A hobby for the obsessive

This pothos plant has lived in this spot in the Sperry sunroom for the past 6 years. It’s been trimmed 5 times in the process with cuttings harvested each time. All images are clickable for larger view.

My wife came home from Christmas school board dinners two years in a row – 5 and 6 years ago – with lovely wicker basket 6-in. pots of devil’s ivy as centerpiece gifts. We put them on tables in our sunroom and grew them for a couple of years, pretty much without feeding, just enjoying them.

Devil’s ivy roots easily in a glass or jar of water. Just keep an eye on the water levels. They’ll be ready to plant into pots within 3 or 4 months, if not sooner.

Eventually both plants began to get a bit leggy so I trimmed them and stuck the cuttings into a glass of water so they could form roots. I think I had 8 or 10 cuttings. I fertilized the plants and freshened up their potting soil and put them right back into the same wicker baskets.

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Both plants started to grow. And grow. Their leaves got larger, and their stems got thicker. I had to harvest more stems every 6 or 8 months. I kept feeding them, and I’ve added fresh soil a couple more times.

Here is that same plant on the table just two days ago. It’s the mother to 125 plants and counting.

The two plants are still in our sunroom and they’re still just as pretty. They’ve been trimmed for cuttings now 4 times.

Each of those cuttings was rooted, then potted 5 or 6 per 6-in. pot just like their mamas were and grown in my greenhouse. That was until this summer. We brought around 125 pots over to the house and set them into some empty color beds where they’ve been growing for the past 5 months. Another 125 pots have been doing the same over in the greenhouse across the creek.

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Now I have about 250 6-in. pots filling a very large bench, and those plants look fabulous. They need a couple of months to fill back in since we harvested more cuttings this week.

Those cuttings were stuck directly into freshly filled 6-in. pots just like their mamas, so now we’re into our 5th generation of devil’s ivies from those original two plants, and our tally is running up toward 400 plants.

Here are some photos taken along the way in the process.

Long stems are pruned off the plants and then cut into sections each containing 3-5 leaves.
It’s critical that stems be inserted with the end that was closer to the mama plant’s roots. It may sound silly, but it can be difficult to tell which way the stem was growing if it was hanging downward. You will see a slot in each leaf’s petiole (“stem” of the leaf). That slot will be on the upward side of the petiole.
If your cutting already has roots starting to form, by all means use them.
Use a pencil to create holes. It will make it easier to insert each cutting without breaking stems and roots.
This pot has been filled, the potting soil pressed up around the cuttings, and it’s all ready to be watered immediately.

A few details…
• Common names: Devil’s ivy, pothos plus several cultivar names like ‘Marble Queen,’ ‘Neon,’ and ‘Golden Pothos’
• Scientific name of species: Epipremnum aureum
• Native home: Society Islands of French Polynesia of South Pacific
• Growth form: Vining plant that is used as a trailing potted or hanging basket plant. When trained to grow vertically its mature leaves become larger and larger, eventually to 18 or 20 inches across.

Mass 125 pots of vigorous devil’s ivy plants together for a summer of growth and this is just a portion of what you’ll get! I’m going to play around with a small bed I’ll use as a hot-weather groundcover display next summer. Of course, they’ll freeze come winter, but I’ll use them for cuttings. (You know my reputation!)

• Light requirements: Bright indirect sunlight is best. Intolerant of Texas sun in summer. Leaves are less colorful in heavy shade or dark rooms.
• Temperature range: Intolerant of freezes, so protect from temperatures below 50F. Keep moist at all times if grown outside in summer.

Posted by Neil Sperry
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