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Flower of the Day: May, 25, 2021. Pothos propagation

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It’s mid spring and I’m back to my gardening pursuits; hopelessly optimistic that THIS is the year of successful blooms. I decided to propagate an indoor Pothos plant that I got from Lowes Hardware store last December. It’s been five months and the stems still look strong and fresh.

In March, it did go through a mini bump with drooping leaves and stems, mainly from neglect. I assumed the plant was dead. I couldn’t believe that a hardy plant like Pothos that is known to be a great beginner’s plant had gotten to this sad state.

The last attempt was transferring it to a new semi-sunny spot and watering it amply. And Pothos is one mighty plant that can withstand neglect and still spring back to full health. The next morning its drooping stems stood upright with revived leaves. We couldn’t believe the transformation that came from a little TLC. So farIt’s doing great near the window and with moist soil. Before it’s watered, I check the soil to feel if it’s too damp, moist, or dry; that helps to determine how much water it needs.

Five months later and I’m upping my gardening challenge with this Pothos plant and propagating some stem cuttings. In my research of how to care for a Lantana plant, I came across a YouTube site about growing new plants from an existing one. I’m always up for a gardening experiment but this could double as our homeschool science lesson too.

I watched several videos, looking up what a node is, how to cut the stems, and learning that that Pothos has aerial roots. Once I felt semi-confident about the process, I made (I mean encouraged) the kids cut stems near the nodes and went on and on about how this encourages new growth, the coolness factor of growing another plant from the mama plant, and replacing the old water with new warm water for an oxygen boost. Enthusiasm level was not as high as I wanted. One day they’ll hopefully remember.

It looks nice in a clear cup as it is and could also be used for decorative purposes. But I digress. The thing to do now is wait patiently, maintain water level, and fully change the water every week or so. We shall wait for the roots to grow before planting them in soil.

Thank you Cee for hosting this FOTD challenge! It’s been a while since I’ve contributed to this challenge…end of school year busyness. Hope you are well and staying healthy.

Thank you readers for stopping by and for checking out my post! Appreciate you all. Have a great rest of the day.

Categories: flower of the day science experiments

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singlikewildflowers

Welcome to my blog! My name is Esther and I'm so happy you are here. I'm an avid nature photographer and a daydreaming thinker. My posts revolve around photos of nature's beauty, homeschooling adventures with my 2 kids, sporadic reflections on my child's heart condition, Bible reading reflections, gardening feats, and other mish mash things. Hopefully you'll leave encouraged, pensive, or smiling at the simple things of life. Thank you for stopping by and hope you'll find some interesting posts to read!

11 replies ›

    1. I am not a huge fan of easy indoor plants that can withstand some degree of neglect and still thrive. I have a tendency to overwater and underwater; can’t find the happy medium. Thanks for stopping by Anita!

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      2. A new tip from a blackthumb friend: check the soil with your finger before you water. Another thing I’ve been doing is watering the plant near the soil. In the past I was drizzling the water overhead. It’s an experiment this time…must see how it goes.
        Take care and have a great Memorial day and happy start to June!

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    1. Thanks Cee! We’re really hoping to have a successful propagation with these stem cuttings.
      I’m all about easy house plants and found out ZZ and Snake plants are good too. Have a great evening!

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  3. [Esther – I apologize for my tardiness in commenting. I am many days behind in Reader thanks to a major computer malfunction at work, which I think I wrote you about last week or shortly after it happened. On May 20th, our Outlook crashed and we lost our ability to e-mail for about five days, plus lost all our data; we went from Outlook and Word 2010 to Office 365. I’ve spent a great deal of my own time troubleshooting with the I.T. guy and spent most of the long holiday weekend doing yardwork. So now I will try my best to get through a massive amount of blog posts.]I am not a green thumb with indoor plants – but I’d give you an A+ for this one Esther.

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    1. OMG, those computer troubles sound awful! Yikes, losing data, crashed system, no emails. Glad you were able to navigate those challenges. I hope the transition is going smoother for you this week. High five!!
      Thank you for your excellent grade on my gardening! This year I’m really trying to learn about them and follow instructions. I see so many of my blind spots and I scratch my head wondering how I could’ve missed it in the past. I don’t have high expectations; just want to keep them alive.
      Hope your yardwork went well and you got no aches and pains from it. Hugs…
      And you are too thoughtful…apology not necessary! I know you are busy…so read, comment or not comment depending how you feel, or whatever you want. I’m all good with it.

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      1. It was a struggle to get over here and I told the computer guy that the time spent troubleshooting with him in my off-work hours was stressing me out as I reserve my evenings for blogging. As a person who lives by myself, I can set my own schedule in off-work hours, so I generally catch up on some social media sites I follow and a few e-mails and head here. He said his other clients demanded his attention during the day, so he did our work on the weekends and after 5:00. I didn’t like that excuse and like you said, and like I thought, ours was an emergency too. Not having e-mail was not good. I am trying to catch up but it might be a while. Thank you for your thoughts and hugs – they are always appreciated Esther!

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      2. I would have been ticked off with the computer guy’s excuse. Even if it were true, please say something to make me feel better and that my technical issues require prompt attention. P
        People say weird things in customer service. I hope you were able to blow off steam and stress over the weekend.

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      3. I was and am and the computer guy is not done with things and he’s not going to do them on my time – I have told my boss. I told my boss when I started my blog, was excited about it and my boss said “do you get paid for it?” That’s your response? “No” I said “I don’t get paid for it.” And, I never mentioned it again. But all these hours dealing with the computer guy and things are still messed up – so I took a stand. People in customer service and any service industry don’t care anymore. On December 31, 2019 I called for service on my 2012 high-efficiency service. It has been a lemon since day 1. Tech (new guy at this company) said “I look young, but have many years in the field.” (Why do you feel the need to say this? I didn’t ask for is credentials.) Anyway, he said it needed a new circuit board (the furnace brain) and an inducer motor which coast $1,500.00 + but it was under warranty so I paid nothing. So last Memorial Day 2020, the A/C didn’t work – sickening hot day. Called for service, 22nd on the list and tech arrives (different tech … it’s a large company) and I said “the tech put new parts in on 12/31/19 – maybe he forgot to attach something.” That’s what happened. So fast forward to three weeks ago – furnace doing the same thing – not running a full cycle. Call for service. Get an older tech who has been here many times. He opens the furnace and there is water inside. Both of the parts that were replaced were ruined, plus a pressure sensor and it had to be replaced. Expensive, but still under warranty – apparently the tech who said he’d been around for a long time and just looked young, rewired that wrong too. Great … he was not in a hurry to go out for New Year’s Eve … I was his first call of the morning and he was gone by 1:00 p.m. and they were working a full day.

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