Do you have a pothos that is missing tons of leaves? Please, do not throw it away because you can still propagate a pothos vine without leaves. Many propagation videos will tell you that you must cut a node with a few leaves to propagate a pothos. And I agree that cutting with many leaves will help propagate the pothos easily and quickly, but growing leafless pothos is still possible. In this article, I will show you my secret formula to propagate pothos vines without leaves. So, read on to discover this secret and many more exciting things about your pothos.
Can I Propagate a Pothos Vine without Leaves?
You can propagate a pothos vine without leaves if you choose a cutting with at least one nod and grow it in a high-humidity area. Generally, leafless pothos cuttings are grown in a closed bag for a few weeks until they start growing small vines before moving to a pot.
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Table of Contents
How to Propagate a Pothos Vine without Leaves?
In most pothos propagation videos and tutorials, they will tell you that propagating a pothos requires a cutting that has at least a few leaves. But I promise you can still propagate leafless nodes, and I will show you how.
Before you start the propagation of leafless pothos, you should determine where the node is located. Finding a node is a little more complicated when you don’t have a leaf coming out of the vine. You can identify a node quickly by looking for the intersection or break in the vine where there’s a concentration of roots.
Once you’ve identified your nodes, you can cut one to two inches on either side of it and then prepare it for growth.
The rest of the process is straightforward; you need to maximize the humidity of your pothos cutting and give it an excellent growing medium. For that, You can use a sandwich bag and fill it with wet Spagna moss, zip it up, and put it under a nice bright light. Then, you will only need to check your pothos every few days, give it some air, and ensure it remains humid inside.
To grow pothos vines without leaves, providing the best environment is crucial. That’s why it’s mandatory to keep them in a bag. Generally, when the sandwich bag is closed, the humidity will reach higher levels which is what pothos love.
Typically, within four to 5 weeks, your leafless pothos cutting will start growing new vines. At this point, they’re pretty much ready to pot up. You could probably leave them a little longer if you want, but as your pothos grow, you will run out of space as the sandwich will no longer fit the plant.
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Why Your Pothos Are Losing All Their Leaves?
Pothos leaves falling off is a normal occurrence, even if many people might think this is a sign of some health issues. In fact, pothos will lose their leaves whenever springtime returns, then go back to normal and start flushing during spring. However, when the pothos leaves fall off during the growing season, that’s probably a worse sign that your plant has terrible health issues.
Here are the most common causes of pothos leaf drop:
- Sudden Environment Change
The first reason your pothos leaves might fall off is when you suddenly change their growing environment. In fact, many people keep pothos outside during the growing season and then take them into the house when winter hits. This is going to cause a massive change in humidity which is going to shock the plant. As a result, the plant starts dropping its leaves.
This is entirely normal, and there’s little you can do about it. Just wait until you bring your plant back outside in the spring, and you’ll see that it will put new growth out very quickly.
- Temperature Change
The second reason why your pothos leaves might be falling off could be due to temperature. In fact, if you move your pothos from a high-temperature area to a low-temperature environment, their leaves will also drop off. Generally, anything that happens to your plant very quickly can cause problems, particularly leaf drops.
- Pests
The third reason why pothos loses leaves might be pests. When you detect pests in your pothos plant, you will need to take immediate action as this may cause severe damage to your plant. You can fight problems naturally by spraying your plant with mild soap and neem oil. If natural pest remedies do not yield the best results, you should use chemical pesticides to save your pothos.
- Nutrient Deficiency
Another factor that causes pothos leaves to fall off is nutrient deficiencies. This is also something that must be taken care of quickly as it may end your pothos life if left untreated. To fix a nutrient deficiency in pothos, you should verify which nutrient is lacking for your plant and use a fertilizer that can fill in the gap.
- Inappropriate Watering
The fifth reason behind pothos dropping leaves is a straightforward fix: it’s either overwatering or under-watering. Both can have the same effects on this plant. It’d be straightforward for pothos to lose its leaves if you’re overwatering it. To avoid this issue, check the soil before watering your pothos. If the soil is still wet, then do not water your plant.
- Inappropriate Lighting
Last but not least is light. Generally, light is essential for your plant, and it’s going to be usual for your pothos to drop their leaves under different light levels. This happens whenever you’re bringing your pothos from an outdoor situation where it gets all the sunlight it needs to an indoor situation.
Even if you’re using grow lights indoors, they will not provide the same amount of light that pothos is used to. But this is not something that you need to freak out over. That’s one of those problems that will be fixed when you bring your plant back out in the spring. It’ll thrive quickly, and you’ll be surprised how fast it grows.
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How to Prevent Pothos from Losing Leaves?
Now that we know what causes our pothos to lose their leaves let’s check how we can prevent this from happening.
The most common reason behind the drop of pothos leaves is overwatering. You can perform a soil test before watering your plant to prevent this. All you have to do is to check the soil by digging your finger in it before watering. If it feels moist, then don’t water it. Once the ground feels dry and you don’t see any moisture on your finger, you can water your plant.
Another reason for overwatering is growing the plant in a big pot. In fact, when you develop a plant in a huge pot, it will not be able to absorb all of the water in the pot, which will lead to overwatering. This usually happens when we repot our plants. To avoid this, you should repot your plant using a one to two sizes bigger than the older pot, but not more significant than that.
To prevent your pothos leaves from dropping, you must provide the best lighting conditions. To do so, you need to bring your plant to a brighter spot.
During the winter, or if you live in a region that doesn’t get so much sunlight, you can bring your pothos closer to a grow light. That way, you will ensure that your plan gets the required sunlight.
If you want to prevent your pothos leaves from dropping during the winter season, you must also focus on keeping the temperature stable. To do so, you can put your plant in a warm room or use a space heater. If you choose to use a device like a space heater, keep it a few feet away from your pothos to avoid any possible damage to your plant.
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Conclusion
To conclude, we can say that a pothos that does not have leaves can propagate and reach its full growth potential if we follow the proper steps. And a general rule of thumb with plants is that you should never give up when you don’t see the ideal conditions. Even if you have a half-dead plant, there’s always a good chance to bring it back to life because “as long as there’s some green, there’s a chance!”
Also, suppose you want to prevent this problem of leaf drop from happening with pothos. In that case, you must ensure that you provide your plant with the right growing conditions, namely high humidity, indirect sunlight, and moderate watering.
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