We all love a big, beautiful Pothos houseplant. It can add life to any room. But if you’re not careful, a Pothos can easily start looking sparse and leggy. Without the right type of care, the trailing, once-full vines and leaves may start to look mostly bare and spread out. So what can you do when your Pothos plant’s leaves are too few and far between?
Poor lighting is the most likely cause of a leggy Pothos. An under-lit plant stretches out in search of sunlight, making it appear limp and bare. To prevent this problem, provide at least 8 hours of bright, indirect light per day. You should also avoid giving your Pothos too much nitrogen in its fertilizer.
It’s often a good idea to prune your leggy Pothos. Even if you fix what’s making it stretch, the elongated growth won’t shrink down to normal size. We’ll explain how to clean up your Pothos plant’s appearance and how to keep it from getting leggy again in the future.
Why Your Pothos Is Leggy
Different people may have different standards for when a plant is “too leggy.” But in a general sense, the term usually refers to abnormally long stems with leaves that are too widely spaced. This looks particularly bad on Devil’s Ivy, since these plants grow as long vines that rarely branch. On a very leggy Pothos, those vines look limp and bare, dangling down like wet green noodles.
In the vast majority of cases, leggy growth results from inadequate sunlight. When your Pothos isn’t getting enough illumination, its only option is to reach out for more. It does this by prioritizing length over pretty much everything else. The vines grow as long as possible, leaving wide gaps between leaves. The foliage also tends to get wider and thinner. This gives the leaves more surface area to catch stray sunbeams, but also makes them pale and floppy.
This pattern is called etiolated growth. It’s not necessarily bad for your Pothos, but it does hint that your plant needs more light for its optimal health. If you want your Pothos to look and feel its best, try to avoid etiolation.
Another possible reason for a leggy-looking Pothos is an excess of nitrogen. At healthy doses, nitrogen is a good thing for plants. It’s a vital ingredient for foliage growth. However, when there’s too much in the soil, it can spur the leaves and stems to lengthen too rapidly. The result is an awkward, unbalanced Pothos.
The speed of growth provides an important clue about what’s causing the problem. Slow but stretched-out growth usually indicates a shortage of sunlight. Fast and leggy growth suggests that you’re overdoing it on the nitrogen.
Aren’t Pothos Plants Good in Low Light?
Maybe you’re surprised to hear that your leggy Pothos could be the result of poor lighting. After all, you picked this plant specifically because it’s supposed to be good for dim spaces! How can low light be the problem?
You’re partly right: Pothos do better with a stingy light budget than many other plants. But there’s a limit to what they’ll put up with. Anything green needs a certain amount of sun to maintain its vital functions and produce new growth. And there are plenty of spaces indoors that just won’t cut it – even for a Pothos.
If you really want to make your plant flourish, you should try to give it as much indirect sunlight as possible. “Indirect” means that the light is reflecting off of walls or other objects before hitting your Pothos. Direct light, in contrast, means that the sun is shining right on the leaves. Too much of that will burn Pothos foliage. Still, even this shade-loving plant appreciates an hour or two of direct sun per day.
If your Pothos is etiolated, it’s telling you that its current location is too dim. You don’t necessarily need to move it to the brightest spot in the house. But you should find a way to get it at least a little more sunlight.
Fixing Lighting Problems For a Leggy Pothos
If you think your plant is looking scraggly due to a lack of light, it’s time to relocate it. Good options for a new spot include:
- East-facing windows
- Tables or shelves that are 6+ feet back from windows looking south or west
- A south-facing window with sheer curtains to soften the light
- Any bright spot where a bigger plant can shade your Pothos
We have a detailed post on Pothos lighting here if you’re having trouble finding the right location. You could also test potential spaces with an illuminance meter. An ideal spot for a Pothos should get between 10,000 and 20,000 lux at the brightest part of the day.
Your Pothos will grow best if it gets 8-12 hours of bright light. If there’s nowhere in your home that offers that much sun, consider adding a grow light. Use an outlet timer to set the schedule and extend the plant’s daylight hours.
Don’t move your Pothos into a brighter space all at once. The leaves need time to build up their sunlight tolerance. A sudden increase in light levels can also lead to a sunburn. Begin by giving your plant 1-2 hours per day in a sunnier location, then increase that exposure little by little.
You should allow for about 2 weeks to fully transition your leggy Pothos. If you notice the leaves getting bleached or crispy, slow the process down and consider choosing a new destination.
Once your Pothos is in the new space, make sure to rotate it every few days. If the light is always hitting it from the same side, the vines will grow in that direction. This can create an imbalance that makes your Pothos look leggy even if the overall light levels are good.
Correcting a Nitrogen Overdose in a Leggy Pothos
What if you think your leggy Pothos is the result of too much nitrogen? The first step is to reconsider your choice of fertilizer.
If you’re using compost or another organic nutrient source mixed into the soil, it’s probably best to repot your Pothos. Use fresh potting mix without built-in fertilizer. Give it a month or so to settle in, then start adding a regular dose of well-balanced liquid houseplant fertilizer. This will give you more precise control over your plant’s nutrient intake.
Note that your Pothos will probably wilt for a while after repotting. Once it perks up and starts producing new growth, you’ll know it’s ready for fertilizer. Start it off with ¼ to ½ of the dose recommended on the packaging. You can increase it later on if it seems to need more.
If you’re already using synthetic fertilizer, you may need a different variety. Check the NPK levels, which are usually listed on the package as three numbers separated by dots or dashes. These represent the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium – always in that order. So an NPK of 1:3:1 means equal parts nitrogen and potassium, with 3 times as much phosphorus.
If your fertilizer has a very high N value, this could be why your Pothos is leggy. Try switching to one that’s closer to the natural balance of nutrients in plants. Our favorites are Dyna Gro Foliage Pro and Jack’s Classic All Purpose.
You should also perform a soil flush to wash out excess nutrients from the soil. Slowly pour a large amount of distilled water into your Pothos’s pot, letting it soak into the soil and flow out the bottom. It should carry most of the fertilizer with it, letting you start fresh.
Pruning to Fix a Leggy Pothos
It’s important to correct the conditions that made your Pothos leggy. But that won’t reverse the etiolated growth that’s already happened. The only option for that is pruning.
Luckily, chopping off the leggy growth doesn’t have to mean throwing it away. It’s easy to root Pothos cuttings in soil and let them grow into new vines. That means you can plant some of what you trim off right back into the same pot. This will give your Pothos a bushier appearance, counteracting its current scraggly look.
To enhance the effect, we’d suggest using stem sections of several different lengths. That way the leaves will hang at different heights and your Devil’s Ivy will look fuller.
Plan your cuts carefully. Keep in mind that each piece of stem needs at least one or two nodes below the soil. The nodes are the spots where new roots, leaves, and stems can grow. You can identify them by looking for the spots where the vines bulge out a little more. Nodes usually look more brown in color than the green internodes between them.
Taking Your Pothos Cuttings
Your cuttings will work best if you have a nice sharp blade. You want to slice through the stem in one clean cut, leaving no ragged edges where infections can take hold. We like these pruning scissors from the always-reliable gardening brand Fiskars. However, you can use just about anything sharp for this task.
To further reduce the odds of an infected Pothos, have some disinfectant at the ready. Rubbing alcohol is an excellent choice. You can also dilute bleach in water to make a good sanitizer. Use 1 part bleach to 9 parts water.
Gloves are also probably a good idea. Pothos plants have tiny, pointy crystals in their sap that sometimes cause skin irritation. You’ll rarely regret using a little extra protective gear.
Once your preparations are made, pick the spots where you want to cut. Snip through them quickly and cleanly. Between each cut, wipe down your trimmers with disinfectant.
Planting Your Pothos Cuttings
Poke a small hole into the soil for your first cutting. Make it deep enough to fit at least one of the nodes below the surface. If you can get two or three nodes underground, that’s even better.
Some indoor gardeners like to dip the cut end in rooting hormone powder before planting a cutting. This pushes the nodes to grow new roots faster. It’s not necessary, but it can speed up the process. You can also increase your odds of success a bit by dusting the cutting with cinnamon powder. This spice is a natural antifungal agent that will make your Pothos cuttings less likely to rot.
Now plant your cutting in the hole you made and fill in the remaining space with soil. Repeat this process for each stem section you’re planning to use. We suggest alternating shorter and longer vines to create a more even distribution of foliage. This should result in a less leggy-looking Pothos.
Once you’ve planted all your cuttings, give your plant a light watering. The soil should be damp but not soaking wet. Over the next few weeks, your newly planted Pothos vines will take root. You can help them along by keeping humidity high while watering sparingly. A humidifier is obviously very helpful for this. You can also do things like:
- Placing your Pothos near other tropical plants. As they all breathe out moisture into the same space, they’ll raise the local humidity.
- Setting the pot on a shallow tray of water and pebbles. Evaporation elevates the humidity slightly, while the rocks keep the container above the water to prevent root rot.
- Covering your Pothos in plastic wrap or putting it inside a clear, sealed container. This traps moisture so the air can’t dry out.
Final Thoughts
Now you know how to avoid growing a leggy Pothos. The key is providing plenty of indirect sun but not too much nitrogen fertilizer. The good news is that if you mess up, it’s easy to prune down your Pothos to make it look full again. These resilient plants bounce back quickly after a trim.