That moment I realized I was drowning my pothos for 2 years straight

My pothos in the living room kept getting yellow leaves no matter what I did. I was watering it every 3 days like clockwork because I thought that was the safe bet. Then my neighbor who works at a greenhouse in Austin told me to actually stick my finger in the soil before watering. Turns out the bottom half was soaking wet the whole time and I was basically giving it a bath every week. Anyone else have a plant they almost killed with too much love?

2 comments

2 Comments

sams2529d ago

Stick that finger in the soil like your neighbor said, best advice ever. I killed a snake plant doing the exact same thing, watering every 3 days because I thought all plants needed constant moisture. Turns out they like to dry out completely between waterings. Now I wait until the pot feels super light when I pick it up, or the soil is bone dry a couple inches down. For my pothos, I only water when the leaves start looking a little sad and droopy, which is usually every 2 weeks or so. Yellow leaves are almost always a sign to back off on the water, not add more.

jordanr8929d ago

My golden pothos in the kitchen had the exact same problem. I switched to watering it only when the leaves start to droop a tiny bit, which ended up being once every 10-14 days. That plant doubled in size within a few months after I backed off. I also learned that yellow leaves can mean overwatering while brown crispy edges mean underwatering, so that helped me figure it out faster. Sometimes less really is more with houseplants.