Best Pothos Soil (Ways to Prepare Pothos Soil Mixing)

by Becky Decker · July 19, 2024

All of us know that soil is the foundation for starting any garden. If not done correctly, plants will suffer greatly—I’ve experienced this myself. My pothos plants were struggling because the soil wasn’t properly mixed. It was then that I realized how crucial it is to maintain healthy soil for healthy plants.

To prevent you from facing the same issue, I’ll guide you on the type of soil that pothos plants love to grow in and ways to improve soil conditions. Improving soil health can be complex, but with understanding and practice, you can create an environment where plants will thrive quickly.

Table of Contents

What to Consider When Choosing the Best Soil for Pothos

They are considered best to grow in hanging baskets which are used to trail downward or upward to provide support to the plant with their long lush vines. They are best to grow if you provide them in low to medium light having more colorful variegated pothos. You can place them near a window having a curtain which will help in diffusing the light. Those plants are used to observe carbon dioxide and release oxygen same as other house plants are used to do which makes them another best option for planting in a home providing health benefits as well as giving a decorative view.

Requirements:

The ideal condition for growing the plant is providing soil that is slightly acidic such as having a pH level of 6.0 to 6.5 pH which is well aerated and well draining soil.

If you are providing them the indoor porting mixes to grow them in your garden they already consist of all the important ingredients that the plant needs but if you want to make your own potting mix the following are some important or necessary ingredients that you need to add in the soil for growing pothos plant.

Soil pH:

The soil PH helps in getting no how acidic neutral or alkaline the soil is for example a pH level of soil range up to 7.0 is considered neutral soil ranging under 7.0 is acidic and over the range of 7.0 is alkaline soil.
The plant mostly grows well in neutral to slightly acidic soil as here the nutrients are more accessible to the plant’s root.
The pothos plant are used to grows best in slightly acidic soil as it gets a good amount of required nutrients from the soil in case you are not aware of the pH level of the soil you can test it by sending a sample of the soil into a lab or by purchasing a soil pH meter.

Best Pothos Soil (Ways to Prepare Pothos Soil Mixing)

Best Soil for Pothos: Aerated Soil:

To grow pothos plants you need to give them high humidity and moisture in the soil. They love to grow in soil with having high concentration of oxygen in which there is a large percentage of soil for space that is filled with a lot of air.

Tips for Aerating Soil:

The soil is available in the wild or a garden the insects help aerate the soil by tunneling it.
If you are making your own potting mix make sure to use well-aerated soil.
It will help in making large and loose soil particles for example Sandy or loamy soil not clay-based soil which is students with tight small soil particles.
You can also add sphagnum moss which will improve the soil aeration and water retention.
The mass will help in keeping the soil oxygenated but it will not retain the moisture too much that it will create soggy soil.
After planting the soil, you can use chopsticks or the same tool to create small air pockets in the soil.
Make sure not to damage the root by meeting the process.

Drainage:

In order to prevent the plant from root rot condition you need to grow them in moist and welldreaming soil, you need to provide soil that is less than large soil particles which will leave the space for Oxygen and water drainage easily.

Creating Good Drainage

The following are some steps to create good drainage of the soil:

Many potting soils contain perlite in them which is considered a naturally occurring mineral that you need to add to prevent soil compaction and help in improving the drainage of the soil.

In Case you are going the pothos mixing your own potting soil you need to add perlite to make sure the plant does not suffer from root rot conditions.

Best Soil for Pothos: Nutrients:

Pothos plants do grow best by adding nutrients because they are not used to getting as many nutrients naturally from the soil that help them to grow outside. The soil present outside consists of microscopic organisms which comprise of soil microbial community of bacteria, microscopic fungi, protists, and archaea.

Adding Nutrients:

There are two main ways to add nutrients for adding in soil.
Adding an appropriate amount of compost will help in growing the microbial community.
Another option is to add fertilizers make sure not to add too much amount of fertilizer as it will result in the burning of the roots of the plant.
The perfect time for adding fertilizer to the plant is during the spring and summer growing seasons.
The ratio Needs to be in a balanced liquid base such as 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 it consists of 10% nitrogen 10% Phosphorus and 10% potassium or it may consist of 20% nitrogen 20% Phosphorus and 20% potassium.
Avoid adding the fertilizer during the dormant season as it will damage the plant and the root will not absorb nutrients.

Types of Soil for Pothos:

A perfect soil mix for growing pothos consists of an ingredient that helps the plant roost to get enough amount of oxygen. Make sure not to grow them in soil that is designed for growing succulents and cacti as here the soil is used to drain too rapidly and will not retain the moisture that the pothos need for growing.

Not to plant a pothos plant in garden soil because it is too compact and contains insects like gnats which will infest the plant and spread to other house plants easily.

The following are types of soil and ingredients that help for growing pothos plants:

Bark: they are used to keep the mixture light and help in encouraging the soil for drainage.
Coconut coir: they are used to get from coconut husk that is present between the fruit of the coconut and the hard outer shell of the coconut. Adding it will help in absorbing and retaining water. It is used to release water which is beneficial for growing pothos plants.
Perlite: it is a byproduct of volcanic glass that is light and airy which helps in keeping the potting mix compact but helps retain a bit of moisture in the soil.
Peat moss: The peat moss is harvested from moss bigs which are highly absorbent and lightweight. Adding moss and coco coir helps in forming the primary base in indoor potting mixes.
Horticultural sand: adding horticultural sand helps in encouraging draining and structural integrity which helps in anchoring roots of large pothos.
Hand-mixed: A perfect way of adding these ingredients to soil is 4 parts peat moss, 2 parts perlite, 1 part sand, and 1 part shredded bark.

Common Problems in Growing Pothos Plants:

There are some common problems you need to deal with growing pothos plants such as:

The leaves of the plants will turn yellow which is mainly caused if you provide the plant with too much sunlight or too much water.
In case you notice the leaves of the plants start turning yellow you need to adjust the amount of sun and water according to the plant’s need.
The pothos plants can also get infested with mealybugs which are white little insects that are used to feed on the sap of the pothos plants. They can be cured by using an insecticidal soap on the leaves which helps to get rid of them.

Benefits of making Pothos Plant Soil Mix:

The following are some benefits if you make your pothos plant soil mix:

If you make soil mix yourself then you can customize them according to the plant’s needs.
Understand it by an example, in case pothos plants prefer to grow in more acidic soil then you can add ingredients into the soil mix which will result in more acidic soil.
Adding important nutrients to the soil will be more beneficial to growing pothos in your garden.
You can save more money by making your own soil mix than by buying pre-made soil mix from any garden center or nursery shop.

Conclusion:

Now you got to know how important is to use the best soil mix for growing pothos. After reading the guide you can decide which type of soil mix is good for your garden. Not just this, you can learn how to make your own soil mix for your pothos plant.