As your pothos climbs the pole...
May. 26th, 2026 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickAs your pothos climbs the moss pole, you will notice some changes in the plant, especially if you're used to it being the ordinary trailing houseplant style pothos.
The first thing I noticed when I moved my pothos from being an ordinary trailing houseplant style of pothos to a moss pole style pothos was that the leaves got bigger. I mean, that was the goal and it was what I was looking for and it's totally the first thing I noticed, possibly because I was looking for it.
Here's the "ordinary trailing houseplant" style of pothos that I started with. While mine is plain green, there are a lot of green-and-white ones that are also popular as houseplants. No matter the color, the ordinary trailing houseplant pothos will 100% size up alarmingly if given the right conditions.
As you can see, the leaves on the trailing houseplant style are typically... sensible. Houseplant-sized.
Regular readers have been watching my moss pole project pothos size up right along, here is the most-recent leaf, with tape measure indicating dimensions.
It is about 8" wide:
And it's about 11" long:
I know you just got a leaf post, like, two weeks ago, but it keeps making newer bigger leaves and I'm here for it.
What conditions is this thing growing under? It seems suspiciously... vigorous.
The plant room is at least 72F (22.22 C) during the daytime and at least 60F (15.56 C) at night. It runs somewhere above 50% humidity without effort because a moss pole is basically a giant passive humidifier and also there are a lot of other plants in the plant room. If it's sunny or nice out, plant room temps can top 80F (27C) without any effort on my part. So it's... kinda tropical and humid AF. Like, say, the tropics.
I am growing mine on a sphagnum moss pole that I made myself (hardware cloth, zip ties, and sphagnum moss from the swamp. If you are making your own, don't overfill the pole with moss, it does not need to be super dense and tight. Just pack a little?) It gets watered about every other day (there is no dirt and no pot, it's just growing on wet sphagnum moss), regular water and superthrive foliage pro fertilizer water in alternation.
Watering routine: Take 16 oz empty diet coke plastic bottle, with holes punched in lid. Fill with liquid. Put lid on. flip upside down into the top of the moss pole, where it just kind of drains out blurp blurp. Not quickly, but definitely in an hour or so it's empty. The moss pole does not drip except into the bowl underneath this arrangement. It's really not a lot of trouble. (I reuse the drip water.)
According to this article, at maturity pothos (Epipremnum sp.) can grow leaves that are 2.5' long. So, I have room for improvment. Watch this space.
Along with bigger leaves come bigger stems.
Beginner stem, with finger for scale:
As the plant climbs the moss pole, the stems become more ridged and more robust. Finger, again, for scale.
Obviously, big leaves need to eat and drink more. It takes a lot of resources to make the dream work, and the roots alsorise descend to the challenge.
The roots get long as hell and hang down.
The roots also get... almost fuzzy.
Overall, it's not just the leaves getting bigger in these parts. The rest of the plant is also changing to support the larger leaves.
The first thing I noticed when I moved my pothos from being an ordinary trailing houseplant style of pothos to a moss pole style pothos was that the leaves got bigger. I mean, that was the goal and it was what I was looking for and it's totally the first thing I noticed, possibly because I was looking for it.
Here's the "ordinary trailing houseplant" style of pothos that I started with. While mine is plain green, there are a lot of green-and-white ones that are also popular as houseplants. No matter the color, the ordinary trailing houseplant pothos will 100% size up alarmingly if given the right conditions.
As you can see, the leaves on the trailing houseplant style are typically... sensible. Houseplant-sized.
Regular readers have been watching my moss pole project pothos size up right along, here is the most-recent leaf, with tape measure indicating dimensions.
It is about 8" wide:
And it's about 11" long:
I know you just got a leaf post, like, two weeks ago, but it keeps making newer bigger leaves and I'm here for it.
What conditions is this thing growing under? It seems suspiciously... vigorous.
The plant room is at least 72F (22.22 C) during the daytime and at least 60F (15.56 C) at night. It runs somewhere above 50% humidity without effort because a moss pole is basically a giant passive humidifier and also there are a lot of other plants in the plant room. If it's sunny or nice out, plant room temps can top 80F (27C) without any effort on my part. So it's... kinda tropical and humid AF. Like, say, the tropics.
I am growing mine on a sphagnum moss pole that I made myself (hardware cloth, zip ties, and sphagnum moss from the swamp. If you are making your own, don't overfill the pole with moss, it does not need to be super dense and tight. Just pack a little?) It gets watered about every other day (there is no dirt and no pot, it's just growing on wet sphagnum moss), regular water and superthrive foliage pro fertilizer water in alternation.
Watering routine: Take 16 oz empty diet coke plastic bottle, with holes punched in lid. Fill with liquid. Put lid on. flip upside down into the top of the moss pole, where it just kind of drains out blurp blurp. Not quickly, but definitely in an hour or so it's empty. The moss pole does not drip except into the bowl underneath this arrangement. It's really not a lot of trouble. (I reuse the drip water.)
According to this article, at maturity pothos (Epipremnum sp.) can grow leaves that are 2.5' long. So, I have room for improvment. Watch this space.
Along with bigger leaves come bigger stems.
Beginner stem, with finger for scale:
As the plant climbs the moss pole, the stems become more ridged and more robust. Finger, again, for scale.
Obviously, big leaves need to eat and drink more. It takes a lot of resources to make the dream work, and the roots also
The roots get long as hell and hang down.
The roots also get... almost fuzzy.
Overall, it's not just the leaves getting bigger in these parts. The rest of the plant is also changing to support the larger leaves.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-27 03:21 am (UTC)It reminds me - the condo I used to live in, the guy in the unit across the lane from me, had a single pothos plant that he had trained to grow up the wall, and across the ceiling of his living room - criss crossing and going back and forth to the point where his entire living room ceiling was just...living pothos leaves. It must have taken years to get to that point - he had strung up fishing line criss crossing his ceiling for the vines to grow along and grab onto.
It was amazing - like living under a jungle canopy, inside his house
no subject
Date: 2026-05-29 02:27 am (UTC)One of my pothos does not have a pole, but does have a corner of the window/wall to lean its way up, and it's started making some pretty impressive leaves now that it has a vertical option. (Not 8 inches impressive. Maybe 5?) I haven't ventured into moss pole territory, but I intend to eventually.