How To Prune Pothos With Pictures

Learning how to prune pothos with pictures makes the process much clearer. This visual guide will walk you through each step, ensuring you can confidently trim your plant for better health and a fuller look.

Pruning is essential for a thriving pothos. It prevents leggy growth, encourages bushiness, and is the perfect way to propagate new plants. With the right cuts, you can shape your pothos to fit any space beautifully.

This section provides the core visual steps. Follow along with the images to understand exactly where to make your cuts for the best results.

Why You Should Prune Your Pothos

Pruning isn’t just about looks. It’s a key part of plant care. Regular trimming keeps your pothos vibrant and manageable.

Promotes Bushier Growth: Cutting back long stems encourages new shoots to sprout from the base and from nodes along the stem, creating a denser plant.
Controls Size and Shape: Pothos are vigorous growers. Pruning lets you control their length and direct their growth so they don’t overtake a room.
Removes Unhealthy Growth: Yellowing leaves, damaged stems, or bare vines can be removed. This improves the plant’s overall health and appearance.
Provides Propagation Material: Every cutting you take is a potential new plant. Pruning and propagating go hand-in-hand.

When is the Best Time to Prune?

The ideal time for major pruning is during the spring and summer. This is your pothos’s active growing season. The plant can recover quickly and put out new growth.

You can do light pruning or trim dead leaves any time of year. Avoid heavy pruning in late fall and winter, as growth is slow and the plant may struggle to bounce back.

Tools You’ll Need

Gathering the right tools before you start is important. You don’t need anything fancy, just a few clean, sharp items.

Sharp Scissors or Pruning Shears: Clean, sharp blades make a precise cut that heals fast. Dull tools can crush the stem.
Rubbing Alcohol: Use this to wipe your tool blades before and after pruning. It prevents spreading disease between plants.
Gloves (Optional): Pothos sap can be a mild irritant for some people. Gloves protect your hands.
A Planter with Fresh Soil (for Propagating): Have this ready if you plan to root your cuttings.

Identifying Key Parts of the Plant

Knowing where to cut is crucial. Look for these two features on every vine:

Node: This is a small, brownish bump on the stem. Sometimes it has a tiny aerial root nub. New roots and leaves grow from here.
Internode: This is the bare section of stem between two nodes. Avoid cutting in the middle of a long internode.

Step-by-Step Pruning Instructions

Step 1: Examine Your Plant
Take a good look at your pothos. Identify the longest, leafless, or leggiest vines. Decide if you want to shorten them or remove them entirely. Look for any yellow or damaged leaves that need to go.

Step 2: Plan Your Cuts
Visualize the shape you want. For a fuller top, you’ll cut shorter. For length control, you’ll trim the ends. Always plan to cut just above a leaf node.

Step 3: Make the Pruning Cut
Find a healthy leaf node on the stem you want to shorten. Using your clean shears, make a clean, angled cut about 1/4 inch ABOVE the node. The angle helps water run off the cut end. The node below the cut will now be stimulated to grow a new branch.

Step 4: Remove Unhealthy Growth
Snip off any yellow or brown leaves at the base of their leaf stem, near the main vine. If an entire vine is bare or looks unhealthy, you can cut it all the way back to the soil line.

Step 5: Shape the Plant
Step back occasionally as you prune. Turn the pot to see all sides. Aim for a balanced shape by trimming longer vines more than shorter ones. Remember, you can always cut more later, but you can’t reattach a stem!

What to Do With Your Cuttings: Propagate!

Don’t throw those healthy cuttings away! You can easily turn them into new plants. Here’s the simplest method.

Take your cutting, ensuring it has at least 2-3 nodes.
Remove the leaf from the bottom node. This is where roots will form.
Place the cutting in a jar of water, ensuring that bottom node is submerged.
Put it in bright, indirect light and change the water weekly.
In 2-6 weeks, you’ll see roots several inches long. Then, you can pot it in soil.

Common Pruning Mistakes to Avoid

Even with good intentions, it’s easy to make a few errors. Here’s what to watch out for.

Cutting Too Far from a Node: Leaving a long “stub” above a node can die back and look unsightly. It may even invite disease. Cut close to the node.
Using Dirty Tools: This is a common way to introduce bacteria or fungus to the fresh wound. Always clean your shears.
Pruning Too Much at Once: Never remove more than one-third of the plant’s total foliage in a single session. This can shock the plant.
Not Propagating Healthy Cuttings: It’s a missed opportunity! Pothos are one of the easiest plants to propagate from cuttings.

Aftercare Following Pruning

Your plant just had a “surgery.” A little extra care helps it recover and burst into new growth.

Watering: Water your pothos as you normally would, but be careful not to overwater. The plant has less foliage now, so it uses water slower.
Light: Provide bright, indirect light. This gives the plant energy to produce those new shoots you’re encouraging.
Fertilizing: Wait about a month after pruning before applying a balanced liquid fertilizer. This supports the new growth without overwhelming the plant.

Within a few weeks, you should start to see tiny new leaves forming at the nodes just below your cuts. This is a sure sign of success!

FAQ: Your Pruning Questions Answered

How often should I prune my pothos?
For maintenance, a light pruning every few months is fine. A more significant shaping can be done once or twice a year during the growing season.

Can I prune a pothos that looks sparse?
Absolutely. Pruning is the best solution for a sparse pothos. Cutting back the longest vines forces the plant to send energy to other nodes, encouraging them to grow and fill in the base.

My pothos has very long vines with no leaves. What should I do?
You have two good options. You can cut the entire bare vine off at the soil line to redirect energy. Or, you can cut it back to a section that still has leaves, hoping for new growth from the last remaining node.

Is it better to propagate pothos cuttings in water or soil?
Water propagation is popular because it’s easy to watch the roots grow. However, roots grown in water are different than soil roots. Some gardeners find that transferring water-rooted cuttings to soil can be a shock. You can also root cuttings directly in moist soil, which skips the transition step.

Why are the leaves on my pothos turning yellow after pruning?
A few yellow leaves post-prune can be normal if the plant is shedding older foliage. However, several yellow leaves could indicate overwatering (due to reduced water needs) or stress from too much pruning at once. Ensure you’re letting the soil dry out a bit between waterings.

Pruning your pothos is a simple and rewarding task. With this visual guide and a bit of practice, you’ll keep your plant lush, healthy, and perfectly shaped for years to come. Remember, each cut is an opportunity for new growth, both for your original plant and for potential new ones.