The Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is colloquially known as “Devil’s Ivy” because it’s so resilient it even stays green when it’s in the dark for extended periods! However, if they are growing completely at odds with how they grow in their native environment, this can result in a dying plant…
In the wild, they grow in tropical forests shaded from direct sunlight, in loose, well-draining soil and get a good amount of water, but not to the point where the soil is saturated. They also climb upwards, which makes their vines stronger and their leaves bigger.
Now that we undertsand hw they grow naturally, we can seek to replicate some of these conditions (like well-draining soil) in our homes to stop pothos from dying.
I have revived several pothos for friends and family (as well as experience growing and propagating many of my own). Here is my guide to diagnosing the symptoms of dying pothos and the fixes that actually work.
1. Why is My Pothos Turning Yellow? (Rotting or Old age?)
Yellow leaves are the most common symptom when something has gone wrong, but they can turn yellow for several reasons…
Yellow Leaves Due to Overwatering
If the yellowing starts at the base of the pothos and the leaf has a soft texture, it is because the roots are unable to breathe and therefore respire properly.
My Rescue strategy: We don’t just stop watering; we look at the soil too, as dense soil is often the problem. If roots cannot respire due to either dense soil or too much water, then they cannot draw up moisture and nutrients, which causes the leaves to turn yellow.
The favourite pothos soil Mix: I transplant the pothos to a 2-part potting soil and 1 part (orchid mix) pine bark chippings. The key here is the pine bark…It has a large particle size, which allows for air to access the roots and for excess water to drain away efficiently. This essentially replicates the soil characteristics of the plant’s native environment.
One or Two Leaves Turning Yellow?
If it’s just one or two of the older leaves turning yellow, and the rest of the plant is still growing, then don’t worry, as this is just a normal part of the ageing process. The pothos is redirecting energy from older leaves to new growth. You can just snip back the yellow leaves to clean up the plant.
Too much Fertiliser?
If your leaves have yellow edges but the centre of the leaf still remains green, you might be using too much fertiliser…I’ve personally experimented with even just normal houseplant fertilisers and found that Pothos roots are sensitive to salt buildup (the trick is to dilute it to half strength), and only use it from March until mid July.
To fix this, you may have to flush the soil under a tap, which helps dilute the excess salts and minerals. I would also assess the soil and potentially repot it with new potting soil (which should be done every 2-3 years). It should start to show healthy growth again after it has dealt with the stress and shcok of excess fertilizer and the stress of repotting.
2. Help! My Pothos Plant is Drooping
Pothos plants can droop dramatically, but they are also quite easy to fix if you get the diagnosis right.
Dry soil or Shock?
If you pick up the pothos pot, how does it feel? Is it surprisingly light? In which case, the soil is to dry. This can happen when pothos comes from the store, and it’s planted in peat compost. When peat dries out completely, it often turns hydrophobic on the surface, which means that water can trickle off the surface and not soak into the soil and reach the roots where it is actually required…
The solution to this is to place your pothos in a basin of lukewarm water and allow the pothos to draw up the moisture through the drainage holes in the base for 20 minutes or so…After this, the pot should feel reassuringly heavy. This is how it should feel after every bout of watering.
I would also recommend repotting it to the potting mix I recommended earlier, as pine bark chippings keep the surface of the soil porous so that the water can always reach the roots.
The Warning Sign: If the soil is damp but the pothos vines are drooping, you have a severe problem. This means you need to take the pothos out of the pot…wash away the soil and inspect the roots…Healthy roots feel firm, whereas overwatered roots feel mushy and look black. You need to snip these roots back to healthy growth.
Always wipe the pruners with a cloth soaked in disinfectant between each snip to prevent the spread of pathogens…Then repot the pothos in different potting soil and give it a good soak to help mitigate the shock of having its roots pruned.
Pothos often survives this if only a few of the roots are mushy, but if the problem is wide spread then the plant is difficult to save. What I do as insurance is to take some cuttings from any healthy remaining vines and propagate them to save some of the plant…In my experience, pothos is the easiest plant to propagate. As propagation is a very visual process, here is a YouTube video tutorial…
3. Why Are My Pothos Vines Getting Leggy?
So leggy in this case means that the plant is dying as such, but there are long vines with gaps between leaves…this is more of a survival strategy.
The “Running Away” Strategy
As we discussed in our growth guide, Pothos are always in search of the brightest light (as long as it’s not direct). If the light is too low, your pothos switches tactics and stops wasting energy on growing leaves and puts all its resources into growing its vines so that they can grow towards brighter light.
My Personal Fix for leginess: So if your pothos is looking for brighter light, we need to move it…but not into direct sunlight as the leaves can scorch! Any room with bright indirect light is superb for pothos. I also prune back the leggy vines so that the plant can grow bushy again.
Pro-Tip: I personally don’t throw the leggy vines away. Instead I prune them into single nodes, root them in water, and plant them back into the top of the pot (essentially propagate them) which is suprisingly effective. It fixes the leggy appearance and create a big bushy look to your pothos.
4. Why is My Pothos Turning Brown?
Crispy Brown Tips?
In my experience, this is almost always a humidity problem or sometimes even a sensitivity to chemicals and minerals in tap water. I used to live in an area with very hard water, and I noticed my “golden pothos” did not like it!
The Fix: I started letting my watering jug sit out for 24 hours, which surprisingly allows the chemicals to dissipate, but now I use rainwater or filtered water.
I would also recommend moving the pothos away from any radiators during winter, as the dry air can sap moisture from the leaves and cause them to turn brown. If low humidity is a problem in your climate, then locate your pothos in your bathroom or…use a plant humidifier, which allows you to adjust the humidity to suit your plant.
Large Brown Splotches
This is more than likely sunburn. As we discussed, pothos grow in the shade of a canopy, and their sensitive leaves do not tolerate direct sunlight. Move the pothos to an area of bright indirect light and prune off any sun burned leaves, as they do not turn green again.
5. The Emergency Plan for Root Rot
If your Pothos is truly dying in the sense that not just the roots but the vines are mushy, we need to do something drastic.
The H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) Flush of the roots
This is the trick up my sleeve that I use to rescue the most overwatered of plants. Here is the science… Hydrogen Peroxide H2O2 has an extra oxygen atom. When this hits the soil, it releases the oxygen, which disrupts the anaerobic bacteria that cause the disease root rot and essentially stops them from rotting.
My Step-by-Step process:
- Remove the plant and wash the roots, but run them gently under a tap to wash the soil off
- Snip off any black or mushy roots with sterilized (use a cloth soaked in disinfectant) pair of pruners or scissors.
- Soak the remaining roots in a mix of 1 part 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (available online) and 2 parts water for at least 15 minutes.
- Repot your pothos into a clean pot (very important! I use washing up liquid and soap) using the 2:1 soil-to-pine-bark mix that we discussed earlier.
These are drastic steps, but I have used them to save some “sentimental” plants that people have as a last resort. It does work, but honestly, it works a lot better in the growing months of spring and summer rather than winter, but I have successfully saved one then too.
Summary Diagnostic reference Table
| Symptom | Feeling | The Botanical Diagnosis | My Real-World Fix |
| Yellowing Base Leaves | Soft/Mushy | Overwatering / Root Suffocation | Repot in 2:1 Soil/Bark Mix. |
| Wilted/Limp Vines | Thin/Dry | Underwatering | Bottom-water soak for 45 mins. |
| Long, Bare Vines | Firm but sparse | Light Starvation (“Leggy”) | Prune back and move to a brighter spot. |
| Brown Leaf Tips | Crispy/Brittle | Low Humidity / Mineral Build-up | Use filtered water + pebble tray. |
| Black/Mushy Stems | Slimey | Advanced Root Rot | H202 soak + emergency repotting. |
My Final Thoughts on reviving Pothos…
The reason I love pothos is that they actually want to live, whereas some houseplants seem to give up too easily! The vines can all be propagated, so if your main plant dies, you have back-ups…Pothos is a tough plant, so it’s worth saving!