The first month
A plant fresh from a greenhouse has to get used to your home, where the light is dimmer and the air much drier. Give it a bright spot out of direct sun for the first 3 to 4 weeks, even if it will end up somewhere darker, and let it settle.
- A few dropped leaves are the most common sign of adjusting. If it is only a few and it slows down after a few weeks, the plant is fine.
- Do not fertilize for at least a month. What the grower gave it usually lasts two to three months.
- Keep it apart from your other plants for a week or two and look it over for insects.
- Do not water by the calendar yet. Feel the soil every few days until you learn how fast this pot dries out.
Light
Bright, indirect light for 8 hours or more a day is ideal. Direct sun through a window usually damages a tropical plant, because the leaf gets too hot. Pothos and heartleaf philodendron survive in dimmer rooms, though a variegated pothos can lose its pattern there.
- Too little light: long, weak stems and pale leaves.
- Too much direct sun: scorched patches on the leaves.
Water
Too much water kills more houseplants than anything else. Push a finger an inch into the soil: if it is dry, water; if it is still damp, wait. When you do water, soak the pot until water runs out of the bottom, then empty the saucer within the hour.
In winter, with less light and cooler rooms, most plants are happy with water every 10 to 14 days.
- Too dry: the soil is pale, cracked and pulling away from the side of the pot.
- Too wet: the soil is dark and slimy, and small flies (fungus gnats) hang around the pot.
Humidity
For indoor plants, humidity below 20 percent counts as low, 40 to 50 percent as medium, and above 50 as high. Tropical plants lose water fast in dry air, and the first sign is brown leaf tips.
- A humidifier in the room is the fix that works.
- Grouping plants together helps.
- Misting does not: the moisture is gone within minutes.
Warmth
Aim for 65 to 75°F by day and about 10 degrees cooler at night. Keep plants away from heating and cooling vents and from doors that let in cold drafts: dry moving air scorches the leaf edges, and a cold draft can make a plant wilt or drop leaves.
Feeding
After the first month, feed only in spring and summer, while the plant is growing, and mix houseplant fertilizer at half the strength on the label. Too much fertilizer leaves salts in the soil that burn the roots.
Pots and repotting
The pot must have drainage holes; water that cannot drain away rots the roots. A decorative pot without holes works as a sleeve: keep the plant in its plain pot inside it, and tip out any water that collects.
Repot in spring, when the roots fill the pot. Use bagged potting mix, never garden soil, and a pot no more than 2 inches wider than the old one.
Your plant in particular
Pothos Epipremnum aureum
One of the easiest houseplants there is. It prefers bright, indirect light but survives a long time in low light. Let the soil dry out between waterings; black leaf edges mean too much water. Cut long vines back to keep the plant bushy. The cuttings root easily in a glass of water.
Philodendron heartleaf: Philodendron hederaceum
The trailing, heart-leaved kind prefers medium light, and puts up with low light and dry air better than most. Keep the soil slightly moist, never soggy, and water less in winter.
Inch plant Tradescantia zebrina
The trailing one with purple and silver stripes. It keeps its colour in bright, filtered light; in dim light it loses its lower leaves and fades. Let the soil dry between waterings and water less in winter. Cut it back hard each spring to keep it full. The stems root wherever a joint touches soil, and the watery sap can irritate skin.
Monstera Monstera deliciosa
The big climber with split leaves. Let the top 2 to 3 inches of soil dry before watering, and give it a pole to climb. The splits come with age and good light.
When something looks wrong
Leaves dropping soon after you bring it home
Likely causeMost often the plant adjusting to less light and drier air. A cold draft or a blast from a heating or cooling vent does it too.
What to doLeave it in a bright spot away from vents and outside doors, water only when the top inch is dry, and do not feed it. It should slow down within a few weeks.
Yellow leaves
Likely causeMost often soil that stays too wet. Too little light can do it too.
What to doFeel the soil before anything else. If it is wet, let the top inch dry and make sure water can drain out of the pot.
Brown, crispy tips or edges
Likely causeDry air, hot air from a vent, salt build-up in the soil, or going too long without water.
What to doMove it away from vents, run a humidifier, rinse the pot through with plain water, and water as soon as the top inch is dry.
Long, weak, pale stems
Likely causeNot enough light.
What to doMove it somewhere brighter, out of direct sun. Pothos and inch plant can be cut back to make them bushy again.
White crust on the soil or the pot
Likely causeSalts left behind by water and fertilizer.
What to doRinse the pot through with plenty of plain water and let it drain. Never use softened water, and go easy on fertilizer.
Small flies around the pot
Likely causeFungus gnats. They are a sign the soil is staying too wet.
What to doLet the soil dry further between waterings and empty the saucer after each one.
Webbing, white cottony tufts or brown bumps
Likely causeInsects: spider mites (fine webbing and pale speckles), mealybugs (white and cottony) or scale (brown bumps on stems and leaves).
What to doKeep the plant apart from your others. Wash the leaves with water or insecticidal soap, undersides too, and repeat two or three times about five days apart. Wipe mealybugs and scale off with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol.
Where this guide comes from
- Growing Indoor Plants, Utah State University Extension
- Help for Houseplants, Utah State University Extension
- Introduction to Houseplants, University of Nevada, Reno Extension
- Growing Indoor Plants with Success, University of Georgia Extension
- Houseplants: Temperature and Humidity, Colorado State University Extension
- Leaching Salts from Potting Mixes, Colorado State University Extension
- Mineral and Fertilizer Salt Deposits on Indoor Plants, University of Maryland Extension
- Humidity and Houseplants, Penn State Extension
- How often should I fertilize houseplants?, Iowa State University Extension
- Guide to Growing Houseplants, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension
- Houseplants, New Mexico State University Extension
- Repotting Houseplants, University of Arkansas Extension
- Insect Pests of Houseplants, Mississippi State University Extension
- Epipremnum aureum (pothos), NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- Philodendron hederaceum (heartleaf philodendron), NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- Tradescantia zebrina (inch plant), NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- Toxic and non-toxic plants: golden pothos, heartleaf philodendron, inch plant, Swiss cheese plant, ASPCA