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Shangri La Pothos – 9 Incredible Facts That You Need To Know!

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Shangri La Pothos; also commonly known as Sleeping Pothos, and Javelin is surprisingly the most “strange-looking” pothos plant that you can find today.

Its scientific name is Epipremnum Aureum ‘Shangri La’, but it is named like Godzilla/Witches Hat by people when they see it for the first time.

This plant is quite rare and a little bit expensive than others. It fits best to a person having a taste for unique plants, and if you are that kind of a person then you must add it to your collection.

But before that, let me tell you some of the most important, and few quite fascinating facts about this “Curled-up” Shangri La Pothos.

Shangri La Pothos
Shangri La Pothos via Reddit

9 Incredible Facts about Shangri La Pothos

1. It is a Climber

Regarding looks, this plant is quite different than others. It has very curly, rich green-colored leaves which literally look like frozen spinach.

Shangri La Pothos Climbing
Shangri La Pothos via Facebook

With a special property of climbing/vining, it can be trained to climb up fences and trellises. It can grow up to 1m in height and if you spend a good time pruning and caring it can also reach a maximum of 3m (9.8 ft.).

It can easily add beauty to your lawn or your fence. However, you can also put it anywhere inside your home where you feel fit, as it just needs a little amount of lighting; regarding lights, #3 is going to help you out.

Like most of the climbers, its height depends upon the environment, where you keep it, and its vines get a little messy if they reach 6 to 7 feet.

That’s why you will need to prune it until it just spreads in every direction, but don’t worry; you just need to cut out the dead and damaged leaves if you want it longer.

And if you want it to be on the bushy side, you have to cut a few longer stems. Just make sure to sanitize the tools before cutting to prevent it from any bacterial disease.

2. It Can Tolerate Degrees

When most people start gardening, or even if they are just taking care of some plants, the major issue they usually face is temperature management. But that would not be a problem if you are talking about Shangri La as it can retard degrees of heat towards extreme.

Temperature extremes can affect plant growth and overall health, and it is the primary factor that affects the rate of plant development.

As the Epipremnum Shangri La comes from a tropical region so it loves warm habitat. The best temperature to keep it is between 15° to 30° Celsius (60 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit).

But the fun part comes when we see that it can tolerate extremes as high as 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It can survive a minimum of 10° C but lower temperatures than that for extended periods can cause damage; it cannot survive in freezing conditions.

3. It is an Indoor Beauty

If you are in need of a little beautiful pot with a little beautiful green pearl inside, just look how gorgeous this plant looks when placed inside.

Shangri La Pothos 2
Shangri La Pothos via Reddit

This is all possible only because it can live in low lighting conditions.

 The best place for me is to put it in front of my room window where it bathes in diffused sunlight. It is always better to put it 6 to 7 feet away from the east side window.

2 to 3 hours of direct sunlight on a hot day will cause wilting and paling of leaves as it is a shady kind of plant. But very low light will affect its leafage; low light equals less foliage.

Indirect light will produce vibrant, lively colored leaves that will look awesome indoor.

With that said let’s jump into some taking care stuff.

4. Shallow Root System

The shallow root system is the one that does not require much watering as it lies close to the upper surface of the soil and absorbs moisture quickly.

That is also the main reason that plants with this type of roots are usually used for ornamental purposes, and Shangri La Pathos being one of them can be really easy to take care of.

It actually grows slowly and steadily as compared to other pothos plants and does not require changing pots frequently.

Shallow Root System Shangri La Pothos
Shangri La Pothos vi Etsy

You should not flood it with water and do not use massive pots or containers to put it in. Rather use a small or medium-sized pot and change it when you see the roots coming out.

“A plant tells you when it needs more room.” 

To check when to water the plant, wait for the topsoil to dry. You can check that by putting your finger about 1 to 2 centimeters deep into the soil and if it feels moist then wait for it to get dry, to water it again.

As Epipremnum Aureum is a part of the aroid family, Araceae; so it comes from tropical regions and loves warm and humid areas.

5. It Loves Humidity.

A plant’s growth potential depends upon its location, season, and local weather. As mentioned above tropical plants love temperature and humidity toward the upper extreme. The ideal humidity for most indoor plants is 40% to 60%, but the Shangri La can survive up to 90%.

On the dry side, it stays good at average room humidity, but the leaves will become dry if it goes below 30%.

You won’t need to get a humidifier, but if you live in dry areas you can move it to places like your bathroom or kitchen where the air is moister than other areas of the house. Or you can also use a water tray to make the environment a little humid for the plant.

6. No Need For Fancy Fertilizers

Unlike most garden plants who need fertilizers to show proper growth, this Shangri La Pothos does not require any extra stuff for giving proper herbage.

You just need to use a proper combination of the soil.

Do not use simple garden soil as it can result in bad water maintenance which can lead to root rot. It also affects the oxygen availability to the roots and can retard growth.

That’s why a mixture of peat moss, perlite, and coco coir will work best for this kind. You can also try combining it with succulents and cacti.

If you have regular potting soil, you can mix it with the above combination to make the soil retain more water.

Many people use fertilizers to speed up the growth of the plant, this works, but you will have to be cautious; not to overuse.

You can just use a little amount of compost each year.

7. Toxic

Hey, don’t worry it’s not that toxic.

Shangri La Pothos is a mildly toxic plant. It is toxic to eat and can cause mouth irritation if you ingest a little amount, but if eaten in large quantity, it can cause calcium oxalate food poisoning and vomiting.

It contains calcium oxalate crystals that are needle-like in shape and can penetrate the mucus membrane. They can cause numbness, pain, and irritation of the mouth, tongue, and lips.

For preventative measures; you should place this plant far from children and pets as they are most likely to eat it accidentally.

If someone ate it accidentally, call Poison Control. If your pet ate it, then contact your Veterinarian.

It is not toxic to touch but can cause a rash if your skin is sensitive.

8. It is Easy to Propagate

If you got this unique plant to your doorstep and you really don’t want to lose it, I will strongly recommend you propagate it.

The best way to propagate pothos is by stem cutting.

The steps are quite simple:

  • Cut off 5 to 6 inches of a healthy stem (make sure it has 4 to 5 leaves).
  • Remove the leaves from the bottom so that we get a clear stem portion with leaf nodes.
  • You can then put the stems in water under diffused sunlight.
  • Roots will start to show after 3 to 4 weeks.
  • Then just transfer them to a pot containing a suitable soil mixture (for that you can see #6).

You can also watch this video to get a better idea.

On that note, once you have propagated a few plants you can gift some to your family and friends. You can also decor more of your rooms or take it to your office; all because of its versatility.

9. Immune To Illness

And finally, after all the reap benefits; it is considerably passive to pests and diseases.

That’s also a good reason to buy such resistant plants as they do not need much attention, and are also great for beginners. However, no plant is 100% resilient especially if we take improper care and just neglect it. In that regard, this pothos is a little prone to spider mites and bugs.

They do not harm the plant if spotted early on and you can easily take care of them with neem oil and insecticidal soap. If not seen early they can suck the sap out of the plant and can affect its nutrition and growth.

Bacterial and Fungal infections could be prevented simply by keeping the plant and the environment clean.

Root rot is another issue; the safety measure is to use good soil and proper water content management.

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Conclusion

Now you know all the basic and valuable information about pathos plants and how to take care of them. You can also download this app Plant Care by Greg to get a good guide on caring for plants.

To conclude the talk I would say that, for me personally, it is very important to know all the pros and cons of the plant so that I can take perfect care of it. This thing also helps a person to get the idea of his own needs, and the idea of the best conditions for proper plant growth.

With that said, don’t forget to comment, and let us know if you enjoyed the list.

Also, make sure to share this article with your friends and family.