When to water a money plant (pothos)

“Money plant” can refer to different plants. This guide covers pothos, commonly called Epipremnum aureum, growing in potting mix. It does not cover a cutting living in a jar of water, jade plants or money trees. Confirm your plant before applying its care guidance.

The RHS Epipremnum guide advises allowing the upper 2 cm of potting mix to dry between waterings and avoiding excessive watering. Treat that as a check to make at the pot, rather than translating it into a fixed number of days.

A home in a humid spell and an air-conditioned room can present different conditions. Notice what happens to your own pot over repeated checks instead of borrowing someone else’s weekly calendar.

Check whether water can leave the growing pot, and look inside any decorative outer pot for collected water. If the plant is small enough to lift safely, compare its weight with how that same pot feels after watering. Pot weight is a supporting clue, not a substitute for checking the mix.

The RHS houseplant guide recommends checking the need for water rather than watering routinely. Its guidance also describes using the difference in pot weight as a clue.

This illustrative entry shows how a check can become something you can learn from:

What I noticed

The mix was still moist below the surface.

What I did

I waited and did not add water.

What comes next

I chose a date to check again, taking the plant’s guidance and current conditions into account.

Do not record “watered” just because a reminder appeared. In Plont, “still moist” and “unsure” leave the last-watered date unchanged. See how care reminders work.

If you cannot tell what the plant needs, note the uncertainty and check its identity and care guidance. A leaf symptom alone is not a diagnosis. If it continues to decline, seek horticultural help with photos and details of its light, potting mix, drainage and watering history.

For broader reading, visit Plont’s guide to checking indoor plants before watering.

This guide draws on the RHS Epipremnum growing guide, genus guide and houseplant guide linked above. It is general guidance for a soil-grown plant, not an assessment of your individual pot. Local conditions matter; seasonal advice from another country is not an Indian watering calendar.