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For the person who has never cultivated a houseplant before, the pothos becomes a "gateway plant" to growing other houseplants.
Pothos is one of the most commonly cultivated houseplants. Also known as devil’s ivy, it is sometimes mistakenly called a philodendron due to its growth pattern. It is often described as growing like a vine across the top of a room or window casing. Easy to Care for HouseplantPothos is extremely durable. Lisa Bilsky, owner of Park Ave Pets, in Rochester, N.Y., relates her pothos story; “There was a cutting left out on the porch all winter. I stuck it in dirt and it grew roots!” This hardiness could be the reason it is so common. It does not take a large amount of skill to keep it alive. Because of this ease of care, pothos is great to for the beginner gardener. Often, people do not have houseplants for the simple reason that they are afraid to kill them. Pothos requires little to no fertilizer to survive, and can tolerate large amounts of watering without dying. In this way it instills confidence and knowledge of plant care. Almost any light level will suit pothos. Most that are given indirect light will retain solid, dark green leaves. When given an increased amount of light, as well as direct light, the leaves begin to grow variegated with white or yellow areas. This may be a genetic anomaly present in all pothos and can be encouraged or discouraged simply by removing the undesirable leaves. Pests almost never attack pothos even when no other food is available. Pothos is an excellent candidate for making cuttings. All you need is cup of water. This is another reason it has become so common in homes. A simple clone taken from a mother plant is almost guaranteed to root in water. Most will already have formed roots along the stem as normal growth patterns. Combined with its rapid growth, cuttings taken from office plants or public spaces will go unnoticed. Once confidence is gained cultivating a plant such as the pothos, the skills can be applied to many other plants that might not have been considered candidates for a houseplant. The thing to remember about any plant is that all of them have an inherent desire to live, and often are a lot easier to care for than it may seem. Other Benefits to Cultivating PothosThe benefits to keeping a pothos in the home extend beyond the aesthetics. Pothos has been shown to decrease formaldehyde in its environment. New furniture or wood products may contain formaldehyde as a preservative and will release some of this into the home for quite a while after purchase. Placing a medium sized plant on or near new furniture would be one way to lower the accumulation of gasses in the area. Sources: Park Ave Pets, 991 Monroe Ave, Rochester, New YorkPeart, Virginia. Florida Cooperative Extension Service; Houseplants Fight Pollution September 2003
The copyright of the article Pothos as a Teaching Plant in Houseplants is owned by Kevin Gustina. Permission to republish Pothos as a Teaching Plant in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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