Okay, so I was messing around with my pothos plants the other day, and it got me thinking – do these things actually like acidic soil? I mean, I’ve heard all sorts of stuff online, and it’s hard to know what’s legit and what’s just someone’s opinion, you know? So, I decided to do a little experiment of my own.
First off, I grabbed a few of my pothos cuttings that I’d been propagating in water. They had some decent roots going, so I figured they were ready for some soil action. I also got myself a soil pH testing kit – nothing fancy, just one of those basic ones you can find at any garden store. Then I went and got different types of potting mixes. Some bags I already have and some I bought from the store, including those marked as “acidic”.
So, my plan was simple: I’d plant some cuttings in regular potting mix, some in the acidic mix, and then some in a mix I made by adding a bit of coffee grounds to regular soil (because, hey, coffee is acidic, right?). I used small, similar-sized pots for all the cuttings to keep things as fair as possible. Oh, and before I planted anything, I used that pH kit to test the soils. The regular mix was around neutral, the acidic one was, well, acidic, and my coffee mix was just slightly acidic.
I planted the cuttings and gave them a good watering, making sure not to drown them. Then, I put them all in the same spot on my windowsill where they’d get the same amount of light. My usual routine is to water them when the top inch of soil feels dry, and that’s what I did with these guys, too. And I am not a pro, but I know I should feed them once in a while.
Observation Time
Over the next few weeks, I kept a close eye on my little pothos babies. I took notes, snapped some pics – the whole shebang. I wanted to see if there were any noticeable differences in how they were growing.
- Regular Potting Mix: These cuttings did pretty well, just like I expected. They started putting out new leaves, and their roots were growing nicely. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
- Acidic Potting Mix: Now, these guys surprised me a bit. I thought they might do better, but they actually seemed kind of meh. Some yellowing, a bit smaller and no explosive growth or anything.
- Coffee Ground Mix: These were somewhere in between. They grew okay, but not as vigorously as the ones in the regular mix. I did notice the soil in these pots stayed moist for longer, which I guess is because of the coffee grounds retaining water.
After a month or so, I decided to check the roots. I gently pulled out a cutting from each pot to see what was going on underneath. The ones in the regular mix had strong, healthy-looking roots. The acidic mix ones had thinner roots, and some even looked a bit sad. The coffee ground mix had decent roots, but they were a bit finer than the regular mix ones. And I retested the pH level of the soil after a month to see if any have changed.
So, what did I learn from all this? Well, it seems like pothos are pretty chill about soil pH. They definitely don’t need acidic soil to be happy. In fact, my little experiment suggests they might even prefer regular, neutral soil. The acidic mix didn’t do them any favors, and while the coffee ground mix was okay, it wasn’t anything special.
Of course, this was just a small-scale thing I did at home. I’m no scientist, and there are tons of other factors that could affect how pothos grow. But based on my experience, I’d say just stick to regular potting mix for your pothos. They’ll probably thank you for it. Don’t believe the hype about them needing acidic soil – at least, that’s what my plants are telling me!
