Just realized I was overwatering my pothos for 3 years

I've kept a pothos on my kitchen windowsill in Austin since 2019. The leaves always looked a bit yellow at the edges, and I figured it needed more water, so I gave it a good soak every Sunday. Then last month my neighbor, who grows orchids professionally, popped in and asked why my soil was swampy. She said pothos roots can rot if they stay wet that long. She had me pull the plant, and sure enough, half the roots were brown and mushy. I trimmed them, repotted in a mix with more perlite, and now I only water when the top inch of dirt feels dry, maybe every 10 days. The new growth is finally a deep green. Has anyone else been nursing a plant the wrong way for years without realizing it?

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johnson.adam11d ago

Three years. Man, I can't get over that. I killed a spider plant in like eight months doing the exact same thing, dumping water on it every Friday without checking the soil first. By the time I pulled it out, the roots were basically sludge, it smelled kinda like a bog. I felt so dumb because it's not like the plant was subtle about it, the leaves were literally screaming for help with those brown tips. I switched to a moisture meter after that and it saved my remaining plants, best twelve bucks I ever spent. It's wild how we convince ourselves we're helping when we're literally drowning the poor things.