that makes that 2" gap should be provided. In either case; It's a good time to change the soil.
- Your potting soil is soiled. Soil serves a vital role in providing sustenance while also removing a plant's refuse. In this way; soil is much like the red stuff that keeps us going. As our red cells turn over twice per year, so should a plant's soil. Because plants can’t make their own feeding and removal media like we can, we help them out by fresh-mixing-to-order our rePotme Pothos Imperial Potting Mix!
- Fertilizer folly. If your Pothos has been fertilized recently, but they're starting to show damage and discoloration around the edges, there may be a mild case of fertilizer burn. It's nothing to worry about, it will correct itself after a change of soil and a return to accommodating levels of fertilizer during feedings. To get the serving of food just right, our FEED ME! Houseplant Food has easy instructions for getting the dose just right.
Once you're ready to start, set up an area near a source of running waters, get out a large tray or one of our portable potting benches to catch the soil and let’s get to it!
How to Repot your Pothos
- Tip your Pothos onto their side. The first item to get is a soft cotton fabric. It can be a shirt, a pillowcase, a bedsheet, or anything that is soft to the touch. The surfaces of their leaves are sensitive. After laying out the protective fabric, place your catching container of choice in front of it. Carefully work off the pot by gently flexing and sliding it off to expose the roots.
- Remove old mix and clean the root system. After washing your hands, delicately manipulate the roots to let the old soil fall out into the catch container. Old soil that is used for too long will eventually become toxic to plants. There are many roots on the Pothos, so make sure it has been thoroughly cleaned.
- Welcome your Pothos into their new home. The upgraded pot must be larger than the bulk of the roots, but not by too much. Approximately two inches of space between the roots and the walls of the pot. If the gap is too wide, the new moist soil will sit for too long before roots can colonize it. As the soil protects the roots from exposure, the roots play a role in protecting the soil from harmful microbes.
- In with the new (potting soil). With your Pothos relieved of old soil and with their new home positioned near them, carefully lift them into their new home and gradually pour in their new soil, such as our Pothos Imperial Potting Mix.
- You’re pretty good at this! Continue watering and feeding as you used to. To help with watering, see our watering cans. For feeding/fertilizing, check out our FEED ME! Houseplant Food.
- Pro Tip: Pothos like to hang around. Our Hand Woven Macrame Hangers can hold all of our ceramics pots up to 8 inches! Our ceramics each come with a Slot Pot insert so you don't have to compromise airflow and drainage to use them.
Contrary to their name, the Devil’s Ivy teaches a wholesome lesson. With their cottage-core aesthetic and aerial root support for themselves and nearby plants, they are telling us that the real wealth has been home and community all along!
Thank you for visiting us! If you have any questions that you would still like answered, our friendly team is always happy to help! Feel free to take a look around while you’re here, we make lots of tools, pots, and fresh house-made soils to help your plants stay strong and thriving well into the future!
