Pothos is often marketed as one of those plants that’s easy to grow…
It does grow very fast compared to most houseplants, tolerates being neglected for a few weeks, and usually grows even when conditions are far from perfect
(fun fact, it’s called devil’s ivy because it stays green even in the dark for long periods!)
That’s exactly why yellowing leaves on a pothos can be so disappointing. If a pothos is supposed to be one of the easiest houseplants to care for, why do the leaves turn yellow without an obvious cause?
When I first started growing my indoor pothos plants, the yellowing leaves were one of the symptoms I mistook for something else.
At the start of my indoor gardening journey, I assumed yellow leaves meant I wasn’t watering often enough.
However, I have since learned that with houseplants, that’s probably the worst thing you can do.
However, through some research and my own journey of trial and error, I realised the yellowing leaves were a response to a particular kind of stress, and the way they turn yellow often gives you clues as to what is wrong.
In this article, I’ll explain the following…
- The most common reasons pothos leaves turn yellow in ascending order, so know what’s the most likely culprit.
- How do I tell whether it is overwatering causing the yellowing leaves, or just from natural ageing
- My checklist for how to diagnose
- How to fix the problem
- How to keep pothos healthy and prevent yellowing leaves…
First things first: Is your Yellow Pothos Necessarily Dying?
Thankfully, yellowing leaves don’t mean it’s dying as such, but rather under some kind of environmental stress and discomfort.
Pothos is a resilient plant, and just a few yellow leaves don’t necessarily mean the whole plant is dying. I’ve seen pothos drop its older yellow leaves as part of a natural process, and leaves turn yellow as a result of the stress of repotting, or show signs of stress from inconsistent watering (water here and there when you remember) and then rejuvinate once conditions are better.
I usually consider that a yellowing pothos can be saved if…
- Most of the vines are still firm when you pinch them.
- New vines or leaves are still growing
- The vines are not black or mushy with a squishy texture (rotting)
- The roots still look a pale brown/yellow and feel solid.
However, I must warn that it becomes more of a problem when…
- Several leaves are yellowing simultaneously
- The stems are going soft and squishy in a rotting type of way.
- The soil or any part of the plant smells sour as if something has gone off in the fridge.
- The yellowing areas also have black patches or stems that are mushy.
So a few yellow leaves are fine, but widespread systemic yellow should ring alarm bells.
What I Check…Which of the Leaves Are Turning Yellow?
This is actually very telling and the best way to diagnose pothos…
If the older, most established leaves near the base of the plant are yellowing:
I consider first…
- Whether it’s overwatering or boggy soil due to poor drainage.
- natural ageing of the older leaves as part of its cycle
- A lack of light reaching these leaves due to being shaded out by something (perhaps other leaves!)
If random leaves here and there all over the plant are turning yellow:
- root stress from overwatering or saturated soil
- watering inconsistency (forgetting to water for a few weeks, then watering more often, etc.)
- A lack of nutrients in the soil (have the pothos roots exhausted the nutrients in the soil?)
- Other kinds of environmental stress, such as temperature.
If it’s just the leaves that are oriented towards the window that are turning yellow first:
Then it is most likely too much direct sunlight, usually from intense afternoon sun.
1. Overwatering (The Most Common Reason for Yellow Leaves)
In my experience of growing pothos and trying to rescue pothos for friends and family, overwatering is the most common reason pothos leaves turn yellow.
Overwatering may be a bit of a broad term. I mean both overwatering, as in literally watering too often and in the sense that the soil may be staying boggy for other reasons, such as poor drainage or water collecting underneath the pot in a saucer, for example.
It’s also important to note that Pothos roots need a balance of moisture and oxygen in the soil. If the compost is too damp, then excess water excludes oxygen from the soil, which means roots cannot respire. If they cannot respire, then they cannot do their job, which is to draw up moisture and nutrients. Without moisture and nutrients, a leaf turns yellow.
How this form of yellowing looks
- Several yellow leaves appear in a relatively short time period
- Yellowing often starts with the older and larger leaves, but can appear anywhere
- Your potting soil stays damp for days and days (pick the pot up…is it heavier than you expected? It’s because the soil is still very damp)
- Sometimes the vines turn soft near the base of the pothos
What I’ve learned from my experience growing and reviving pothos
I used to think I was being sensible by watering my pothos lightly here and there, like a light rain shower, but actually, this is the wrong move. The top of the soil looks dry, so I assumed the pothos could do with more water. But the lower half of the potting mixture was damp the entire time!
What I should have been doing is the soak and dry method. Pothos really prefers to be soaked as if there’s a deluge of rainfall followed by a dryer period where the top 2 inches of the soil are allowed to dry out.
What does this mean typically? Water your pothos every 10 days in the spring and summer and every 2 or 3 weeks in the winter.
How to fix it
- The first move is to stop watering immediately
- Then you need to check how wet the potting soil is
- If the soil feels dense or saturated, then we need to repot into something more open
For pothos, I have experimented with several soil mixes and found one that works best. Here is what works and why…
- 2 parts normal houseplant potting soil (any works well, I don’t have a favourite)
- 1 part pine bark, like orchid potting mix, which I get from my garden center)
- 1 parts perlite
This is the optimal balance as it allows excess water to drain away from the roots, preventing root rot. The park and the perlite create a structure that is porous for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide as the roots respire.
This essentially mimics the soil structure of the pothos in its native sub-tropical environment.
2. Natural Yellow of the Leaves due to Ageing (Usually Harmless)
This one is much easier to deal to solve…
Pothos leaves sometimes turn yellow as the plant redirects some of its energy from large, older leaves at the base to growing vines and leaves elsewhere that trail.
How this looks
- One or two of the older, more established leaves are yellow
- The rest of the vine looks healthy
- There is new growth that is still healthy, green, and active
I’ve found that this is particularly common on the longer vines, where the older leaves are shaded by newer leaves growing quickly.
What to do in this scenario…
You can just prune back your yellow leaves if you like, with a pair of pruners for aesthetic reasons, and rest assured that your beautiful pothos is healthy still.
3. Too Much Direct Sun scorching the leaves yellow and brown
Pothos likes bright indirect light, and harsh direct sunlight can scorch and stress the leaves to the point that they turn yellow and brown or somewhere along the spectrum.
I’ve seen this happen several times when a pothos plant is moved suddenly from a relatively shaded shelf to a bright windowsill without a period to acclimate to the new conditions. The leaves closest to the sunlight begin to yellow, and sometimes later develop brown, scorched areas on the leaf.
How it looks…
- A yellowing of the leaves on the side that faces the window
- A pale, yellow appearance
- Sometimes, some brown or crispy patches follow, too, where it’s burned
What to do with scorched leaves
I move my plant back into bright, indirect light rather than full sunlight. We need to acknowledge that pothos grows in the shade of a canopy in the wild, and it doesn’t like to be in full sunlight.
In my experience, pothos always grows best near a brighter window but not in any intense midday or afternoon sun. A little gentle morning sun is okay, especially in northern latitudes where the sun is less intense, but harsh direct exposure usually causes yellowing.
I like to grow plants like pothos in the bathroom as frosted glass creates the right sort of diffused bright light, or perhaps use a sheer curtain in front of a bright window for the same effect.
4. Underwatering as a Cause for Yellow (Less Common, but it can happen)
Pothos is so much more forgiving of dryness than, say, for example…peace lilies, but extended dry soil can still cause yellowing leaves.
What yellowing due to dryness looks like…
- The leaves lose some firmness and droop or curl
- The soil can shrink away from the side of the pot, leaving a noticeable gap
- For an intense drought, the yellowing is often paired with browning or crisping leaves, too
- Your vines may start looking thinner and perhaps less vigorous
When pothos gets very dry, it often sacrifices the older leaves near the base first.
In my Experience…
Underwatering yellow usually produces a slightly different appearance from overwatering yellow leaves. The plant feels dry, the pot is obviously much lighter, and there are fewer lush leaves and vines overall. Overwatered pothos often looks droopy while the soil is still wet, and the pot is heavy to pick up.
What can happen with store-bought pothos is that they are potted up with soil taht can turn hydrophobic if it dries out completely. This means water is repelled off the surface of the soil without infiltrating the soil and reaching the roots.
I would recommend repotting your pothos in a potting mix I described earlier that includes perlite and pine bark to keep that porous texture even when dry, so that the roots can access the moisture they need after watering.
How to fix it
If the root ball has dried out completely, what I do is I soak it thoroughly and let the excess drain away. I often place the pothos pot in some lukewarm water in a basin or a bathtub and allow it to draw up moisture through the drainage holes in the base to rehydrate properly.
5. Nutrient-Poor Soil
Pothos is a hardy survivor and can live in the same pot for a surprisingly long time, but if it has been in the very same pot and same compost for years, and the growth is slower, pale yellow leaves can sometimes indicate that the roots have exhausted all the available nutrients in the soil.
How this looks…
- slower overall growth of vines
- smaller new leaves emerging
- pale or washed-out colour to the leaves rather than the deep greens
What I’ve learned through some Experience and Trial and Error
In my experience, I have found pothos prefers best to a diluted fertilizer, as it’s not a heavy feeder.
Here’s what to do…
During spring and summer, I use a balanced liquid fertilizer at about half the strength recommended every few weeks if the plant is actively growing, starting in March and stopping in mid July.
If it’s winter, however, you may want to check that your pothos is getting enough light. I would also repot your pothos into a different potting mixture, as it may have run out of nutrients. The best time to do this is in the spring because this is when the plant is most resilient to the stress of repotting.
6. Root-Bound pot stress, causing the leaves to turn yellow
As I am sure you know, Pothos usually tolerates a slightly smaller pot, but if the roots completely coil around the container they are in (basically if you haven’t repotted in years), growth slows and the plant can start to turn yellow leaves.
What it looks like
- Water can run straight through the pot and out through the drainage holes in the base.
- The roots coil heavily around the bottom, leaving little room for compost
- growth becomes less vigorous
- leaves are smaller and do not grow as often
What I do
You just need to move up one pot size only. Why only one? I am glad you asked!
I’ve found that potting into a much larger pot size often creates another set of problems, because the new soil stays wet for too long. The pothos is going to be used to the soil drying out at a certain rate, and if there is a lot more potting soil, it’s going to dry out much more slowly.
7. Cold Stress or Sudden Environmental Change
Pothos is a very adaptable houseplant and is very hardy, but a sudden change in environment can trigger leaf yellowing.
This includes the following:
- cold blasts of air from frequently opened exterior doors
- sudden temperature swings due to central heating
- a major move from one room to another with more air flow or dryer air
I’ve seen some pothos develop a few yellow leaves just because it was moved from a much warmer room into a cold windowsill, and the leaves were in contact with the cold glass.
What to do…
Honestly, most of the time, the pothos simply adjusts to the new environment just fine, so wait until things settle down.
I would, however, caution against cold window sills and low light, as the plant is going to grow less vigorously and certainly keep it away from the cold glass.
Should I Prune Off Yellow Pothos Leaves?
Yes, you should, as yellow leaves do not turn green again.
I usually snip the yellow leaves cleanly at the base of the petiole to improve the plant’s appearance. This keeps the pothos looking good and encourages it to focus energy on healthy growth.
If the yellowing is mild and I’m still undecided what’s causing it, I sometimes leave the leaf temporarily to keep observing the pattern.
How I Keep Pothos leaves a lovely shade of Deep Green
Over time, I’ve found that pothos stays healthiest and greenest with large, glossy leaves when the conditions are consistent. The most important factors are…
- bright, indirect light
- an aerated potting soil
- watering only once the soil has dried to around 2 inches
- occasional feeding in the growing season at half dilution
- Avoid swings in temperature
- Repot the plant every 3 or 4 years.
The biggest mistake I made early on was trying to save the yellowing leaves too early, when most of the time, pothos improves its lush appearance once the environment is corrected and then left alone long enough to respond.