Neon Pothos plants are a great way to add some life and interesting color to your home or office. But now that you’ve bought one, you may be wondering “how do I take care of a neon pothos?”
Luckily, Neon Pothos care is very easy once you know a few basics.
If you follow the easy care tips below, you can keep your Neon Pothos healthy and looking great year after year!
This article may contain affiliate links to products I know and love. You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.
PS: Still looking to buy a Neon Pothos? You can purchase a beautiful Neon Pothos here.
How to care for Neon Pothos plants
Here’s a quick summary of how to care for Neon Pothos (Epipremnum aureum ‘Neon’):
- Light: Provide bright to moderate indirect sunlight. Try placing your Neon Pothos near an east- or west-facing window. However, be sure to avoid prolonged direct sunlight (a couple hours of direct light shouldn’t hurt).
- Soil: I recommend making a soil mix of 2 parts all-purpose potting soil and 1 part perlite for good drainage and airflow around the roots.
- Water: Water your Neon Pothos once the soil has almost completely dried from the previous watering or when your moisture meter reads 2 or 3.
- Temperature: Ideal temperatures are 65 to 80°F or 18 to 27°C.
- Fertilizer: Fertilize once a month with dyna-gro fertilizer. Only fertilize while your pothos is actively growing.
- Propagation: You can propagate cuttings in either soil or water.
- Toxicity: All pothos can be toxic to cats and dogs if chewed/ingested.
Now, let’s dive deeper into all the details of Neon Pothos plant care!
IN THIS POST
How much light does a Neon Pothos need?
Neon Pothos can grow in a variety of lighting conditions. The light you choose really depends on what you’d like to achieve with your Neon Pothos plant.
If you’d like to maximize growth and health for your Neon Pothos, then bright indirect light is the best lighting condition for your plant. You can get these lighting conditions by placing your Neon Pothos directly in front of an east-facing window or within a couple feet of a west-facing window.
It’s no problem if your plant receives a couple hours of direct sunlight. Just make sure the sun isn’t shining directly on your pothos for all/most of the day. The natural environment for pothos is under a rainforest canopy, so the perfect conditions are dappled sunlight. Thus, too much direct sunlight can burn the leaves.
Even though we can’t get dappled sunlight in our homes, the best environment we can provide is light from a window.
And you’ll find that Neon Pothos can grow quite fast under these lighting conditions!
The images above show how much my Neon Pothos grew after 8 months! The first picture was taken right after I bought it and the stems are just below the top of the pot. The second picture is 8 months later and the stems have grown a variety of lengths from 2 to 4 feet!
For reference, I keep this plant near a west-facing window.
If you’re not worried about maximizing growth of your Neon Pothos or don’t have a place with bright indirect light, this plant can also do well in moderate indirect light. This would be a bit further from a window or in front of a north-facing window.
Your Neon Pothos plant might grow a little slower and it’s stems might be a bit more leggy, but it will still be healthy in moderate light conditions.
Note that your plant will need less water in these lighting conditions. This is because photosynthesis will be slower with less light, which requires less water.
So, it can be easy to overwater a pothos that is receiving little light. However, if you follow my watering advice later in this article and only water once the soil is dry, your plant will stay healthy.
Also, even though the growth may be a bit slower in moderate light, because Neon Pothos is a fast grower in general, the growth under these conditions will still be noticeable.
Finally, the sunniest window in your house will be a south-facing window. These windows usually get direct sunlight for most of the day, which isn’t ideal for pothos plants.
However, if this is the only place you have for it, you can put a shear curtain over the window to filter the light and that will work well for your Neon Pothos. Also, you can place the plant further away from a south-facing window or maybe in a corner near the window where the plant won’t receive much direct sunlight.
It can be fun to experiment with different locations and light to see how your plant does!
What kind of soil does Neon Pothos need?
Neon Pothos are not too picky about the type of soil they’re planted in as long as it is well draining.
So, an all-purpose house plant mix will work well, but I like to add perlite to the mix for better drainage and airflow in the soil and around the roots.
I mix 2 parts house plant soil with 1 part perlite for my pothos plants, and they have thrived (shown below).
I also prefer to use plastic pots with a lot of drainage holes. This allows excess water to easily drain and lets air in from the bottom of the pot. And you can always place the plastic pot in a pretty cover pot for display.
Roots usually rot for a few different reasons: 1) the plant doesn’t receive enough light, 2) the soil/pot is retaining too much excess water, 3) the soil is so compacted that the roots don’t receive enough water and airflow.
So, the advice I give above about using a well-draining soil mix and a pot with plenty of drainage holes helps avoid these problems.
Also, if the soil becomes compacted over time, you can use a stick or chopstick to help loosen the soil. This allows water and air to flow through the soil more evenly.
It’s time to repot your Neon Pothos once the roots of the plant fill it’s current container, which I’ll talk about next.
How to repot Neon Pothos
You will probably need to repot your Neon Pothos every 12 to 18 months depending on the conditions.
You’ll know it’s time to repot when the roots of your plant fill it’s current container. You can check by either looking at the bottom of the pot to see if any roots are trying to grow through the drainage holes, or you can gently remove the plant from it’s pot to see if it is root bound.
Protip: If you live in an area with very cold or harsh winters, avoid repotting your pothos in the winter. These plants are usually dormant in winter and prefer to be undisturbed. When needed, repot in the spring or summer for the best results.
If you’d like your Neon Pothos to grow larger, you can repot it in a pot that is around 2 inches larger than it’s previous pot.
If you’d like your pothos to stay relatively the same size (it will still grow long stems, just the overall size around will stay roughly the same), then you can use the same pot and just refresh the soil.
To repot your Neon Pothos, first remove it from it’s current pot and gently shake off or massage off as much of the current soil as you can. It’s ok if some old soil is still attached to the roots, it doesn’t have to be perfectly clean. Just whatever soil will easily fall off. And while you’re at it, try to loosen the roots just a bit if they are tightly pot bound.
Next, add a little bit of new soil to the bottom of your pot. You can use the same soil mix I discussed in the previous section (2 parts potting soil mixed with 1 part perlite).
Now, place your pothos in the center of the pot, and fill in more fresh soil all around it until the roots are completely covered and the pot is mostly full. I usually leave an inch of space at the top to make it easier when watering.
Finally, water your Neon Pothos thoroughly and allow the excess water to drain from the drainage holes before putting it back in it’s normal location.
If you’d like some pot recommendations, I really like using these clear plastic 6 inch nursery pots. They’re great because they have plenty of drainage holes, and I like that they’re clear so I can see how the roots are doing and keep a better eye on the soil moisture.
And to make the nursery pot look more decorative, I’ll place it into this Potey 6.1 inch cover pot (comes in different colors) because they fit perfectly together (shown below).
How often should I water my Neon Pothos?
The water requirements for your Neon Pothos will vary depending on the amount of light and humidity it receives, the type of pot it’s planted in, the season and temperature, etc.
The best time to water your Neon Pothos is once the soil has mostly dried out from it’s last watering.
And because of the reasons stated above, the amount of time it takes for the soil to dry out will vary.
So, it’s best to simply check the soil moisture every so often until you see it is mostly dry, then water your plant.
You can determine if the soil is dry a few different ways:
- Stick your finger into the soil a couple inches deep. If the soil is dry, it’s time to water.
- Feel the weight of your plant after you water compared to when the soil is dry. Your Neon Pothos will feel much lighter when the soil is dry, so you can use the weight to determine if it’s time to water.
- Stick a moisture meter into the soil at different locations and depths to determine how wet or dry the soil is. If the meter reads “dry” throughout the soil, then you should water your Neon Pothos.
- If the soil is too dry for too long, the leaves on your Neon Pothos plant will begin to droop and look sad. If that happens, you should definitely water your plant.
When you water your Neon Pothos, fully saturate the soil and let the extra water drain out of the drainage holes. These plants don’t like to sit in soggy soil, so good drainage is important to prevent root rot.
Then, let the soil dry out completely before you water again.
If you pay attention to the soil moisture like I’ve described above and let your Neon Pothos tell you when it needs water, you won’t run into any issues with over- or underwatering!
What temperatures can Neon Pothos tolerate?
Neon Pothos care is pretty easy, similar to other types of pothos. These plants are not too fussy about temperature or humidity.
Neon Pothos can certainly tolerate 50 to 90°F or 10 to 32°C, but the ideal temperature ranges are around 60 to 80°F or 18 to 27°C. So, typical indoor temperatures work well for this plant.
I’ve also found that different humidity levels don’t really affect my Neon Pothos much.
The humidity levels in my house vary a lot during the year anywhere from 20% to 60% humidity. And while I’m sure Neon Pothos appreciates high humidity, low humidity doesn’t seem to have a huge affect on it in my experience.
How do you fertilize Neon Pothos?
I’ve found that fertilizing my Neon Pothos with dyna-grow 9-3-6 fertilizer during the growing season gives great results.
I mix 1/4 tsp of the fertilizer in a gallon of water and then water my plants. I do this every time I water during the growing season (which is typically spring to fall for most people, but it can be all year if you live in a tropical climate or an area with very mild winters).
In the winter, if you notice the growth of your Neon Pothos slows or stops, then stop fertilizing because your plant has gone dormant (which is normal).
When the weather warms in the spring, your plant will come out of dormancy and start growing again. Then, you can restart your fertilization routine.
If you are located in an area that stays relatively warm in the winter and you keep your Neon Pothos in a location with bright, indirect light, then it might not go dormant in the winter.
I live in southern California, and my indoor plants generally don’t go dormant in winter as long as I keep them close to a window and keep my house temperature above 70°F.
Because my plants continue to grow in winter and don’t go dormant, I continue to fertilize them.
So as you can see, fertilization routines really depend on where you live and the lighting and temperature conditions your plants receive.
To summarize, the easiest way to go about fertilizing is if you see new growth, continue your fertilization routine.
If growth slows or stops, stop fertilizing until you see your plant begin to grow again.
How do you propagate Neon Pothos?
Neon pothos can be either water propagated or soil propagated. The propagation procedure is actually the same for all pothos plants and is described below:
- Cut your neon pothos leaf stem about an inch above and below the node (shown below). You’ll need at least one node for propagation (a leaf without a node can’t produce new growth). I used these trimming shears.
If you want a really full looking plant, I recommend doubling the amount of node cuttings based on the size pot you plan to use. For example, if you’ll use a 4 inch pot, cut at least 8 leaf nodes. For a 6 inch pot, cut at least 12 leaf nodes. In my case, I planted 16 leaf nodes in a 6 inch pot. You can also follow this same process for a cutting that has multiple leaf nodes. - For water propagation, stick the cut ends into a small container with water (shown below). Make sure the water level is high enough so the nodes are covered by the water. I used a glass jar, but if you’d like a stylish display for your cuttings, I really like this propagation station.
Keep the cuttings in bright indirect light (no direct sunlight). You should see new root growth from the nodes within a month, and they will be ready to plant in soil once the roots are about an inch or two long (as shown below). Use the same soil mix we discussed previously in the soil section. 
- After you plant the rooted node cuttings in soil (shown below), keep the soil moist for the first month while your plant adjusts to the transition from water to soil. Then, you can treat it like any other pothos and let the soil dry out between waterings. You’ll eventually see new leaves and stems sprouting from each leaf node that you planted.
- For soil propagation, you can follow step 1 above, but then skip step 2 and instead plant the cuttings directly in soil. Keep the soil moist until the cuttings develop roots. In my experience, I’ve had better success with most or all nodes surviving when using the water propagation process first. Soil propagation does work as well, but I almost always have some nodes that die.
As for your parent plant, don’t worry about the stems you trimmed from it. New growth will come from the node above where you cut your parent plant (shown below), so it’s cut stems will not be affected and will continue to put out new growth.
Also, trimming your parent plant will encourage new growth throughout the plant and helps it become more full as long as its care needs are being met.
Is Neon Pothos toxic to cats or dogs?
Yes. All pothos plants are poisonous to cats and dogs according to the ASPCA.
Pothos contain insoluble calcium oxalates that can cause mouth irritation and burning, excessive drooling, vomiting, and difficulty swallowing if chewed or ingested.
So let’s keep both our pet and plant babies happy and healthy by keeping the two out of reach of each other.
Where to buy Neon Pothos
If you can’t find a Neon Pothos plant at your local nursery, you can purchase one online.
I’d recommend you buy a neon pothos here from California Tropicals.
