Plants
Pothos
Epipremnum aureum
BeginnerFine in a closed jar
Heart-shaped trailing leaves that climb and cover fast. Nearly unkillable.
What the simulation uses
- Light
- 800 to 15,000 lux
- The brightness it grows well in.
- Humidity
- 40 to 100 % RH
- Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.
- Temperature
- 16 to 30 °C
- Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.
- Dies at
- below 10 or above 35 °C
- Days beyond these temperatures kill it.
- Soil pH
- 5.5 to 7 pH
- Soil acidity it prefers.
- Grows up
- 4 cm/month
- How fast it gains height in good conditions.
- Spreads
- 6.5 cm/month
- How fast its edge creeps outwards.
- Copes with wet
- fair
- How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.
- Copes with still air
- good
- Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.
- Copes with shade
- excellent
- How well it holds on in dim light.
- Copes with drying
- good
- How well it survives the jar drying out.
- Water use
- 0.08 ml/cm²/day
- Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.
- Leaf drop
- 3 %/month
- Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.
- Soft leaves
- yes
- Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.
- Full size
- 27.5 cm tall, 115 cm wide
- Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.
Care
- Day length
- 8 to 14 h
- Substrate
- Moist
What kills it
- prolonged waterlogging
- cold below 10 C
Description
Few houseplants are tougher. Its vines climb wood and spread across the ground quickly. In a small closed jar it outgrows the space within months, so prune it regularly.
Also called golden pothos, devil's ivy.
Estimated, where sources were thin: no species-level lux or humidity study found; ranges from general houseplant guides.