Pothos dying - one healthy leaf left

[saiyangirl]

My coworker and I are in a prank war and his last attack did not turn too favourably. Long story short, he put my plant in front of a heater for about 5 minutes and the top leaves are practically fried.

Now I'm wondering, should I be cutting the top leaves and stem and simply leave the last leaf by itself? Does my plant have any chance of survival? Should I cut some leaves off and leave the "best" ones on? None of the top leaves can sustain themselves anymore and I made little supports to try to turn them towards the light.

Here is the dying top:

The dying top

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And the one healthy leaf. It started curling recently and I'm afraid that the other leaves are dragging it down.

The okay leaf

Thank you!

PS. No, he didn't ever mean to hurt my plant, it was an honest mistake and he feels horrible for it.

[rainbowgardener]

I'd cut all the dead stuff off. Your pothos wasn't doing great before the prank - long and lanky and stretched out - not getting enough light. Pothos doesn't need a lot of light, but does need some, preferably bright indirect / filtered light. Also they benefit from being cut back/ pinched off at the tips, helps them grow bushier instead of lanky like that. They are pretty tough though, so it will probably survive and maybe even look better after it grows out from being cut back. In the long run, maybe he did you a favor!

[applestar]

If you are growing in water, be ure to give it some fertilizer once in while. A few grains of the blue stuff will do.

If this is a office area, keeping the plant under a desk light will help if you don't have access to a window.
(At one workplace, I talked the facility manager into giving me an extra shelf and extra fluorescent light and replaced the tube with my own daylight tube. I also finagled a clear cubicle panel to put on the side that faced an emergency exit with glass double doors and put a lateral file cabinet to block the bottom 1/2 of the panel and be my plant stand -- I kept my "jungle" there and it was great! )

[rainbowgardener]

It's interesting.... In the real world, the first question people ask is what do you do (for a job). Here we hardly ever ask that, which I find preferable. I never thought of applestar, gardener extrordinaire, sitting in a cube. What a waste! Oh well, I put in a few years in a cube myself.

[applestar]

Yeah, well that was years ago, but when you can't be in the garden, bring the garden inside with you, right?
That was also where on Spring Equinox, I brought in a cardboard box of empty baby juice jars and bouquets of yellow daisies and my friend and I put a sprig in 1/2 juice jar of water atop the cubicle dividers all over our department before everyone else arrived. I remember drinking baby juice every day during the week before.

The VP of the department actually stopped by and asked me if *I* had done this. Ah, they knew me so well.

*Sorry for the OT*

[saiyangirl]

Hey guys,

So the consensus seems to be 'cut off the bad stuff'. How long should I leave the stem above the leaf? Should I cut right above a node? (There is one about an 1.5 inches above the leaf, which is about 3 inches above where the leaf connects with the stem)

Thank you for your help! I will post here back in a week with the outcome

[applestar]

Right above a node. When you cut, if the cut looks green and undamaged all the way across, you are good to go.

[saiyangirl]

Alright, here it is! I also placed it by the window so it gets more natural sunlight (window faces north, no direct sunlight)

Cut

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Thank you applestar and rainbowgardener! I will post again in a week with my outcome

[saiyangirl]

2 weeks later, here are some photos of my plant!

The leaf seems to be holding stronger, but not much of a difference otherwise. At least it's still alive!

Top

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Side

[applestar]

If you reduce the water level to just below the leaf node, a new shoot should grow from the node. Use rain water, bottled water or filtered water, not chlorinated water from the tap, and change the water if it gets slimy or stinky.

If you have access to a willow tree, a piece of willow branch in the same water can help encourage the cutting o grow roots.

[imafan26]

Where you cut the pathos it may produce multiple leads. If you are lucky you may get another plant out of it. Definitely try to put it closer to the light and fertilizer.

[baileysup]

Hi. Don't mean to hi-jack your thread here, but I don't understand why if you keep your soil too wet, the plants roots will rot. Yet, you can grow a plant in straight water without the roots rotting? Can someone explain this to me? I just don't get it. Is it an oxygen thing? Thanks

[imafan26]

Water roots are different from roots that would grow from the same plant in the soil. They even look different. People do root cuttings by water rooting. The water needs to be changed every day, and there aren't much nutrients unless you add a small amount of water soluble fertilizer once the roots strike and submerged roots may not get a lot of oxygenation.

Hydroponic and aquaculture systems grow plants to maturity on water roots, but the systems are well oxygenated and the solution contains a balanced nutrient solution.

Not all plants are suited to rooting in water.

[baileysup]

Ahh, cool. I remember hearing somewhere that water roots were brittle compared to regular roots as well, and they could break easily if ever moving the plant from water to soil. That makes sense that they are two different types of roots. Thanks for clearing that up for me.. Also, your pothos is looking good there. Good job on saving it.