Global Green Pothos: Care Guide & 7 Common Problems to Avoid

The Global Green Pothos plant is a new and lesser-known pothos variety. With its dark green leaves and striking yellow-green variegation, it is a must-have addition to any houseplant collection, especially if you’re a pothos enthusiast. It is a feast for the eyes and a joy to grow, requiring little care and maintenance.

Read on to discover the origin of the Global Green Pothos; and how to keep this plant thriving in your home.

What Is Global Green Pothos?

Global Green Pothos is a cultivar of the Epipremnum aureum. This variety has dark green leaves with vibrant yellow-green, sometimes olive-green variegation.

The leaves are oval, with a pointy tip, and have the same lightly ruffled texture you’ll find on a N’Joy Pothos or a Manjula. This variety of Pothos can grow up to 1 foot (30 cm) tall and has excellent ornamental value as a hanging, trailing, or climbing houseplant.

Origin (Japan)

This Pothos was discovered in a nursery in Japan in 2016 by plant breeder Hiroaki Asaoka. He noticed a naturally-occurring mutation in one of the Epipremnum aureum plants in the nursery, which produced a unique variegation pattern.

The plant was patented in 2021 and was added by Costa Farms to their Trending Tropicals® collection. The botanical name for the Global Green Pothos is Epipremnum aureum ‘Global Green’.

You can see the patent for this plant here. 

Global Green Pothos Care Guide

Global Green is one of those beginner-friendly, hard-to-kill plants. Because it has green variegation, it can tolerate a wide range of light conditions without drastically losing foliage color.

It’s not pretentious regarding humidity, water, and fertilizers, but it will need well-draining soil to stay healthy.

Here’s what you need to know about its growing requirements:

Light 

This houseplant can tolerate low to medium light conditions. But if you want to encourage faster growth and maintain its foliage patterns, keeping your pothos in bright indirect light is best. 

When grown indoors, the best place for your pothos is a room facing either east or west. Keep the plant 3 to 4 feet away from the window. Although pothos can tolerate some direct light early in the morning, intense direct sunlight will scorch the leaves and cause them to wilt. 

Water 

Requires moderate watering needs. It likes to grow in evenly moist soil, but it will also forgive you if you forget to water it for a few days. 

The soak and drain method is the correct way to water your pothos. Start by checking the soil with your finger. If the top 2 inches (5 cm) feel dry to the touch, it’s time to give your pothos a soak. Pour water through the soil slowly and evenly until it starts to drip through the drainage holes at the bottom. 

After watering your pothos, let the soil dry out to a depth of a couple of inches before you water it again.  

Soil 

Prefers growing in a well-draining but moisture-retentive potting mix. The ideal substrate for this plant should not dry out too fast between waterings but should allow excess water to drain out of the pot.

You can plant your Pothos in a pre-made soil mix for aroids. Or, if you’d rather make your own, you can combine equal parts peat moss or potting soil, orchid bark, and perlite or vermiculite.

Temperature 

Can tolerate a wide temperature range but will grow best in temperatures between 70°F and 86°F (21°C to 30°C). It won’t mind temperatures as low as 59°F (15°C), but prolonged exposure to temperatures below 50°F (10°C) will stunt its growth.

Avoid exposing your plant to hot or cold drafts when growing indoors. Please keep it away from drafty doors and windows, heating or cooling vents, radiators, and air conditioning units.

Repeat exposure to sudden changes in temperature will make the plant droop and shed its leaves.

You can keep it as an outdoor plant in USDA zones 9b and higher. It will grow well as a ground cover, but if it finds a tree, it will start climbing it.

If you live in cooler regions, it’s best to keep your pothos in a pot, take it outside in the summer, and then bring it back indoors during the colder months.

Humidity 

One of the reasons pothos plants are so popular with beginner gardeners is the fact that, despite being tropical plants, they’re perfectly suitable for any home. Of course, this applies to temperature but also humidity.

This pothos will be happy growing in the average humidity levels found in most homes. However, if you want to encourage faster growth and lush foliage, you can increase the humidity to around 60% – 70%.

The easiest way is to keep the pot on top of a pebble tray half-filled with water. As the water evaporates, it increases humidity cheaply and naturally. 

It doesn’t need misting. Unless you mist the plant several times a day, this won’t help increase the humidity.

Misting can also do more harm than good, especially if you’re growing several plants together, as it can spread pests and fungal diseases. 

Fertilizer 

This plant is not a heavy feeder. You can fertilize it once every 1 or 2 months, diluted to half strength, using a liquid fertilizer for foliage plants.

Fertilize it during its active growing stage, from early spring until early fall, then cut back on feeding it during the colder months.

Light plays an essential role in how often to fertilize your Global Green Pothos. A plant kept in bright indirect light will grow faster, which means you can feed it once every 3 to 4 weeks.

Meanwhile, plants growing in low light have a slower growth rate, and you can get away with feeding them just twice a year. 

Pruning

Prune your plant regularly to maintain a tidy look and encourage bushy growth. Pruning is also a great way to restore variegation.

If you notice that the leaves are starting to lose their patterns, cut the vine above the last leaf with good variegation, and propagate the cuttings. Then move the plant to a sunnier spot, and its leaves will become more variegated.

Repotting

You will need to repot your Pothos once every 2 to 3 years. If you can see the roots come out from the top of the pot or through the drainage holes, it’s time to transplant it to a larger container.

Always use a pot with drainage holes, and go for a pot that’s 2 inches (5 cm) wider, or one size larger. 

If you have a new plant that you just bought home, wait at least two weeks before repotting it. This will give the plant time to adjust to its new growing conditions and prevent transplant stress.

When transplanting it, always remove as much of the soil as possible, and look for a mesh wrap surrounding the center roots. If you find any, remove them immediately. 

Plant breeders often use these mesh wraps in nurseries. They’re useful for young cuttings but can strangle the roots when the plants begin to grow.

Unfortunately, nurseries don’t always remove them before selling the plants. And if the roots grow too big, the mesh will start to stunt the plant’s growth and even cause sudden wilting.   

How To Propagate Global Green Pothos

The only way you can propagate your Global Green Pothos is through stem cuttings. The process is straightforward and can be used on any plant with at least five leaves per vine.

Use a sharp, sterilized blade, and take a few single node cuttings.

Propagate them in water, and transplant them into a well-draining soil mix when the roots are at least 2 inches (5 cm) long.

Check out our separate guide on how to propagate all pothos varieties — in soil or water.

Common Problems

This Pothos rarely suffers from any serious diseases or pest infestations. But if the plant is not growing in the right conditions, its health will start to decline. Here’s what you need to keep an eye out for.

Pests

The most common pests are spider mites, mealybugs, and thrips. These insects drink the sap from the leaves and will cause yellowing foliage, mottled discoloration, and stunted growth.

To get rid of spider mites and mealybugs, spray the leaves with an isopropyl alcohol solution once a week for a month. Then, cut the infested leaves and spray the plant with a systemic pesticide for thrips.

Yellowing Leaves

Yellowing leaves are a common problem for all pothos varieties and have a wide range of causes.

pothos leaves turning yellow and with leaf spot

Here are the 10 main reasons why pothos leaves are turning yellow, and what you can do about it.

Brown, Crispy Leaves

The leaves will develop brown, crispy edges if the plant is kept in very low humidity, sitting in direct sun, or exposed to hot drafts.

Therefore, keep your plant in bright indirect light, keep humidity levels above 40%, and make sure the plant isn’t sitting next to a radiator or a heating vent.

Drooping Stems and Leaves

Your Global Green Pothos will start to droop if the plant is thirsty or if it’s exposed to cold drafts or low temperatures.

Never let the soil dry out completely; keep your pothos away from air conditioning units or drafty windows and doors, and make sure it’s never exposed to temperatures below 50°F (10°C).

Leaves Are Turning Green

The pothos “Global Green” may lose its variegation if growing in low light conditions. To keep the patterns on the leaves, move it to a part of your home that gets bright indirect light but avoids the direct sun.

Leggy Growth

If your plant is growing long, bare stems, this indicates that it needs more sun. However, if you notice that your plant is leggy and that the newest leaves are also getting smaller, it’s worth giving it a moss pole to climb on.

All pothos varieties are natural climbers; providing them with a moss pole will encourage larger leaves and more compact growth.

Global Green Pothos Is Suddenly Wilting

Several factors can cause sudden wilting and leaf loss, ranging from too much or too little water, drastic temperature changes, and even root rot. 

If your Global Green Pothos has been in your care for a few months and you’re providing it with ideal growing conditions but it’s suddenly wilting, it’s very possible that its roots are strangled by a mesh wrap.

This is very common in plants that are bought from nurseries rather than propagated plants sold by individual resellers.

Take the plant out of its pot, remove all the soil, then use a sturdy pair of garden scissors to cut the mesh away from the roots. 

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Is Global Green Pothos Toxic?

All cultivars of the Epipremnum aureum are toxic to humans and pets, including the Global Green Pothos. The plant’s leaves and stems contain calcium oxalate crystals, which can cause swelling of the mouth and throat, difficulty breathing, and digestive issues.

Always keep this plant away from cats, dogs, and small children. 

Is Global Green Pothos Rare?

Global Green Pothos is a new pothos cultivar, but it’s not exactly rare. Costa Farms have exclusive propagation rights in North America for this cultivar, which means that other nurseries cannot propagate it to create their own stock.

However, this plant is easy to find with many online and offline houseplant sellers — and it’s very reasonably priced too. 

Is Global Green Pothos the Same as Emerald Green?

Emerald Pothos and Global Green Pothos are not the same plants. The main difference between them is variegation.

Global Green Pothos leaves are darker on the outside and yellow-green in the center and can sometimes display olive-green streaks of variegation.

Emerald Green pothos leaves are the opposite: dark green in the center and lighter green on the outside. 

 

davin
Website | + posts

Davin is a jack-of-all-trades but has professional training and experience in various home and garden subjects. He leans on other experts when needed and edits and fact-checks all articles.