Why do pothos have brown spots? The primary causes of browning pothos leaves include sunburn, overwatering, deficiency in nutrients, and problems with the roots.
This article is for you if the tips of your pothos leaves are becoming brown or if you have brown spots on your pothos and would want to know the reasons and solutions.
I have assisted other plant owners in getting brown patches on their indoor plants to go away.
Prevention and treatment are very simple. The things you overlook are the treatment and causes I use; you don’t have to spend money.
For more information on how to care for a pothos plant, click here.
Why Is My Pothos Turning Brown?
Pothos leaves will turn brown when growing conditions are not suitable. The leaves of pothos can become brown, black, yellow, brown, or appear burnt.
Although pothos is a resistant plant, each of these symptoms can be due to one or more causes combined, such as an inadequate watering regime, poor environmental conditions, or errors in fertilization.
In other cases, however, Pothos has leaves with brown spots due to external factors, such as fungal diseases or the presence of parasites.
It’s critical to identify the issue before deciding how to proceed since each of these reasons requires a distinct approach or solution.
First, let’s focus on the most significant ones that we can influence the most.
11 Reasons Why Pothos Have Brown Spots Black Spots
Let us look at the reason why pothos have brown spots: the brow leaf is the tip, burnt leaves.
Most times, the accumulation of this problem may lead to why pothos have brown spots or why pothos leaves turn brown at the tips.
Overwatering and direct sunlight would be the primary causes of pothos having brown leaves.
I always advise you to maintain proper care of your pothos because those things you overlook may result in pothos having burnt leaves.
Let’s look at the list I provided.
Inadequate Watering
Providing little water to pothos may cause them to develop brown leaves, either at the tip or as spots.
When We Don’t Water The Pothos Enough, The First Thing That Happens Is That The Leaves Become limp and curve downward.
For more information on why the leaves become limp and curve downward, including the treatment, click here. [Link]
Dehydration is the cause; the plant loses its turgidity as a result of the cells’ cytoplasms being emptied of their water content.
Fortunately, after watering, this usually goes away in a few hours.
If we delay watering once or twice, the plant recovers without problems. Still, if this happens too often (or if the delay is too long), the pothos leaves begin to dry out and turn brown.
Beginning at the margins and working your way within the sheet.
Furthermore, when the soil is dry, part of the Pothos roots risk dying, reducing their ability to absorb water.
Which aggravates dehydration and slows down the growth of the pothos and its recovery.
For more information on what is slowing down the growth of pothos and treatments, click here.
Solution
If The Soil Is Dry, Water The Pothos Thoroughly And Review Your Watering Regime.
Watering The Plant Is Necessary When The Soil Is Dry But Before The Leaves Start To Droop.
The trick is finding the right dry/wet balance so that the roots can absorb both the water and oxygen they need.
Too Much Water
Excess water can also cause pothos to have yellow and brown leaves due to root asphyxiation or rot.
Both Of These Problems Arise When The soil stays wet for too long.
The absence of oxygen surrounding the root system causes the Pothos leaves to become yellow in the first scenario (asphyxiation).
The roots are unable to carry out their metabolic functions and absorb nutrients.
At an advanced stage, the pothos leaves gradually turn brown and fall.
Root rot (second case) also causes yellow and brown leaves, and as it progresses, it causes the plant to droop and die.
Long-term water stagnation can lead to the rotting of the roots due to a fungal infection.
The pothos loses its ability to absorb nutrients and water when the roots die.
In fact, the signs on the hair seem to be dehydration and nutritional inadequacies.
What To Do
When the soil is totally dry, stop watering the plant and remove it from the container for a little while so you can look at the roots.
I encourage you to check this link to find out how to water a pothos plant.
If they still appear healthy, light in color, and still nice and puffy, you can start watering again. Avoid overdoing it in the future.
It’s probably root rot if they’re crushed, dark brown, and smell musty.
In this instance, you should repot the pothos in a pot that is just a little bit bigger than the root system, trim off any dead roots, and rinse the dirt off the roots.
For more information on how to repot a pothos plant, click here.
The substrate should then be left dry for a few days so that the lesions can heal.
Sunlight Is Too Intense.
By letting your pothos receive direct sunlight, we eventually make your pothos have brown spots.
When the pothos remains exposed to full sun, brown spots may appear on the most affected leaves, which are called burns or scalds.
Depending on the intensity of the light, the duration of exposure, and how the leaf is affected, the burns can have different shapes.
In reality, Pothos tolerates direct sun well for a good part of the year, and this problem usually arises in three circumstances:
- When it remains exposed to the hot and intense sun typical of summer afternoons.
- The sun hits the window glass at an angle that creates a “magnifying glass effect” that concentrates the radiation on a small area of the leaf, which ends up burning.
- The pothos is moved from a shady spot directly into direct sunlight without giving him a chance to settle in.
What To Do
Move the pothos to a more sheltered location. Often, it is enough to move it a little away from the window or change its angle.
Alternatively, you can shield the light with an opaque curtain during the warmer months of the year.
Burnt leaves do not recover, so you can remove them before they become a vehicle for fungal or bacterial infections unless The Damage Is Very Slight.
Low Temperatures
Temperatures below 10–13 °C or drafts of freezing air Can Cause Cold Damage To Pothos, Turning Brown Or Black Spots (Necrosis) On The Leaves And Yellowing In The Surrounding Areas.
The more intense or prolonged the cold, the more evident and extensive the damage will be.
For example, suppose we forget the pothos outside the house during autumn. In that case, it may happen that necrosis appears after the first night in which temperatures drop below 13°C.
Just as during the winter, it can happen in a few hours when you bring it home after purchase.
Cold damage becomes apparent a few days after the actual stress. It is not uncommon for plants to be purchased in perfect shape and “degenerate” in a few days once they are brought home.
Sometimes, it’s our fault; other times, it’s the shopkeeper’s or the transporter’s.
What To Do
First, try to prevent the pothos from getting cold, then:
- Make sure it is not exposed to temperatures below 13–15 °C.
- Avoid strong temperature changes, such as opening windows wide during the winter or moving the plant from a warm place to a cool one.
- Repair the plant during transportation home. I am also trying to spend as little time as possible.
If the Pothos leaves are already stained, wait a few days to see if the problem worsens.
As mentioned before, cold damage takes a few days to manifest itself fully.
After a few days of the first symptoms, remove all brown leaves and continue to care for the pothos as normal.
Season permitting, it will start growing again in a short time, making new leaves.
If the portion near the vase remains a little empty, you can always reinvigorate it with new cuttings or by wrapping part of the shoots inside it.
For more information on how to take pothos cutting, click here.
Humidity Is Too Low.
Low humidity will cause pothos to turn brown. However, Pothos does not have particular requirements from the point of view of environmental humidity.
If the humidity is very low for a prolonged period, it can cause the pothos leaves to have brown and dry tips.
The cause is peripheral dehydration, due to the fact that the plant is unable to transport enough water to keep up with that which is dispersed by the leaves.
And therefore, the most distant parts (the edges and tips of the leaves) dry out.
This usually happens when the relative humidity is below 30% or when temperatures are concomitantly very high.
There are additional reasons why the tips of the leaves might get dry, such as fertilizer buildup or limescale buildup in the soil (which I shall discuss shortly).
To solve the problem, make sure you don’t fall into one of these cases.
What To Do
Try to increase the humidity in the room to help the leaves hydrate and keep the stomata open.
To do this, you can:
- Spray water on the leaves in the morning or early afternoon.
- Move the pothos to a more humid room, such as the bathroom or kitchen.
- Hang clothes in the room where you keep the plant.
- Bring several plants closer together to create a humid microclimate between the leaves.
- Use a sufficiently powerful plant humidifier.
- During the winter, use ceramic radiator trays.
Limescale Accumulation
When you water with tap water, there’s a chance that the limescale can eventually settle in the soil and build an accumulation that will dry up the tips of the Pothos leaves.
The buildup lowers the plant’s capacity to absorb certain components, alters the pH of the soil (making it alkaline), and increases the salinity of the soil.
Watering the plant sparingly without allowing the extra water to escape via the pot’s drainage holes exacerbates this issue.
The limestone, not being used by the plant, slowly increases without ever being properly rinsed out by water.
Until a white deposit is created in the soil and on the surface, easily visible when the substrate is dry.
What To Do
Rinse the soil with two or three times as much water as the pot can hold so that the excess is drained and comes out of the holes in the pot.
For example, if the pothos is in a 14-cm-diameter pot, use at least 3–4 liters of water. For a 17-cm pot, no less than 5–6 liters.
The simplest thing to do is to put it under the tap and let plenty of warm water flow down. In this case, more is better than less.
Just make sure that the water comes out of the holes under the vase and not from the edges.
Once the soil has been rinsed, wait for it to dry and resume watering the pothos every time the substratum is dry and fertilizing according to its needs.
Excess Fertilizer
Similar to limescale buildup, even if we give the pothos too much fertilizer, they will start to have brown and dry leaf tips due to the increase in salinity in the soil.
The nutrients that we administer through fertilizer are often found in mineral form and are called salts.
Suppose we fertilize too much or don’t give the pothos time to absorb the fertilizer between fertilizations. In that case, these salts end up accumulating until they reach toxic thresholds for the plant.
The roots, which absorb water mainly by osmosis, are unable to carry out their task properly with these high levels of salinity, leading the plant to dehydration.
The tops and margins of the leaves dry out and become brown, which is the first sign of dehydration. Move cautiously in the direction of the plate’s interior.
What To Do
The procedure is the same as that explained in point 6 on the accumulation of limescale and consists of rinsing the soil from excess substances.
For more information on how to fertilize pothos and the best fertilizer needed, click here.
Lack Of Nutritional Elements
Another reason pothos may have yellow and brown, spotted, or speckled leaves is nutrient deficiencies.
This often happens when the plant is growing rapidly or has not been repotted and fertilized for a long time.
Generally speaking, pothos is a plant that causes few problems, but it remains a living being with a whole series of needs.
The most common deficiencies that cause brown leaves are:
- Nitrogen (early yellow leaves)
- Potassium
- Phosphorus
- Soccer
- Magnesium
What To Do
Fertilize the pothos with a high-nitrogen green plant fertilizer. Proceed with the administration during the entire period of active growth of the plant, which usually coincides with spring and summer.
For more information about How to Fertilize Pothos and What Fertilizer to Use, click here.
Fungal Or Bacterial Diseases
Pothos can be affected by a number of fungal or bacterial diseases, with symptoms such as:
- Leaf yellowing
- Brown spots
- Yellow or brown dots
Fungal diseases proliferate in humid and poorly ventilated environments, especially when water condenses or stagnates on the leaves.
There are many types, among which Pythium and Phytophtora stand out (major causes of root rot), which start at the root level and quickly extend to the leaves.
Causing them to turn dark brown or black, leading to the plant’s death if not treated in time.
Others, such as anthracnose, directly affect the leaves, causing dry, brown spots on the tips and edges. Surrounded by a typical yellow halo.
Bacterial infections, on the other hand, are distinguished from fungal ones by their watery and vitrescent appearance. As well as often having an unpleasant odor.
Unfortunately, they turn out to be even more infectious and difficult to treat.
What To Do
When you fear a fungal or bacterial disease, you must first prevent the problem from spreading to other plants.
So we start with:
- Isolate the diseased plant, moving it away from the others.
- Remove all brown or damaged leaves from the pothos.
- Don’t get your hair wet.
- In the case of root rot, do not water unless necessary.
Subsequently, a specific remedy is adopted.
In the case of a fungal disease, Pothos is treated with a systemic fungicide based on fetal-al (Type Aliette).
Which must be sprayed on the leaves and absorbed and transported by the plant’s lymphatic system until it reaches all its tissues.
If it is a bacterial infection, you can try the home approach, spraying hydrogen peroxide (3% hydrogen peroxide) on the entire hair once or twice a day for about a week.
If this is not enough, you need to use a specific antibiotic pesticide or discard the plant to prevent the infection from spreading.
Parasites
Among the parasites that cause brown spots on Pothos leaves, we find a series of insects common to many houseplants, such as:
- Cochineal
- Thrips
- Aphids
- White fly
- Red spider mites (actually arachnids)
- Fungus gnats (including larvae)
- Bedbugs
These parasites are called phytophagous because they pierce the leaf blade to feed on the plant’s sap.
In addition to causing aesthetic damage, they weaken the plant by depriving it of the substances produced by photosynthesis and reducing its ability to produce new ones.
As well as being vectors of fungal, bacterial, or viral diseases.
What To Do
Although the most effective method is to use specific products for the parasite you need to fight, you can initially try a generic approach, using a product such as Polysect Ultra Spray that is useful for keeping various insects at bay.
If, after a few applications, this is not enough, the specific products to use are:
- White mineral oil or a closer systemic insecticide: for aphids, scale insects, and whiteflies.
- Acaricide: For red spiders
- Success: For thrips and lepidopteran larvae
An effective method to prevent infestations is to spray Neem oil once every 2–4 weeks on all
house or terrace plants.
Pothos Leaves Turn Brown After Repotting.
A yellowing leaf may be a sign of shock or stress. It frequently happens as a consequence of stress brought on by an environmental shift.
Relocating a plant may lead to tension. The leaves will sometimes get discolored, but not because I’m not following my water schedule.
Make sure it receives enough light, has enough drainage, and is not over- or under-watered.
FAQs
Should I Cut The Brown Leaves Off The Pothos?
If the browning continues along the leaf, it’s a good idea to trim off the whole leaf to redirect energy to healthy leaves.
Generally speaking, brown leaves indicate dead or damaged leaf tissue.
Leaving them on the plant might draw bugs and illnesses, and they could even wreak havoc on the leaves’ health.
Brown leaves on Pothos plants should be removed using clean, sharp scissors or shears for pruning.
Cut close to the leaf’s base, taking care not to damage the stem or surrounding leaves.
This promotes fresh development and enables the plant to focus its efforts on developing robust leaves.
Why Are The Stems Of My Pothos Leaves Turning Brown?
Pothos with browning stems may be an early indicator of a number of diseases or conditions:
Numerous diseases, including southern blight, bacterial wilt disease, and root rot, may affect pothos plants.
Pothos plants often suffer from root rot, Particularly If The Soil Doesn’t Drain Properly Or If The Plants Are Overwatered.
Browning of the stems and leaves due to root rot might finally destroy the plant.
Bacterial or fungal diseases may cause the stems to go brown. They Often Result From Overwatering, High Humidity, Or Inadequate Airflow Around The Plant.
Insect Infestation: Browning Of The Stems May Be Caused By Pests Such As Thrips Or Spider Mites. Because They Consume The Leaves And Stems Of The Plant, These Insects Harm It.
First, determine what the problem is in order to remedy it. Next, take out the affected section of the plant, clean the remaining plant, isolate it, and apply the proper fungicides or bactericides.
To combat insects, use a pesticide or hand-pick off the damaged leaves, then repot the plant in new soil and a different container.
Your pothos plant should be able to bounce back with a little TLC.
Why Are The Edges Of My Pothos Turning Brown?
Usually, a pothos with brown tips indicates that your plant was submerged or overexposed to direct light.
It might also indicate an illness or an excess of fertilizer. Aim to water the plant more often and relocate it to a more shaded area.
Can Brown Pothos Leaves Turn Green Again?
Leaves that are brown or dead will not return to green. When their chloroform is gone
This is a result of the plant switching its energy to fresh development and ceasing to produce chlorophyll in the leaf.
The plant will continue to darken, dry out, and finally fall off if the mother plant has ceased generating chlorophyll.
How To Prevent Brown Leaves On Pothos
To help you avoid brown leaves on your pothos in the first place, consider the following advice.
· Regularly monitor light levels. Pothos Prefer Indirect Sunshine To Avoid Scorching. Too Little Light Might Induce A Waste Of Energy.
· Keep the temperature warm and regular. Prepare For Days Outside The 70°F (21°C) And 90°F (32°C) Range By Relocating The Plant To A Warmer Area Or Using A Space Heater.
· Keep the plant clean: Regular Cleaning Helps Check For Bugs And Destroy Them.
· Water smartly: Regular, Clean Watering Is Vital To Avoid Browning Leaves.
· Prioritize drainage: Good Soil At The Bottom Of The Container And Not Too Thick May Help Avoid Overwatering.
Catching brown spots on pothos leaves before they completely change color is the best approach to reducing their appearance.
If you see that your leaf is withered, tiny, or yellow, it is not receiving enough water.
Try giving the plant more frequent waterings or shifting it to a more shaded area.
Investigate further possible reasons, such as an illness or an excessive fertilizer application, if the situation continues.
What Are The Pests That May Cause Pothos To Turn Brown?
· Scale Insects: These tiny, hard-shelled insects drain plant sap, changing the color of the plants and drying them out completely.
· Mealybugs: By feeding on plant sap and secreting honeydew, these pests attract wasps and ants.
· Tiny green insects called aphids consume plant sap, which causes leaves to become brown or yellow and eventually wither the plant.
· Spider mites: These microscopic, spider-like organisms consume plant sap, resulting in brown patches on leaves, general plant yellowing, and plant withering.
Conclusions
Now that you know the reasons pothos plants are turning brown, it is important to avoid overwatering or swimming underwater, as this could cause a major issue with browning.
To reach a diagnosis, don’t just look at the leaves; touch the soil to feel if it is wet or dry; measure the temperature and humidity in the room; and reflect on the care you have given the plant in the last period.
In addition, it is helpful to use the right soil and know how to water your pothos properly. For more information about watering pothos plants, click here.
