Today we’re going to talk about how a plant that roots quickly, such as a pothos, can help a slower-rooting plant, whatever it may be, to grow faster. In fact, a myth says that If you have trouble rooting a plant, then the secret to giving it a boost and helping it root quickly would be to add a pothos to your cutting. This article will expose this myth to science to verify it. Not only this, but we will do our own case study and verify if pothos will make a slow-growing plant grow faster. So, read on if you want to confirm whether pothos can help other plants root quicker.
Does Pothos Help Other Plants Root?
Pothos help another slow-growing plant root faster, especially in water, because they release root development hormones at a higher rate when grown in water. When this happens, the excess hormones in the water get absorbed by the slow-growing plant, which helps it grow faster. So, if you have trouble rooting a plant in the water, you can add a pothos cutting to help it root quicker or better.
Click here to read our full article On how to propagate a leafless pothos vine
Table of Contents
How Can Pothos Help Slow-Growing Plants Root Faster?
Pothos can help other slow-growing plants root faster and better by excreting hormones in the water. In fact, some plants excrete hormones at a higher rate than others. And If we grow two plants that grow at different paces in the same water tank, then the fast-growing plant will excrete hormones faster and at a higher rate in the water. As a result, cutting the slow-growing plant can absorb the excess hormones in the water.
The best way to explain this is by looking at the anatomy of a plant. Plants have something called vascular tissue, these tissues have sieves, and these sieves transport nutrients to the plant through the xylem and phloem.
Xylem and phloem are found throughout any tropical or vegetable plant, and they don’t just carry hormones. They also have nutrients such as carbohydrates, sugars, and proteins. Whatever the plant needs are transported through these systems. They are like the veins of the human body.
Xylem and phloem are regulated by water which means that if we cut a slow-growing plant in water and that same water is exposed to a fast-growing plant. All the xylem and the phloem will be excreted or moved through pressure to the vascular tissues of the slow-growing plant.
Wondering about misting your pothos? Click here to get the exact answer.
How to Speed up The Growth of A Plant by Adding a Pothos Cutting to The Same Water? Step by Step
You must take a node cutting with a few leaves and place them in a water container. Also, it would help if you trimmed up the cutting because you don’t need a colossal stem as long as there are some little aerial roots for root development.
Then, you will need to take a tiny little section off of a healthy pothos with fresh cut ends and cut them up into single leaves as we did above with the slow-growing plant. Then, place everything in the same water container and compare the growth over the next few weeks.
Finally, set your container aside in a bright sunny area and add water regularly. As you wait for the slow-growing plant to root, you shouldn’t change the water because it contains the hormones exerted by the pothos that will help grow the other plant faster. Instead, you can add water whenever you see a significant drop in its level.
Is Your Pothos Plant Safe for Your Turtle? Read our article to Find Out Now!
My Case Study of Rooting a Slow-Growing Plant with Pothos in The Same Water Tank
I did an experiment to verify whether this theory of growing a slow-growing plant with pothos is helpful. First, I followed the same steps I gave you in the last section to confirm whether pothos will help a Scindapsus Exotica Root faster in water. I had one container with pothos and Scindapsus combined and another with Scindapsus.
Then, I started checking the cuttings every few days. On day five, the pothos cuttings began to sprout some roots, which is pretty surprising! But the Scindapsus cuttings didn’t have any new sources or signs of root development.
During this experiment, I didn’t change the water, yet I added water as needed to profit from the naturally occurring hormone excreted by the pothos plant.
After two weeks, the pothos cuttings have definitely rooted very nicely. The Scindapsus growing with pothos in the same container got a new root. But, the one growing alone has no roots, and even its leaves started to curl a little bit.
After a month, the pothos got a nice big thick juicy root. Also, the Scindapsus growing with the pothos got two little ones sprouting off on the side. The Scindapsus growing alone in water didn’t show any growth signs, and the leaves kept curling.
After a month of monitoring those plants, It’s clear that there is quite a remarkable difference between the roots of both plants. So, I can confirm that adding pothos to water-propagated cuttings helps them root faster and better.
Click Here to Read our full Case Study on how Pothos can Help Other Plants Root
Conclusion
To conclude, we can say that the fact that pothos can help other slow-growing plants root faster is one hundred percent logical and scientifically approved. The key to succeeding with such a process is not changing water when you grow a slow-growing plant with pothos in the same container. Also, by conducting a case study of increasing some cuttings of Scindapsus Exotica with pothos and other cuttings alone in the water, we verified that pothos can also help plants avoid further problems such as curly leaves.
If you found our content helpful, try to read our latest article on how to Identify root-bound pothos.
