How To Get A Pothos To Trail

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One of the things that Pothos plants are known for is their long trailing vines that make a beautiful and striking living decor in a house. But sometimes people get a new Pothos and it doesn’t grow much and they don’t get that desired trailing houseplant that they wanted. So just how do you get a Pothos to trail? The main key is light and another key factor is the type of Pothos you have.

How to get a Pothos to Trail

How To Get A Pothos To Trail

Getting long vines with a bunch of leaves on a Pothos requires a good amount of light. Pothos plants vine because the vines seek out more light. In their natural habitat, the vines will trail along the forest floor in search of a tree to climb up. So in order to have a good amount of trailing vines from a Pothos, you need to have a light source that the plant will want to grow to.

The brighter the light, the more growth you will get on the plant. Just make sure that you don’t put the Pothos in direct sunlight. This can lead to burn damage on the leaves.

The other factor that will affect the amount of trialing growth a Pothos will have is the type of Pothos plant that it is. Some varieties of Pothos are slow growers while others grow faster. If your goal is to have a good amount of trailing vines from your plant then it would be best to get a Jade Pothos, a Global Green Pothos, or a Golden Pothos. Slower growing varieties are the Marble Queen Pothos, N’Joy, Snow Queen, and Pearls & Jade.

The seasons will also influence the growth. Pothos plants grow the most in the Spring and the Summer. During the growing season, you will want to give your plant fertilizer.

Trailing Pothos Care

Provide a good amount of light that will encourage your plant to grow. If you don’t have a good source of natural light from a window you can use grow lights to provide more.

Make sure to fertilize once in the Spring and again in the Summer months. Liquid fertilizer is the best type to use for a Pothos.

Pruning can help your Pothos split off and grow more vines. Another way to get more vines is to trim long vines and propagate the Pothos cuttings. Once root growth has begun you can plant the cutting in the same pot as the parent plant.

Pothos Care Guide

Why is my Pothos Not Trailing?

If you are not getting trailing growth you will want to check the amount of light that your plant is getting and make sure it is getting fertilized during the growing season.

Add additional light with grow lights if necessary. Or change the location where you have your Pothos so it can get more light from a window.

When Pothos plants are lacking nutrients that they need to grow they will not develop new growth and therefore will not have long trailing vines.

Pothos Trailing Ideas

There are many ways you can use your Pothos to decorate with as a trailing plant. Here are some Pothos trailing ideas.

Golden Pothos Plants trailing from baskets on the wall.

Taking multiple Pothos and placing them along a wall can give a huge trailing wall plant that can add life to a room.

Golden pothos trailing off a corner shelf.

Pothos plants can look great when trailing from a corner shelf.

Golden Pothos trailing from the top of a bookshelf.
Trailing Pothos Plants off of bookshelf

Pothos plants can trail from all the way up on top of a bookshelf. Adding multiple Pothos to the top of one shelf can add a great variety of color.

Pothos plant trailing from hanging pot.

Using hanging pots or a macrame hanger can allow all the new growth from the plant to hang down.

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