How Often to Water Pothos (Season, Routine + Amount)

How much water does your pothos houseplant need and how often should you make it drink? The following things will necessitate watering your pothos more often:

Situating your pothos in temperatures higher than 75° F
Low humidity levels
Smaller porous pots
Root ball: soil ratio: the higher the ratio the more often you’ll need to water your pothos
Quick to fast-draining potting mix

How often to water your Pothos (Cooler Months + Wintertime)

During the cooler months, a majority of your houseplants will not grow aggresively. Some stop growing or just enter dormancy. When this happens, there is an obvious indicator that your houseplants will require you to treat them with little water.

For optimal utilization of water and useful resources, its amount is always crucial. For this to work out to your convenience, observe the following:

Maintain the optimal temperature range of 65-70° F at night and 75-90° F during the day
Water the soil lightly all around the pot and check weekly for soil dryness before watering again
Damp soil for continuous several days or a few weeks will damage the roots slowly but surely
Allow the potting soil to dry out between watering sessions

During dormancy, your pothos will also demand less water. Any little additional water will not do your pothos any good. Consequently, never put your watering on schedule during the cooler and winter months.

How often do Water Pothos During the Summer

Your pothos grows and expands explosively during the warm months of summer. It is often determined that the warmer months carry the peaks of growth. Here is what you need to know in terms of watering:

water your pothos 2-3 times as often as you do during dormancy
More importantly, be sure to check your pothos’ soil twice a week for moisture level
Before each watering check to see how dry the potting soil is

Even though, keep in mind that vessels dry out more quickly under the warm summer sunlight. All in all, remain vigilant throughout the growing season.

Can you Water your Pothos on Schedule?

Watering your pothos on a given strict observation and timelines has limitations too. Growth factors outside the plant’s internal conditions often change from time to time. These include things such as:

Light quality and duration can determine how often to water your pothos

Temperature fluctuations during the night
Season changes
Humidity in a given area at a specific time
Light quality and light duration

The above-mentioned things will affect how often you need to water your pothos and how much water to give.

Temperature + Humidity

Your pothos will love being treated in the warmth of temperatures above 50°. Pretty many times, your pothos prefer temps between 70-90°.

Being tropical plants, your pothos thrives in indoor spaces with above-average humidity levels.

Regarding watering, here is how temperature and humidity can affect watering/amount of water.

When the temperature is above 50° – 60° use
You can adapt to dryer home environments by misting the plant regularly.
Often misting your plant keeps the thirst on hold by keeping the soil moist for longer.

Light Quality + Duration

Changes in seasonal lighting and the path of the sun can affect the amount of light. This may in turn affect your Pothos growth rate. The impact of light and quality of light on watering your pothos is not so significant.

When to water your pothos during the summer

In bright, indirect light, water your pothos less often (no scheduling)
You can water your pothos on schedule in balanced lighting conditions (bright, constant, and consistent light quantity)
It is recommended you schedule during the active growing season

Season Changes

Avoid watering your pothos on schedules when seasons are in transition (i.e. when shifting from one to another)

Amount of Water to Shower your Pothos

According to our houseplant growing experience, the amount of water does not differ or vary so much with varieties of pothos. The combination of various external factors is what seems to be the variation.

Determining the amount of water to use for your pothos isn’t directly proportional to your plant’s size. Neither is about the size of the pot.

Does the Amount of Water Vary with Pothos Variety?

Here are some exciting bits about your pothos and whether the amount of water to use can vary.

Epipremnum aureum (Golden Pothos) tends to grow the fastest
The slowest-growing pothos plants are the Cebu blue pothos, neon pothos, jade pothos, Manjula pothos, and joy pothos

Regardless of growth habit and rate, having varieties of pothos is not affected by the amount of water they need. Instead, changes in external factors of growth can have a say on the amount of water to use.

Amount of Water & Frequency (How often)

The typical growing season normally affects how much water your pothos variety needs. Your pothos will grow actively and pretty quickly. They explosively stretch up to 12 -17 inches from spring until late fall.

Watering pothos: signs they need or do not need more water

The amount of water to serve your pothos may vary with the following:

Rootball: potting mix volume ratio
Potting mix quality affects the watering frequency more than the amount of water
A chunky root medium composed of peat moss, vermiculite, or perlite drains faster – prompting a more frequent watering

Your watering habits need to keep up with this explosive growth. The most important thing to watch is the soil’s moisture.

What to expect if you Overwater your Pothos

Using large amounts of water to give your pothos has consequences. The following signs/symptoms are often identified with overwatering your pothos plant:

Brown spots on leaves
Mold growing on the surface of the soil
Shriveled, mushy leaves
Soil fungal growth
Yellow leaves
Wilting, curly leaves
Pothos drooping

The above signs may clearly show up when your pothos is stressed. These may be the initial symptoms of root rot that your plant shows outside.

What to expect if your Pothos is underwatered

Spotting the signs of an underwatered pothos is easy. Your watering schedule, amount and season can help tell if you’ve been giving your pothos less water. These signs include the following:

Crispy, brown leaves
Wilted leaves
Plant shrinkage (yes, this is a thing)
Wrinkled leaves

How to tell when your Pothos Plant needs Water

The easiest way to tell when your pothos needs a drink is by having a close look at the foliage.

Here are helpful signs to determine when your pothos needs water:

Natural curling or normal curling
Potting soil status – very dry to the formation of crack lines in topsoil
Leaves turning light green
Soft, wilted, or limp leaves
Yellowing leaves
Brittle leaves
Curling leaves
Dry, browning leaf tips

Soil condition is the most obvious indicator as to when to water: simply water your plant when the soil is dry.

When your Pothos Needs Less Water

Besides relying on temperature and season markers, here are more situations where your pothos plants will need less water.

Be sure to check for dry soil (using the touch test or a moisture meter) before deciding to provide more water

The following additional factors may say whether or not you should schedule to water your pothos

Low light levels: pothos plants are suited to thriving and growing fine in spots receiving very little light. Even though low light will not kill your pothos, watering it on schedule might induce a slow killing mechanism. (Don’t schedule watering).
Cooler temperatures + high humidity levels: During the night, temperatures drop. One strict caution to take is not to leave your pothos outside. Secondly, nearly all perennial plants grown in cooler areas will need less water. Combined with lower temperature slows down the growth rates of your pothos.
Pot size & Quality of pot material: Water your houseplant less often if you have planted your pothos usually in larger or relatively bigger pots. Large pots mean your plant’s root ball occupies a smaller chunk of the potting medium. (Don’t schedule watering and replant your pothos.)
If you insist that your pothos needs to be housed in those “large” pots use glazed pots and earthenware pots. Above all ensure that the drainage system is properly working.

Refrences and Sources