Propagating pothos in a jar of water
The easiest way I know to turn one trailing plant into several, with notes on where to cut and when to pot up.
If you want to try propagation and you have never done it, start with a pothos. It is forgiving, grows quickly, and roots in plain water on a windowsill. I have given away more than a dozen small pots of it, all from one plant that was a gift years ago.
Find the nodes
Everything depends on one small detail: the node. A node is the slightly thickened point on the stem where a leaf joins it. If you look closely you will often see a small brown bump there. That bump is an aerial root, and it is where new roots will grow from.
A piece of stem without a node will not root, no matter how long you leave it in water. A leaf on its own will stay green for weeks and then rot.
Taking the cutting
I use clean, sharp scissors and cut a length of vine with three to five leaves. I cut about a centimetre below a node. Then I remove the leaf closest to the cut end, so that the bare node can sit underwater without a leaf rotting in the jar.
Good cuttings come from healthy, green growth. Long bare stretches of vine with tiny leaves are less vigorous and root more slowly.
The jar
Any clear glass works. I like small jam jars because I can see the roots develop, which is half the fun. Fill it with room-temperature tap water and place the cutting so that one or two nodes are submerged and the leaves stay above the waterline.
Put the jar somewhere bright but out of harsh direct sun. A kitchen windowsill facing east has been perfect for me.
Waiting
The timeline on my windowsill usually looks like this:
- After one week: small white bumps appear at the submerged nodes.
- After two to three weeks: roots a couple of centimetres long.
- After four to six weeks: a small network of roots, sometimes with side branches.
I change the water every five to seven days, or sooner if it looks cloudy. In colder months everything is slower, so patience matters more than technique.
When to move it to soil
Here opinions differ. Some people keep pothos in water permanently, and it can live that way for a long time. I prefer to pot them up once the roots are about five centimetres long. If you wait much longer, the plant grows roots adapted to water, and the switch to soil becomes more of a shock.
For potting I use a small pot with drainage holes and an ordinary well-draining mix. I place three or four rooted cuttings together in one pot, which gives a much fuller-looking plant than a single stem. For the first two weeks I keep the soil a little more moist than usual, then go back to my normal routine of letting the top half dry out.
Things that went wrong
Not every attempt worked. A few lessons:
- Cuttings in a dark corner rooted, but very slowly and with weak leaves.
- A jar left in direct afternoon sun grew algae and got too warm.
- One batch rotted because I forgot to remove a leaf that sat below the waterline.
Other plants that work the same way
The same method works for philodendrons with heart-shaped leaves, tradescantia, and many other trailing plants. Each has its own speed, but the principle is identical: a clean cut, a node underwater, a bright spot and a bit of patience. It is one of the most satisfying small projects in indoor gardening, and it costs nothing.