Why does my pothos have limp, drooping leaves?

On a pothos the whole vine hangs limp, with the newest leaves at the tips drooping first and the older leaves following. The leaves lose their stiffness but are not yet yellow or dry.

The most likely cause is thirst. The entry notes that a pothos droops slightly when it is dry and recovers within hours of a drink, and it will tell you well before it is in trouble. At a watering interval of about 7 days in the growing season and about 12 in winter, a droop usually means the interval has been stretched, or the pot has dried faster than usual because it is full of roots or standing in a sunny spot.

To confirm it in a minute, push a finger 4 to 5 cm into the compost and lift the pot. Dry compost, a light pot and perhaps a gap between the compost and the side of the pot say thirst. If the compost is damp and the pot is heavy, the drooping has the opposite cause. Roots that are rotting cannot take up water, so a wet plant droops too, and the leaves usually begin to yellow as well, which thirst does not do quickly.

Two other causes are worth ruling out. Cold or a draught causes sudden drooping overnight on a plant near a window or an outside door, with the leaves nearest the source worst and the compost neither dry nor sodden. This is a tropical plant, and the entry puts its minimum at 12 degrees. A pothos that was repotted in the last day or two may droop until the disturbed roots recover.

If thirst was the cause, the plant stands up again within hours of watering. If cold was the cause, most plants recover when the chill was brief, once they are somewhere steady and warm and left alone for a week. If it has not improved a week after the compost has dried, tip it out and look at the roots.

What this plant wants

The fix

Water thoroughly if the mix is dry; move away from cold windows in winter.

Read on

Limp, drooping leaves

The same sign on any plant, with the causes in the order they are likely.

Pothos care

Light, water, feeding, repotting and the rest of the entry.

Check it in the diagnoser

Opens with the plant, the part and the sign already chosen.