Pearls and Jade Pothos: Common Questions Answered
The variegated Pearls and Jade pothos (Epipremnum aureum) are at the top of many indoor gardeners’ must-grow lists. So it’s not a surprise that I receive numerous questions regarding pearl and jade plant care. I’ve compiled the top questions people ask me about this unique pothos variety and provided answers.
Whether you have pothos experience, this is your first variegated pothos, or you’re going into this blind, this guide will provide the information you need to grow a healthy Pearls and Jade!
How Much Light Does a Pearls and Jade Pothos Need?
To maintain the Pearls and Jade’s beautiful coloration, this plant needs bright, indirect light daily. Several hours of sunlight or artificial light each day is ideal.
Position the Pearls and Jade in a northerly or easterly-facing window and ascertain that the window has a curtain. The curtain can be thin and still do its job: filter sunlight.
Pearls and Jade Pothos have paper-thin foliage that can’t handle the harsh sun. If your plant bakes for too long, you’ll have to prune the dead, brown parts from your Pearls and Jade, which is heartbreaking!
How Often Should You Water a Pearls and Jade Pothos?
The Pearls and Jade can handle periods of regular hydration or drought with ease. No plant likes overwatering, so it’s best to err on the side of caution.
In other words, they can handle being left without water for too long much better than being overwatered.
Allow an inch or two of soil to dry out before watering the pearls and jade. Use the fingertip test to gauge how dry the plant’s soil feels. If your fingers come back moist, then it’s best to hold off on watering your pothos for a few days more.
An overwatered Pearls and Jade will develop soft foliage and stems, and the base of the plant can become mushy in severe cases.
The fungal disease root rot can also take hold, possibly killing your pothos.
For an entire article on watering your pothos, I suggest reading: How Often Should I Water a Pothos Plant?
Is the Pearls and Jade Pothos Rare?
Yes, like other pothos varieties, the Pearls and Jade is technically a mutation. That makes it and the dozens of pothos varieties out there quite rare indeed, although some are rarer than others.
How Do You Propagate Pearls and Jade?
Do you know what’s better than growing a beautiful, variegated pothos like the Pearls and Jade? Sharing the love with others through propagation.
How do you propagate a plant like this pothos? Let’s go over the steps.
Step 1 – Select a Cutting
Look at your Pearls and Jade for an appropriate part to cut. A good candidate is a stem that’s at least three inches long but possibly double that depending on the leaf placement.
The stem should have several leaves and a healthy green coloration.
Using clean gardening shears, trim at a 45-degree angle below one leaf node, a bumpy surface on the stem where new growth will emerge. The presence of the leaf node on the cutting will allow roots to grow with time.
If you wish, you can trim a few backup cuttings in case the first doesn’t survive, which can happen! I’d suggest at least two backup cuttings.
Step 2 – Remove the Bottommost Leaves
Whether growing your Pearls and Jade pothos cutting in water or soil, you must have adequate room to insert the cutting into its growth medium.
Leaves nearer the bottom of the cutting get in the way of this, so trim them off.
Step 3 – Use a Rooting Hormone
I don’t always recommend a rooting hormone when propagating plants, but as discussed in my guide to working with rooting hormones, the pothos responds especially well to rooting hormones, so this is a time when I highly recommend using rooting hormones to propagate your plants.
Dip the end of the cutting in the rooting hormone. If you’re using the powdered variety, then moisten the cutting first so the powder sticks.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are ways to make your own rooting hormones out of items you likely have in your home.
For a list of common household items you can use to make your own “natural” rooting catalyst, I recommend reading my related article, Ingredients for Homemade Rooting Hormone.
Step 4 – Plant the Pothos Cutting
If you prefer water propagation, you can fill a glass or a jar with lukewarm water and insert the pothos cutting so its end is submerged. Otherwise, fill a shallow bed with soil and bury the stem several inches deep.
Pothos can live in water and never be planted in the soil so don’t worry about leaving the stems in the water for too long.
Step 5 – Care for the Cutting
Next, begin caring for the Pearls and Jade cutting. If growing it in water, dump the water at least once a week or whenever it becomes murky.
Maintain moist soil if you selected that as the cutting’s growth medium.
Provide bright, indirect light for your burgeoning plant.
Step 6 – Put the Pothos Cutting in a More Permanent Home
Give it several weeks, upwards of a month even, and your pothos cutting should have grown roots. At most, this process should take six weeks.
Once the plant has a healthy root system, you can move it to a more permanent soil bed and begin following a regular care routine.
Does Pothos Like Shallow or Deep Pots?
Pothos varieties like the Pearls and Jade prefer deeper pots at least seven inches and up to 10 inches deep.
Your plant will indicate to you when its pot has become too small. If you can see roots emerge from the drainage holes or feel roots growing several inches deep into the soil, your Pearls and Jade needs a larger pot.
There’s no need to jump to a huge pot size as you upgrade. You should only increase the size of the pot diameter by two to four inches.
If your Pearls and Jade sits in a pot that’s too large, it will struggle to get water to its roots.
Does Pearls and Jade Like to Be Rootbound?
No, pothos in general like having additional space in their containers to stretch their roots and this certainly includes the Pearls and Jade pothos!
A rootbound houseplant, pothos or otherwise, has an overgrown root system in a pot that’s far too small.
The roots have nowhere else to go, so they begin spiraling around the pot. Then the roots become stuck.
In a worst-case scenario, the overgrown, wild roots can begin entangling themselves, choking off their oxygen and water supply. Your plant will be deprived even though you haven’t changed its care routine.
You should repot the Pearls and Jade every year or two. The aforementioned signs will indicate whether your plant needs a bigger pot or is okay where it is.
If you suspect your pothos has become rootbound, then you need to move it a bigger pot no matter how long ago it was that you last replaced its pot.
Removing the roots from the sides of the pot can prove challenging when a plant is especially rootbound. I’d recommend encircling the perimeter of the pot with a butter knife several times over to help dislodge the roots.
Can Pearls and Jade Pothos Live in Water?
Yes, as I’ve mentioned earlier, your pearls and jade pothos can live their entire life in water.
When propagating Pearls and Jade cuttings, water makes for an attractive growth medium. Once the plant matures, water becomes a less frequent but still doable option.
The trickiest part is fertilizing the plant. You must use a water-soluble fertilizer, as the nutrients in other types of fertilizer will dissolve in the water before they reach the plant’s roots.
Make sure to regularly replace the water as well, especially if you see hard water or algae accumulation.
What Is the Difference Between Pothos N Joy and Pearls and Jade?
The Pothos N Joy and Pearls and Jade both feature white variegation, but there’s more to these pothos plants than what meets the eye.
While this is clearly not a complete list of their differences, from my own experience, the three ways to quickly tell the difference between the pothos n’joy and the pearls and jade are:
- The Pearls and Jade has slightly larger leaves, about three inches long versus the N Joy’s two inches.
- The variegation makes the differences between the two pothos varieties clearer.
- The N Joy features white strips of variegation without green speckles, whereas the Pearls and Jade usually has those green speckles across its ivory variegation.
For more information on caring for a pothos nJoy, I suggest reading: Pothos N’Joy: 7 Essential Plant Care Tips
Can Pearls and Jade Pothos Survive in Low Light?
Pothos and low light generally aren’t the worst combination, but I’d make an exception for pothos varieties, especially the variegated kinds.
Without adequate lighting, the Pearls and Jade will lose its creamy white coloration. When this happens, those leaves will never turn white again.
Even worse, continuing to grow the pothos in dim lighting will encourage new leaves to grow without variegation.
Put the Pearls and Jade in an environment where it can receive bright, indirect light to best appreciate its unique coloring.
Should I Give My Pothos Tap Water?
Pothos doesn’t mind tap water, but you should be pickier about the type of water you offer many of your other indoor plants.
Tap water contains chlorine and other chemicals that can hinder growth. Rainwater, filtered water, and other sources of pure water suit the pothos much better.
Does Pearls and Jade Pothos Grow Fast?
Pearls and Jade is known as one of the slowest-growing pothos varieties. That’s another great reason to keep the plant out of low light and use chemical-free water. You’ll just slow down its molasses-like growth even more!
Should I Grow a Pearls and Jade Pothos?
Most certainly, especially if you appreciate variegated indoor plants!
Having experience successfully growing other pothos will undoubtedly help, but even if the Pearls and Jade is your first pothos, you should transition into its care quickly.
This variety is known for being easy to care for, after all!
