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Why Are My Pothos Leaves Curling (Causes & Solutions)

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While all pothos plants, Epipremnum and Scindapsus, seem to be quite easy to grow, most plant owners will come across an issue or two. One of the more common problems met by everyone is pothos leaves curling.

Luckily all pothos varieties are hardy plants, and more often than not, curling the leaves signifies a beginning of the matter, and your plant might bounce back. The sooner you act, the better your pothos leaves will recover!

Join us today on “Why are my pothos leaves curling?” to learn what can cause your Pothos leaves to curl, what you can do for the plant to help it quickly bounce back, and measures to take to prevent curling in the future.

Why Are My Pothos Leaves Curling
“why are all the leaves curled up on my silver satin pothos” via Reddit

Why Are My Pothos Leaves Curling – 6 Commons Reasons

If you find the leaves of your pothos curling, there are six possible causes. Although not all the following reasons are bad, some are more worrying than others:

  1. Underwatering is probably the most common cause of Pothos leaves curling. For some people, it’s easy to overlook this plant, which they can
  2. Temperature stress, rapid temperature fluctuations, too much heat, or cold can all cause your pothos’ leaves to curl.
  3. Excessive fertilization may cause the leaves of your Pothos to curl; being generous with feeding is not always helpful for plants, including Pothos.
  4. Inadequate light volume and exposure; too much or too little light, direct light, and in general, indecent exposure can cause curling of your pothos leaves.
  5. Root rot is the most severe of all causes; it frequently occurs in conjunction with other symptoms. Therefore, if this is what causes Pothos leaves to curl, the problem will be harder to deal with.
  6. Infestations; bugs can weaken the plant and cause it to curl its leaves.

5 Solutions To Prevent Pothos Leaves From Curling

Why Are My Pothos Leaves Curling 2
“Why is my Potho’s leaves curling up?” via Reddit

To stop your Pothos leaves from curling, follow the below methods:

1. Avoid underwatering

Curling leaves can be rectified if they are spotted early, and the pothos plant is quickly hydrated. Also, to minimize future underwatering, keep track of how long it takes for the soil to dry up after watering.

  • Before watering, allow the soil to dry out.
  • Keep the soil most
  • Use watering globes to keep the soil from becoming too dry for a while

Then, create a watering schedule based on the timeline you chose. Finally, when the seasons change, consider modifying your watering schedule, as Pothos require less water during the colder seasons and more during the warm growing seasons.

2. Avoid overwatering

Making drainage holes on the sides of your growth pots can aid in the drainage of excess water before it has a negative impact on root health. You can also place a drainage tray fixture beneath your pots.

Drain the soil completely by making drainage holes on the planter to prevent curling caused by overwatering. Otherwise, take the plant out of the pot and discard the moist soil. Repot with fresh potting soil (preferably well-draining soil).

3. Avoid plant overfeeding

To avoid overfertilizing your Pothos, limit fertilizer supplies to no more than twice a year. However, if your soil is already overloaded with excess nutrient salts due to excessive fertilizer use, repotting the plant in new soil is your best choice.

Still, if you feel that the fertilizer buildup isn’t too severe, you might try washing out the excess salts by regularly soaking the soil with water.

4. Provide appropriate lighting

If your Pothos leaves are curling towards the light source, relocate the plant to a better-lit location.

If, on the other hand, they’re curling away from the light source, relocate them to a location with less direct light. Better yet, you may utilize a grow bulb to ensure that your plants receive appropriate, controlled lighting.

Provide appropriate lighting Solutions To Prevent Pothos Leaves From Curling
via Pexels

5. Use pesticides

If you suspect a pest infestation is what causes the curling leaves, contact a local extension office for pesticide advice. Homemade solutions should be avoided because they may be poisonous to your Pothos plant as well. If insects are a problem, dab some rubbing alcohol on them to keep them away.


FAQs

1. How do you tell if your Pothos has been overwatered?

Yellowing most commonly happens because of overwatering or underwatering. Overwatering is likely to cause a combination of yellow and brown on the same leaf. So if you notice yellow leaves, as well as crispy brown spots on other leaves, it might be symptoms of underwatering.

2. Do leaves curl before rain?

Deciduous trees’ leaves, such as maples and poplars, frequently bend upward before heavy rain. This is because the leaves are actually reacting to the significant increase in humidity that generally occurs before a storm.

Conversely, soft-stemmed leaves can become limp in reaction to sudden changes in humidity, allowing the wind to flip them over.

3. Are humidifiers good for pothos?

When the humidity is high and the temperature is warm, golden pothos will grow. However, because the air in most homes is dry, you will need to humidify your plant regularly if you want it to grow healthily.

4. Do pothos like small pots?

Pothos rarely has to be replanted and can live in a smaller pot, which also helps keep the plant from getting too enormous. It would help if you used a pot no more than 2 inches larger than the existing pot or root ball. A pot depth of 10 inches gives the plant enough space to grow.

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Conclusion

There are a few things to conclude after our article on “why are my pothos leaves curling?”:

Pothos is a brilliant beginner-friendly houseplant with gorgeous green leaves that will drape any windowsill or balcony. As long as the Pothos plant is given the proper growing conditions, it will produce gorgeous vinyl green leaves.

However, sometimes, Pothos plants will show signs of stress, such as curling leaves, as an early warning that their surroundings are unsuitable. Inspect the plant and try a few different things to figure out what’s causing the curling leaves.