Why is my pothos getting yellow leaves?

Overwatering is the most common cause, particularly in low light or a pot without drainage. Underwatering, too much direct sun, recent repotting, cold, pests and old leaves dying off naturally can also turn pothos leaves yellow.

Should I remove yellow leaves from pothos?

Yes. Yellow leaves won't turn green again. Pinch or snip them off at the stem. Removing them keeps the plant tidy and lets you see whether new yellowing appears.

Can underwatering cause yellow leaves on pothos?

Yes. A pothos that dries out completely will droop, then older leaves turn yellow and crispy. The difference from overwatering is that the soil is bone dry and the leaves feel limp and dry, not soft and mushy.

Why are my pothos cuttings in water turning yellow?

Cuttings in water often lose a leaf as they put energy into roots. Persistent yellowing usually means stale water, too little light, a leaf sitting in the water, or a cutting kept in water for a long time without any nutrients.

Do yellow pothos leaves mean too much sun?

They can. Strong direct sun bleaches pothos leaves to pale yellow and can scorch brown patches. Leaves facing the window are affected first. Move the plant back or filter the light.

Pothos Yellow Leaves: What They Mean and How to Fix

Pothos yellow leaves most often mean the plant is getting too much water. Check the soil: if it's still damp a week after watering, and several leaves are yellowing at once, overwatering is the likely cause. If the soil is bone dry and the leaves are limp and crispy, it's underwatering. A single old leaf yellowing now and then is just the plant shedding old growth. The table below helps you narrow it down in a minute.

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is one of the toughest houseplants, so yellow leaves are a useful early signal rather than a disaster. Most plants recover fully once the cause is fixed.

Pothos yellow leaves: quick diagnosis

What you see	Likely cause	What to do
Several leaves yellowing, soil wet, stems soft at base	Overwatering / root rot	Let it dry, check roots
Yellow leaves with brown spots, soil damp	Overwatering, possible leaf spot	Remove leaves, water less
Limp leaves, yellow then crispy, soil dry	Underwatering	Water thoroughly, check more often
Leaves yellowing soon after watering	Soil not draining, or roots damaged	Check drainage and roots
Pale yellow, bleached leaves near the window	Too much direct sun	Move back or filter light
Yellow after repotting	Transplant stress or too-big pot	Wait, water carefully
Yellow, falling off, long bare vines	Low light plus overwatering	More light, less water
Yellow with brown, crispy tips	Dry air, fertilizer salts, irregular watering	Flush soil, water evenly
Yellow leaves on cuttings in water	Stale water, low light	Fresh water, brighter spot
One old leaf at a time near the base	Normal ageing	Snip it off

Overwatering: the most common cause

Pothos likes to dry partly between waterings. When soil stays wet, roots rot, and the plant can't move water to the leaves. The leaves turn yellow, often several together, sometimes with dark brown patches. Pothos yellow leaves after watering are a classic sign that the soil isn't drying out between drinks.

Fix:

Stop watering and let the top 2–5 cm of soil dry.
Make sure the pot drains and isn't sitting in a full saucer or a decorative pot with water at the bottom.
If the plant keeps declining, take it out of the pot. Trim any black, mushy roots and repot into fresh mix with extra perlite.
If most roots have rotted, take healthy stem cuttings and root them in water. It's a reliable way to save the plant. See propagating pothos in water.

To avoid it happening again, check the soil before you water. Our watering schedule builder suggests checking a pothos in medium light in a 15 cm plastic pot about every 7 days in the growing season, and every 10 days in low light. Those are reminders to check, not to water.

Underwatering

Pothos yellow leaves from underwatering look different: the whole plant droops, leaves feel thin and limp, and older leaves turn yellow and then crispy brown. The soil is dry throughout and may have pulled away from the pot.

Fix: water slowly until it drains, or stand the pot in water for 20–30 minutes to rewet a dry root ball. It should perk up within a day. Then check the soil more often, especially in summer or if it's in terracotta.

Too much sun

Pothos tolerates some gentle morning sun, but hot midday or afternoon sun through glass bleaches leaves to a pale, washed-out yellow, sometimes with brown scorched patches. Leaves facing the window are affected first.

Fix: move it a metre or two back from a south- or west-facing window, or use a sheer curtain. Our light meter converter helps: readings over about 5,000 foot-candles count as direct sun, which is too much for pothos for long periods.

Not enough light

Low light alone usually causes slow growth, small leaves and lost variegation rather than yellowing. But low light combined with normal watering means the soil stays wet longer, which leads to overwatering. If your pothos is in a dim spot, water less often and consider moving it closer to a window.

After repotting

Pothos yellow leaves after repotting are common in the first few weeks. Root disturbance is one cause. A pot that's much bigger than the old one is another, because the extra soil stays wet. Go up only 2–3 cm for small pothos. From a 12 cm pot, our repotting pot size calculator suggests 14.5 cm. See our full guide to how to repot a houseplant.

Yellow leaves falling off and bare vines

If yellow leaves are dropping from older parts of the vines and the stems are bare, the plant is usually short of light and has been watered too often. Pothos prioritises the growing tips.

Fix: move to brighter, indirect light, water less, and prune long bare vines back. Root the cut tips in water and plant them back into the same pot to make it fuller.

Brown tips and edges with yellowing

Brown, crispy tips on yellowing leaves usually come from uneven watering (very dry, then very wet), fertilizer salts building up in the soil, or very dry air. Flush the soil every few months by running water through it for a minute. Feed at half strength, not more. Our fertilizer dilution calculator works out the dose: a 5 ml per litre label at half strength in 1 litre is 2.5 ml.

Brown spots on yellow leaves

Soft brown or black spots, sometimes with a yellow ring around them, point to too much water and possibly a leaf spot infection. Remove the affected leaves, avoid splashing water on foliage, and let the soil dry more between waterings.

Pothos cuttings turning yellow in water

Propagated pothos turning yellow in water is common. The usual causes:

The water is stale. Change it every week.
A leaf is submerged. Keep leaves above water. Only the nodes should be under.
Too little light. Cuttings need bright, indirect light to root well.
No nutrients. After a couple of months in water, add a very dilute liquid fertilizer once a month.
It's sacrificing a leaf. A cutting may drop one leaf while it builds roots. That's normal.

Pests

Spider mites and thrips cause speckled or streaky yellowing. Mealybugs leave white fluff in leaf joints. Isolate the plant, wipe the leaves, and treat with a product labelled for houseplant pests.

Should you cut yellow leaves off a pothos?

Yes. Yellow leaves won't recover. Snip them off where the leaf stalk meets the vine. If a whole vine has gone bare, cut it back to just above a healthy leaf. New growth often appears from the node below the cut.

How to stop pothos leaves turning yellow

Do	Don't
Check the top 2–5 cm of soil before watering	Water on a fixed day
Use a pot with a drainage hole	Leave it standing in water
Use a free-draining mix with perlite	Use heavy garden soil
Medium, indirect light	Hot direct afternoon sun
Half-strength feed in spring and summer	Feed in winter or double the dose
Repot 2–3 cm bigger	Jump to a much bigger pot

The soil mix calculator scales a general or chunky aroid mix to your pot size, and our houseplant soil mix guide explains the recipes.

For full care, read the pothos care guide. Monstera owners will recognise many of these causes in monstera yellow leaves.

Sources and further reading

Royal Horticultural Society, on houseplant watering and root problems.
University of Minnesota Extension, on houseplant care and common pests.
ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants list, which lists golden pothos as toxic to cats and dogs.