Imagine a drab, uninspired room—perhaps a mundane office space or a lifeless corner in your home—that longs for a touch of the exotic, a whisper of the tropics, a burst of verdant life.
Don’t worry, dear reader, for the humble pothos plant is here to the rescue! This unassuming yet versatile flora, hailing from the sun-kissed islands of the Pacific, shall drape your living space in a garland of lush, trailing leaves without demanding the attention of a prima donna.
In our journey through “Hanging Pothos Plants 101,” you’ll uncover the secrets to selecting the perfect variety for your space and learn the delicate art of transforming a simple hanging basket into a living work of botanical splendor.
Know Before You Grow: Hanging Pothos 101
Pothos is a common houseplant, purchasable from many garden centers and online sellers.
The scientific name for pothos is Epipremnum aureum. When you’re shopping for pothos, you might also find this house plant labeled as Devil’s ivy, money plant, or hunter’s rove.
There are many varieties of pothos, distinguished primarily by their leaf colors.
For instance, the leaves of Golden pothos display beautiful green tones streaked with creamy yellow variegation. Jade pothos features foliage with striking dark shades of its namesake color. Meanwhile, Neon pothos produces vibrant, chartreuse leaves.
Regardless of which you select, all varieties of pothos plants enjoy similar growing conditions:
- Light: Bright indirect sunlight
- Water: Soil should dry between waterings
- Soil: Well-drained, nitrogen-rich
- Temperature: 70-90 F
- Humidity: 50-70%
Pothos is an easygoing plant and will survive in conditions outside of these ranges. It requires infrequent watering and little maintenance. In fact, its ability to tolerate neglect make it the perfect office plant.
Even if you and your coworkers forget to water it for two weeks, pothos will keep growing.
Want to really bring a touch of the outdoors to your workspace? Here are a few other beautiful plants that will thrive in similar conditions as pothos: snake plant, fiddle leaf fig, rubber plant, ZZ plant, and Swiss cheese plant.
How to Hang Pothos Plants: 4 Steps
1. Choose a Container
Many garden centers and online sellers will pot pothos in hanging baskets. But if not, it’s easy enough to repot your pothos into a hangable basket or planter.
Dazzling leaves aren’t the only thing on display. Choosing a pot for your pothos is a great excuse to add a bit of decorative flair. And if you’re crafty, macrame will add a little extra touch while providing practical support for your plant.
But remember primary pothos plant care. No matter how Instagram-able, the pot needs adequate drainage holes to complement well-draining soil. And if you’re repotting, you’ll want to choose the correct size.
As a rule of thumb, increase the pot size by two to three inches in diameter no more than once a year.
If the container is too small, the pothos could become root bound. But if the container is too large, the soil may retain excess water, which could in turn lead to root rot.
Finally, try to find a relatively lightweight container.
2. Find the Right Location
First-time plant owners will appreciate that pothos is challenging to kill. But it still needs certain conditions to thrive.
When selecting a location for your hanging pothos plant, you need to balance aesthetics and practicality. Hanging baskets can add a fun architectural accent to your room. But there’s no point going to the trouble of installing a hanging plant if it won’t be able to grow.
Temperature and humidity will stay about the same in any given room. But light can vary significantly depending on how close you position a plant to a window. So sunlight is the main thing you should prioritize when selecting a location.
Pothos will tolerate a wide range of lighting conditions. However, it will grow best in bright indirect light. Direct full sun on your pothos can burn the edges of the leaves. And full or partial shade can sometimes stunt growth.
Steady lighting, temperature, and humidity are also key. Dramatic fluctuations in growing conditions can stress the pothos plant. Avoid hanging the pothos near drafty windows, air vents, or radiators.
3. Fasten the Hanging Basket to the Ceiling or Wall
You first need to install a hook to hang a planter from the ceiling.
The sturdiest method is to screw a J-hook into a ceiling joist. If you can’t locate a ceiling joist near your selected plant position, you could also attach a hook to the drywall using toggle screws. Just keep in mind: plastic toggle screws can’t hold much more than 15 pounds when attached to a ceiling.
Depending on the size of the room, you could also extend a tension rod from wall to wall. However, this method will also struggle to hold more than 15-30 pounds.
Hanging a pothos from a wall is a little bit less precarious.
Many garden centers sell brackets specifically designed to support hanging baskets. When screwed into a wall stud, one of these brackets can hold over 100 pounds.
4. Maintain & Care for the Pothos Hanging Plant
Pothos are fairly drought-tolerant plants. But they still need water to survive. How frequently they will need water depends on several factors: temperature, light availability, humidity, soil drainage, and more.
Don’t just water pothos whenever you feel like it. Too much water can cause complications such as root rot and pest infestations. Instead, check the soil first. Ideally, you want the top few inches of soil to dry out completely between watering.
Once the soil has dried, water thoroughly. The easiest way to complete this task will be to remove the hanging basket from its hook, then water the plant in a sink or shower. Unless you have nested a pot within a pot (or attached a drip tray), you will need a way to catch excess water as it drains through the soil.
While you water the plant, inspect it for signs of disease, pests, or other issues you might not be able to see when it’s hanging.
Troubleshooting Trailing Vines
This trailing houseplant can add a tropical feel to even the gloomiest rooms. In the wild, pothos plants can produce leafy vines that stretch up to 20 feet long. Indoor pothos plants can also grow vines, albeit to a shorter length.
However, if you want your pothos vines to be an integral part of your interior plant design… then hanging baskets are not your best friend.
Pothos produce vines using aerial roots. These above-ground roots attach the plant to various surfaces, allowing the plant to grow towards available nutrients and sunlight.
Hanging stems might look pretty. But gravity will not encourage pothos to produce vines.
Instead, you need to give pothos something it can attach, such as a moss pole, trellis, or a taut line of string.
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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.