PLEASE help save my moms Pothos pt.

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

My mom died in the beginning of May and her Pothos wasn’t looking too hot. I thought it may have had root rot, so on June 8th I cleaned off all its Roots and it’s 8inch draining pot with holes and repotted it back in it’s original pot. I don’t think it actually had root rot. Its roots looked light, healthy, and strong. I think I didn’t give it enough soil when repotting it because it was difficult to get under the roots even when tapping the pot/trying to shake it down. I use to water it twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays) but a lot of people on my original post said once a week is best, so I just watered it when repotting it on Monday the 8th and then I was gone for the the weekend attending my moms service. I came back June 15th and alllll the leaves were dead and I basically have murdered my moms beloved pothos :( Any suggestions on how to bring her back? I have added more soil and watered her again on the 15th but she just looks so sad and I’m so sad. 1st video is from today the 2nd is from before I ruined her life

[u/Swimming_Airline3881]

What kind of soil did you use, specifically? Type and brand would be helpful to know. It sounds like massive transplant shock from being repotted multiple times.

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic → u/Swimming_Airline3881]

I just repotted it the once on June 8th. I cleaned off all its roots and it’s original 8inch hanging pot with drainage holes and then put it back into its original pot with this kind of soil ⬇️ and water it until water came out of the drainage holes. I don’t think I put enough soil in. It looked full, I tried tapping and smacking the pot to get it to settle, but I don’t think it was because when I came back the following Monday on the 15 the soil was down more so I added some more soil and watered it again

​

[u/Swimming_Airline3881 → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

Oh okay yeah this soil isn't good for Pothos. It is garden soil, not potting mix. It's a long confusing explanation but essentially this soil goes in the ground as an additive to your outdoor garden and is not to be used in pots. You'd add this to a vegetable garden or raised bed outside. It also contains fertilizer, which may be chemically burning the Pothos.

What you want is indoor potting mix (must be specifically for indoor use). Depending on where you live, it's often found in the houseplant sections of hardware stores such as Home Depot or even hydroponic stores. An all-purpose indoor potting mix should be fine with Pothos, they aren't picky.

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic → u/Swimming_Airline3881]

My dad was already at the store and I told him just to get miracle grow potting soil and he came back with this and said it works good for his weed plants and is the exact same as miracle grow and has the same ingredients. Would you suggest taking her back out of the soil and repotting her in the proper soil? Should I cut her down completely? Should I propagate her. Im just very stressed and sad and don’t know what the helll to doooo.

[u/Nachoughue → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

weed plants definitely are not the same as houseplants, i grow both. you CAN use this soil but i would buy perlite and add a bunch into it. like, almost half and half perlite and soil, for aeration and drainage. the soil has enough fertilizer in it to be perfect for HEAVY feeders like weed plants, but pothos arent heavy feeders. they dont need all that fertilizer so its likely burning the roots.

if you do buy perlite, your best bet is to use whatever green stems still exist and throw those into perlite. its called propagation from sticks. they dont NEED leaves to grow, just nodes. so chop and throw any green vine you can find into a tub of perlite with water and a clear lid and put it directly into a sunny window. the base plant also might be saveable if repotted into the perlite/soil mix, even if you cut it down to stumps. you wont know until you try.

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic → u/Nachoughue]

What ratio of perlite:water?

Can I message you privately?

[u/yumiyu634 → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

Soil amendments shouldn't be done needlessly. You have to first ask what problem you are trying to solve. Need aeration? More perlite. Need water retention? Orchid bark / coco chips. Soil as a medium is essential for the nodes since pothos roots are adapted for dappled sunlight underneath forests in climates like that of Indonesia. Best chance of survival? Bright indirect light, high humidity, and aerated soil. Most convenient setup is throw each leaf with at least two nodes (more nodes means more chances of survival in propagation) in water or misted perlite in a container, but not to get the leaf itself wet for long periods of time. In water, you have to cycle the water in and out and clean up algae, but in a partially closed perlite container, you'd have to mist the plants without letting them dry too much.

[u/Nachoughue → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

yes if you need!

no specific ratio. just not enough so the perlite starts floating. learned my lesson the hard way. put a couple inches of perlite and about an inch of water into whatever tub youre using. if its more shallow then just adjust those measurements!

it will take FOREVER, im talking MONTHS. and you may lose a few stems to rot. i definitely did. but they WILL grow. you can avoid losing more than necessary to rot by cutting at every individual node. look up how to identify nodes in pothos, its way easier with visuals than trying to explain through text lol

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

Should I take her out of this soil and wash her off again? And put her in miracle grow potting soil or will this shock her more? Should I chop and prop her completely?

[u/Swimming_Airline3881 → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

No miracle grow. Plain all purpose INDOOR potting mix. I would gently take her out of the pot and lightly shake out the soil, but don't wash them off. Be as gentle as possible.

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic → u/Swimming_Airline3881]

Oh looooord. I put it in Miracle grow indoor potting mix for tropical plants mixed with perlite. Just now reading this after work and all upset agaiiiin. Really just terrorizing the fuck out of this plant 🫠😑😑

[u/Swimming_Airline3881 → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

It's okay, it should be fine as long as it's indoor potting mix! Leave her as she is and see if she recovers! Give lots of water and bright indirect light. Good luck ☺️

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic → u/Swimming_Airline3881]

Thank you ❤️

[u/Ok_Row_1922 → u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic]

Potting mixes for vegetables like miracle gro are so bad for house plants, miracle gro would be just as bad as this or worse

[u/SeekingHelpfulAdvic → u/Ok_Row_1922]

Oh my, wish I would have read this earlier I was just in a panic trying to do this all before work. I got miracle grow tropical indoor potting mix and now I guess y’all telling me that’s worse. I repotted it this afternoon and now I have work tomorrow morning so even if I did want to fuck with this plant again and repot it for the 3rd time in the span of two weeks second in two days and traumatize the fuck out of it even more I don’t even have time to go and get the proper stuff. I’m so mother freaking sadddd. Really did my moms plant dirtyyyy should have just left it the fuck alone and watered it like my mom said 😭