What can you do to keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated? You picked this plant for its gorgeous white coloring and green freckles, but you know that a multicolored plant can sometimes revert to solid green. Our guide will help you maintain your plant’s variegation while keeping it healthy and strong.
The best way to keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated is to provide good lighting. Lack of sunlight can trigger more chlorophyll production, making the white variegation disappear. If your Pothos does begin reverting, prune back the all-green foliage before it takes over the plant.
Snow Queen Pothos is one of the most boldly variegated types of Devil’s Ivy. That means it’s also one of the trickiest to maintain. Fortunately, most of the ways to keep it variegated are things you should be doing for your Pothos anyway! Scroll on to learn how to keep your Snow Queen healthy and bright.
What Makes a Snow Queen Pothos White?
Like most Pothos houseplants, the Snow Queen is a cultivar of Epipremnum Aureum, otherwise known as the Golden Pothos. But you might not guess that these are the same species at a glance. An ordinary Golden Pothos has forest green foliage, sometimes flecked with yellow. The Snow Queen is mostly brilliant white with spatters of green.
The difference is in how their genes are expressed. Many of the cells in a Snow Queen Pothos don’t produce chlorophyll, the pigment that gives plants their green color. Beneath their chlorophyll, all Pothos leaves are the same bold white color as a Snow Queen.
This mutation is scattered at random through the plant, which is why some green spots continue to pop up. This is called chimeric variegation. It rarely makes its way into the reproductive cells, so chimeric plants usually can’t pass on their variegation through seeds. (Not that Pothos make seeds anyway – this species is almost entirely asexual and rarely flowers without chemical assistance.)
Chimeric variegation is also unstable. Sometimes a multicolored Pothos will switch on its chlorophyll-producing genes and start making green foliage again. That’s what we mean when we say a plant is reverting. It can happen at random, but it also occurs in response to specific environmental conditions. By sticking to a few key care habits, you can often keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated.
Sunlight Helps Keep a Snow Queen Variegated
The number one most common reason for a variegated plant to revert is lack of sunlight. Pothos can normally get by without a ton of sun. But the less chlorophyll they have, the less energy each leaf can absorb. Heavily variegated plants need more sunlight to sustain the same levels of growth.
When a Snow Queen Pothos isn’t getting enough light, it may respond by producing more chlorophyll. All of a sudden, you might see your plant pushing out leaves that are all or mostly green. You have to provide a healthy dose of sunlight to keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated.
Only a little bit of that should be direct light, though. Too much sun falling straight onto the leaves can scorch a Pothos. When this happens, the beautiful speckled white of your Snow Queen will be marred by brown dead spots. It’s good for your plant to get 1-2 hours of direct sun during the cool morning hours. Bright, indirect light is best for the rest of the day.
How to Get Your Snow Queen Pothos Enough Light
Lighting for a Pothos mostly comes down to location. Here are some good locations if you want to keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated:
- On an east-facing windowsill. East windows receive direct sunlight for a few hours in the morning, when the air is still cool, then indirect light until sunset. That’s the perfect schedule for a plant that craves bright light but burns easily.
- In a south-facing room. Southern exposures are very bright, but often too hot for your Pothos. Place it 5 or 6 feet away, and it will happily soak up the bright indirect without burning. 4-5 feet from a west-facing window is also good.
- Shielded by curtains. You can reduce the light intensity by using curtains made of thin, gauzy fabric. Choose a material that scatters light without blocking it completely, like lace, voile, or even paper. With sheer curtains in place, your Snow Queen Pothos can sit by a southern window that would normally fry it.
- Under a grow lamp. This is the best solution when your house is too dim to keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated. You can tailor the light intensity and schedule to your plant’s particular needs. An inexpensive LED lamp like this one from Sansi is a great way to get started.
Prune Stems When They Start to Revert
Even when it’s well-lit, your Devil’s Ivy may still sometimes pop out a green leaf or two. This is just the luck of the genetic draw. To keep your Snow Queen Pothos variegated, you should nip this green growth in the bud.
The reason is that reverted growth can quickly crowd out the variegated foliage. As we explained earlier, all-green leaves are much more efficient at photosynthesis. The green parts of your Pothos will grow much faster, and your plant may stop investing in variegated leaves. To avoid this, clip off the new growth as soon as you see that it’s all green.
Removing the leaf isn’t enough – you need to take off the growth node, too. Ideally, you should prune back until you reach a node with obvious white coloration. Plant tissue that’s reverted almost never “double-reverts” and goes back to producing multicolored leaves.
Use a sharp set of snippers, disinfecting the blades with rubbing alcohol before trimming. This will reduce the risk of your Snow Queen getting an infected cut.
After you remove the cuttings, you might want to propagate them in water or soil. There’s a slight chance they might someday produce variegation again. If not, you’ve still got another standard Pothos plant. That’s a win-win in our book.
Can a Snow Queen Pothos Revert to a Marble Queen?
The Marble Queen Pothos looks almost exactly like a Snow Queen, except that there’s a higher proportion of green in its leaves. The white coloration also tends to be more of a yellowish, creamy color than the blazing white of a Snow Queen.
Because the color pattern is so similar, many people claim that these are two names for the same plant. In this view, a Snow Queen Pothos is just a Marble Queen that’s getting more light, and could “revert” to a Marble Queen in dimmer conditions.
In some ways, this is a semantic argument. Both plants are members of the same species (Epipremnum Aureum) with different patterns of gene expression. The question is whether these patterns are stable enough to consider them different Pothos varieties.
We lean toward “yes,” but it won’t make much difference for your purposes. The main thing to remember is that your Pothos isn’t necessarily reverting if its foliage starts to look more like a Marble Queen. You don’t need to prune those leaves off like you would if they were fully green. However, this is a good indicator that you should give your plant more light.
What Else Does Your Snow Queen Pothos Need?
Sunlight is a firm requirement when you want to keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated. However, other types of environmental stress can also make a variegated plant go green. Pay attention to its other care needs, including:
- A steady temperature. Temperature fluctuations commonly trigger reversion in variegated plants. Ironically, this means that your Snow Queen is more likely to lose its “snow” during winter! Try to maintain a consistent temperature between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mildly damp soil. Every 2-3 days, poke your finger into the soil and water if the upper 2 inches have dried out.
- Good drainage. The pot should have a hole in the base, and the soil should be pretty coarse. Specialty potting mixes for aroids work well. You can also blend your own soil using the recipe in this article.
- Medium-high humidity. Your Snow Queen Pothos may turn brown at the leaf tips and edges if the humidity drops much below 50%. If you can get closer to 65-70%, that’s even better. High humidity helps protect your plant from burning in the sunny locations that help keep it variegated.
- Nutrients. Give your Snow Queen Pothos a little fertilizer every 4-6 weeks during the growing season. Try a ½-strength dose and see if that’s enough.
Final Thoughts
Proper care and lots of bright, indirect sun will keep a Snow Queen Pothos variegated. Whenever that doesn’t do the trick, you can usually halt reversion in its tracks with some strategic pruning. We hope the tips in this article help you grow a glorious, brightly-colored Snow Queen!
