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Posted 1M ago by @StromantheSlave

Brown spots on my neon pothos (not dried?)

#PothosPack #PlantTherapy HELP! A few days ago I posted because my neon pothos was rapidly turning white, and now all the leaves are developing brown on them? its extra weird because they’re not dried out in any way. it’s mostly the ones that are still green, which is why i’m extra freaked out. is this an emergency? aaaaaaaaaaaaa
0ft to light, direct
6” pot with drainage
Last watered 1 month ago
@StromantheSlave Hi Nora, Welcome to Greg!

Okay, let's backup and find out about your normal care rituals. What do you water with? How frequently? What type of soil do you have?
How long have you had the plant? Have you recently fertilized or used something else that is not a normal part of the plant's ritual?

And lastly, what have the weather conditions been like in the recent past? Especially right before you started noticing it turning white?


You need to put on your investigator's hat. 🀠
But, if I were going through the checklist and it was fine -say last month - and the leaves suddenly turned pale but you haven't changed anything about it's routine.... I'd say you have it too close to the window and it is getting sunburned. I'm looking and seeing that it's a little stretched out...etioliated. So I'm guessing it was stretching from lack of light, so you put it into the highest light space available? Could this be possible? If so, move her to about 1 to 2 feet away.

And if this IS the case, don't feel bad. You certainly aren't the only plant parent who has done this. Changing to brighter light should be done gradually, over a period of days to weeks, depending on the plant's reactions. Recovering from sunburn is very slow, so don't expect a full turnaround in days or even weeks. Those leaves will probably always bear some discoloration where they are blotched. However, once you get it in a happier place, you should see new growth coming in healthy.
And, Neon Pothos is definitely slower growing than some of the other popular varieties, so you'll need to be patient.
Hi, Nora. Are you the one who posted the picture with with purple lighting?

To me, you plant looks burned; it looks like it's been exposed to too much loght.
Is it is/was right under the light, it could take months to recover. You might lose a lot of leaves in the process. You could consider chopping and propping you plant to give it a new lease on life. (:
@UltraKoreanfir you are right on the money. Leaves starting turning white and I placed her in the sunniest spot available. it was there for maybe 2 days. I just moved it back into its usual window where maybe it wasn’t getting enough. it had zero direct light but a full day of indirect SW window. my poor plant! :( I hope it can pull through ok
@sarahsalith and no i’m not the one who posted with purple lighting, but still you’re right that I believe it got burned. I moved it into really bright sunlight when I noticed the leaves starting to go white. i’m still not quite sure why that happened.
@UltraKoreanfir @sarahsalith Do you guys think I should just leave the burned leaves as they are? or do I take them off, will that encourage new growth eventually? similar with the leaves that turned white.. not sure if I should leave em or not. I love sarah’s suggestion for propagation and will totally try that as well. thank you guys so much for your help!
@StromantheSlave I think you might play it by ear.
If the leaves have a mostly normal color and then just a sunburn rouging, I'd leave those alone for a bit. The white ones may green up, but it can take a while. But any that are severely burned like the one you were pinching in the 2nd photo I'd remove.

I have not personally tried to propagate the Neon yet, so I'm not much help there. I'd think it would be like any other Pothos propagation, but maybe a little slower.
Trimming CAN stimulate new growth, but never trim more than a third of the plant at one time , giving the plant time to regenerate between trimmings.
@UltraKoreanfir you’re the best! thank you!!!!❀️
@StromantheSlave You're welcome.
I got more curious on the white leaves and found this statement from a trusted source.

I would let the plant get what it needs out of those white leaves, and they'll fall off really easy when ready