If you want to add some greeneries inside your house and have no idea what kind of plants that suit your space, go with pothos—a common name for Epipremnum aureum—first. It grows fast and once the foliage trails, it could bring the jungle-y vibe into your room.
So before I elaborate more, I am gonna tell you how I almost killed them in the first place 🙈. My houseplant craze began when my husband is not thrilled about what I'm currently into. But once I become addicted to something, I can’t be stopped 😎. So I decided to buy pothos and put in my 3rd level rented room that's actually burning hot in days since the building is the tallest among the neighborhood and there is full glass fancy apartment across the building that constantly reflects the sunlight directly to my room’s wall. Unfortunately I did not check the exact humidity level inside the room but I’m confident to say that it was under 40%. I did not realise it at first but lately it kinda makes sense knowing that it has been 4 years my oily face turned dry, my lips were always chapped and the sudden headache at noon every time I stay inside the room on the weekend 😱. So, have I tested them pothos in the worst condition possible? Probably, yes.
Disclaimer: what I write here is purely for fun and only based on my experience. I am not an expert in house plants, I just love being surrounded by them. The indicator shown below is the bare minimum indicator required to make my pothos happy.
1. Marble Queen Pothos
Humidity Level: 3/10
Sunlight: 4/10
Water: 4/10
This kind of pothos is one of the easiest plants among all. Marble queen pothos is my favorite since it offers a stunning foliage and grows rapidly. Moreover, they tolerate low light conditions better than lemon pothos. I have propagated it a lot and got another 3 extra pots ready to decorate the living room—and some are already in my friend’s house. I like to water propagate them and once they grow pup, I immediately pop them into the soil. The more intense indirect light they received, the more variegation I can get.
2. Golden Pothos
Humidity Level: 3/10
Sunlight: 3/10
Water: 3/10
They do well in a low humidity, but they will thrive even more in a sufficient one. On a side note, I’ve put golden pothos in the darkest spot in my house and they do just fine. No sign of yellowing leaves whatsoever. They are just hard to kill. Once I forgot to water them in two weeks and they seemed a little droopy, but it took a day after watering to actually see them reviving.
3. Lemon Pothos
Humidity Level: 4/10
Sunlight: 5/10
Water: 4/10
One thing to take a note is that this one LOVES bright indirect sunlight. The longer I skipped watering them, the more brown leaves I could get. But don’t worry they pop new pups in a very short time. To make them grow optimally, I put lemon pothos in a higher humidity level room around 80%. I put one in a water propagation in the living room which has around 65% humidity level, and they don’t show any growth ever since and sometimes shed brown leaves instead.
4. ‘Njoy Pothos
Humidity Level: 5/10
Sunlight:3/10
Water: 5/10
Pothos that are affected the most by the heat inside my rented room are ‘njoy pothos. It suddenly turned wrinkly, yellow leaves in a jiffy 😰. I thought I’m going to lose it because I see no signs of recovery even though I move them in a proper environment. The last thing I did was popped it into water propagation and forgot they exist on the corner of the shelf. Turned out, it grew a lot of pups underwater like magic! If a marble queen pothos only grows one pup for one stem on average in the same period of time, ‘njoy can grow more than one leaf each stem during water propagation. Psst, ‘njoy pothos is the only pothos that I put in a terracotta pot.
5. Manjula Pothos
Humidity Level: 6/10
Sunlight:5/10
Water: 4/10
Manjula is the trickiest pothos in my collection. I was struggling with yellow leaves right after I took it home from the nursery. I guess they don’t respond well with the sudden change of the environment. So I changed the soil after two weeks, and water it right after the soil is completely dried. I remember skipping the watering schedule, and they gave me some brown leaves. B1 vitamin is always required during watering. They really love getting soaked by indirect sunlight, so I make sure that they get the best spot for it.
6. Silver Pothos
Humidity Level: 3/10
Sunlight:4/10
Water: 3/10
I am a big fan of silver pothos. It has a big dark green leaf with a splash of silvery grey, making it look like it's given a watercolor effect.
Silver pothos, which has a botanical name Scindapsus pictus, demands bright indirect sunlight in order to thrive. Aside from that, the care is as easy as golden pothos. Up until now I never got a single brown leaf. If I put this to a medium light, it will get leggy and grow much smaller foliage. If they are thirsty, they will notify me by wrinkling the foliage.
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Most of my pothos use well draining soil (sekam mentah or sekam bakar) and plastic pots. I water them once a week, mostly feed them with liquid fertilizer (B1), and never put them under direct sunlight. If you want to spice up your room with pothos, you can read Mbak Ira’s post here ❤️.
XX,
Z
