A slow Sunday

Repotting a pothos, the slow way

When the roots have circled the inside of the pot more than once, it’s time to size up. Five minutes of fuss, a bag of mix, and you’re back to the rest of your Sunday.

Care Notes5 min read

A root-bound pothos in its 4-inch nursery pot, vines spilling onto the table

How to know it’s time

Pothos grow fast. Most live versions of this plant outgrow their original nursery pot inside a year — sometimes inside a few months if they’re happy. The signs are quiet but consistent:

Water rushes straight through the pot instead of soaking in.
The plant tips over from being top-heavy, vines and all.
Roots are circling the inside of the pot or escaping the drainage hole.

The pothos rootball pulled from its nursery pot, showing tightly circled roots

A hand cradling the pothos rootball, vines trailing onto the table

A pothos that’s ready for a bigger pot will look like this — roots wound tight, very little visible soil between them.

Lay it out

What you’ll need

Your pothos — ideally a day or two after a watering, so the soil is slightly damp but not soaked.
A pot one size up. We sized our 4″ plant up to a 5″ ceramic; for a 6″ plant, go to 8″.
14–16 oz of Aroid Mix — chunky, airy, and built for vining aroids.
A flat surface you don’t mind getting messy — or a tray, or last week’s newspaper.

Aroid Mix bag, a 5-inch matte ceramic pot, and the 4-inch pothos laid out on a dark surface

The ritual

Five steps, slow hands

Pulling the root-bound pothos out of its nursery pot

Step 1

Free the rootball

Tip the nursery pot upside down, support the plant with one hand, and squeeze the sides of the pot. The rootball should slide out in one piece.

If it doesn’t budge, run a butter knife around the inside edge of the pot first — the soil has shrunk away from the walls slightly and a little leverage usually does it. Don’t yank from the stem.

Pothos rootball held in a hand, roots wound tight

Step 2

Look at the roots

Pothos are forgiving. You don’t need to tease the roots apart aggressively the way some guides recommend — a light loosening with your fingertips is plenty.

If you spot any mushy, dark, or hollow roots, snip them off. Healthy pothos roots are pale tan, firm, and faintly sweet smelling. (Yes, smelling roots is a normal thing to do.)

Pouring Aroid Mix from the bag into a 6-inch nursery pot

Step 3

Pre-fill the new pot

Pour a base layer of Aroid Mix into the new pot. Aim for enough that, when you set the rootball on top, the crown of the plant sits about half an inch below the new pot’s rim.

Eyeball it: set the plant in, lift it back out, adjust. Better to under-fill and add than to start over.

Topping up the new ceramic pot with Aroid Mix around the placed pothos

Step 4

Set the plant and top up

Center the rootball, then pour soil around the edges, working it down the sides with your fingers as you go. A few light taps on the side of the pot will settle the mix.

Resist the urge to compact it. Chunky aroid mix is meant to be airy — that’s how the roots breathe and how water moves through. If you press it down, you undo half of what the mix is for.

The pothos finished in its new ceramic pot, ready to be watered in

Step 5

Water in, then walk away

Water slowly until you see drainage from the bottom. The first watering after a repot does two jobs at once: it lets the new soil settle around the roots, and it tells you whether you left enough clearance at the top of the pot for water to pool briefly before it drains.

Then leave it alone for about a week. Don’t fertilize for two to four weeks — your fresh mix already has compost, worm castings, and biochar quietly doing the work.

The pothos a few weeks later, settled into its new pot with fresh growth — A few weeks on. New leaves at the growing tips — that’s how you know you got it right.

Ready for your Sunday

Build a repot kit for your pothos

Pick your pot size and we’ll send the right amount of Aroid Mix — nursery pot and compostable mess mat optional. Everything in this guide, in one box.

Build my repot kit