Pothos speed of growth?

[Smiling Paul]

Hi everyone 

Im considering planting a pothos into my tank. Just wondered how quickly it grows? I know there are a lot of variables but should I expect it to go from 6" to 12" in a week or in a year. Just a very rough guide will help me set my expectations.

Thanks :) 

[JJenna]

For many years I propagated many of my houseplants. If you are using just cuttings, it will take a couple of weeks for roots to grow, 1-2 months for new leaves to sprout, ~6 months to reach about 6". I've never tried buying an established plant, rinsing all the soil away and just plunking the already established root system into the tank. I would think that the process would speed up. 

[Smiling Paul]

Thank you for the rough timescale. Have you or anyone else got pics of past and present to show how much it's grown in x amount of months?

🙂

[Odd Duck]

I went from a bunch (maybe a dozen?) 2 leaf, freshly cut, no roots starts to a full, thick curtain, “need to hack through the jungle”, of pothos hanging down the back of my 75 G tank (where it gets a little direct sun late in the afternoon) between mid-November 2021 to mid-April 2022.  I’ve hacked off many more starts since then. I sold over 60, 2 leaf node starts to one local aquarist (she has lots of tanks).  I’ve given away and thrown away literally yards of vine since and need to go through and tame the jungle again now.  Just sent 7-8 starts in a fish trade the other day and that was only from 3 out of a dozen vines.

My neon pothos I’ve got the main plant growing in a pot on an east windowsill and I’ve cut off 7, 2 leaf node starts for 5 different tanks, and I could cut off 2 more starts right now.  I got it when it was small enough I could only take 1 start to begin with.  That was back in early October.  It seems to grow a little bit slower than the golden pothos.  None of the neon starts I’ve got have grown enough to trim quite yet.  I want them toget longer.  The oldest of the neon starts are just now getting close to the point where I could trim off a start if I wanted, but I’m not ready to, yet.  They have pretty good roots, now, and the vines really start to take off once you get good root growth, so they’ll likely be really taking off soon.

You can see the golden pothos stems stuck in the HOB filters and the sponge caddies if you look close in the first pic.  Second pic is of the jungle.  These are the pics I took the dates from.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Odd Duck
Add pics.

[Smiling Paul]

That's awesome. Thank you for the timescale and pics. Now I have a little more knowledge and can set my expectations a bit more. Thanks again

[Furbs]

My golden pothos dont seem to have any new growth after a month of dipping into a 5 gallon tank. 

[CJhilljack]

Glad I found this post, the timeline should be helpful. I tried to start Silvery Ann Pothos around Thanksgiving time - just 3 cuttings, all but one have failed & the one that has not is now just a stem with no leaf. I took 3 more cuttings yesterday & just put them in jars of water for now, also took some wandering Jew cuttings. I thought maybe if they had roots before I added them to the tank? 

How did y'all secure your cuttings so they stay put and in the water without the leaves falling in?

 

[Odd Duck]

On 2/19/2023 at 4:24 PM, Furbs said:

My golden pothos dont seem to have any new growth after a month of dipping into a 5 gallon tank. 

Are you seeing roots growing?  If there are, it should be about ready to start growing leaves.  What are your water parameters?

[Odd Duck]

On 2/19/2023 at 5:41 PM, CJhilljack said:

Glad I found this post, the timeline should be helpful. I tried to start Silvery Ann Pothos around Thanksgiving time - just 3 cuttings, all but one have failed & the one that has not is now just a stem with no leaf. I took 3 more cuttings yesterday & just put them in jars of water for now, also took some wandering Jew cuttings. I thought maybe if they had roots before I added them to the tank? 

How did y'all secure your cuttings so they stay put and in the water without the leaves falling in?

 

My favorite way is to tuck them into an HOB filter that has been filled with sponge blocks.  I tuck the stem between the filter side and sponge block.  This holds them quite well and the sponge traps some debris/gunk - AKA plant food.  They root fastest this way are are held steady the best.

If I don’t want to leave the top off an HOB, then I tuck them: 

A. Into an aquatic plant pot that has the slits in the sides.  I hang the little pot by a stainless steel hook to hold it up and then stick the stems through the slots in the pot - nothing else in the pot but you could easily stuff a piece of sponge into the pot to secure the stem better.  Pics in the 29 gallon link below (I think).

B. Into a kitchen sink sponge caddy so the stems poke out the holes to hold them (see the 75 gallon link below).

C. Just let the back plastic trim trap them in place where it goes over an airline or heater cord so the stem isn’t getting crushed but is still held reasonably securely.

Another option I’ve seen but not done: cut egg crate style light diffuser to fit the gap at the back if your tank and push stems down through that.  Use suction cups with loops to grip the stem and hold it in place.  Use short pieces of 1/2” PVC pipe that have been zip-tied together into a bundle, then attach hooks to the zip-ties to hang the bundle from the side of the tank.  Stems get pushed down through the pipe pieces.  There’s many, many different ways.

First pic is stems in the kitchen sink sponge caddy a few weeks(?) after they were added with only a little root growth.  Second pic is stems in an HOB (yes, this is normal color for “Neon” pothos).  One stem has been in there for a few months, the other a few weeks less.  Pic 3 and 4 are just stuck under the plastic trim.  3 has been there at least 6 weeks longer than 4 which just got stuck there a few days ago.

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Odd Duck

[Tanked]

Like so many other things, It depends!

I split my Golden Pothos 3 ways.  The Pothos in the aquariums will probably take a year to get to 12" The plant in the cold comparatively dark kitchen is in the original 3" pot and has grown well beyond that.