Do Pothos Plants Ever Bloom?

Pothos plants have made a name for themselves as the ultimate indoor foliage plant. Despite being only known as a foliage plant to most of us, pothos do indeed bloom.

Unfortunately, most of us won’t get to see their pothos plants bloom, simply because the plant doesn’t typically bloom indoors.

The reason for this is because the pothos plant needs to reach maturity and become a certain size for it to produce blooms.

It can take over 10 years for the plant to mature and even then, it may not become large enough to bloom.

If despite this you’re still curious to learn about aspects related to pothos blooms, I’ll walk you through the basics of pothos blooms.

How do Pothos Flowers Look Like?

Some pothos flowers are smaller and not particularly noticeable, however, some can be quite the sight, especially if you’re expecting classical blooms with petals and all.

Well, pothos blooms are not at all like that. The plant produces erect stalks, and the bloom is made up of the spathe and the spadix.

Imagine the spathe as a leaf-like hood, which can be green or creamy. The spathe encloses the spadix, which has a tubular structure and it’s often yellowish or white. The spadix basically features the flowers of the pothos plant.

If you’re not particularly fond of this type of bloom — and I know I am not — then maybe it’s not such a bad thing, after all, that your pothos doesn’t bloom.

You can still enjoy the lush foliage the plant has to offer, especially with variegated varieties such as the Queen Marble pothos or the impressive Snow Queen pothos variety, while white variegated leaves can compete with the beauty of any flowering plant.

Can Pothos Flower Indoors?

I haven’t had any pothos plants ever blooming indoors. Neither did any of my friends who are botanists. That doesn’t mean, however, that it cannot be achieved. It’s just exceedingly rare and difficult to grow a pothos to a size at which it can bloom indoors.

The plant needs to reach at least 30-40 feet for it to physiologically become able to bloom. This isn’t really possible indoors, unless you’re growing a pothos plant in a large enough greenhouse.

Therefore, don’t be discouraged that you can’t get your pothos plant to bloom indoors. It’s not a very realistic endeavour to start with.

Not to mention how indoor light conditions and humidity may also not be at a level optimal to sustain blooming.

If you’re growing your pothos plant outdoors in optimal climate conditions that closely resemble that of its natural habitat, you may succeed in getting it to bloom, especially if the plant has been around for many years and has had the chance to grow large enough to produce blooms.

Even outdoors, things like a support structure that allows the plant to climb upwards and plenty of bright, indirect light are essential to support growth and stimulate the plant to bloom.

Despite all this, you may still have trouble inducing blooming in your pothos plants. That’s because some pothos varieties are simply ‘shy bloomers’ and will not bloom.

At What Age do Pothos Plants Bloom?

There isn’t a well-defined age bracket in which pothos plants will bloom, but a few things are certain: The plant needs to become mature enough to physiologically support blooming, and that usually happens when they reach a size of 30-40 feet.

The pothos plant that achieves the maturity to bloom looks very different from the pothos plant you’re accustomed to seeing indoors. Its leaves are much larger and the plant itself is larger too.

Depending on its growth rate, your pothos may bloom after 10-15 years of care, others might take as much as 20 years to achieve the same.

Like I mentioned before, this isn’t something you should expect from a pothos plant grown indoors.

You can encourage the growth of your pothos and provide all the right conditions and the plant will reward you with lush foliage, but no blooms.

Are Pothos Flowers Toxic?

All parts of the pothos plant are toxic, so the flowers can also cause skin irritation, blisters and other GI troubles, if it’s ingested by a pet.

But pets are not the only ones in danger from experiencing the side-effects of the plant’s sap. Humans are also at risk.

The sap of the pothos plant contains insoluble oxalate crystals known to attack any soft tissues or membranes and cause mild to severe irritation.

So, whenever you’re pruning the plant or repotting it, or just wiping off dust from its leaves, make sure you’re protected by wearing gloves and even goggles to avoid accidentally touching your eyes.

If your pet has ingested any part of the plant — that includes the blooms as well — make sure to contact a veterinarian right away.

Other than irritation to eyes and mouth, another symptom of pothos poisoning is vomiting, which is dangerous as it can quickly dehydrate your pet.

Your vet will start your pet on fluid therapy and other medicine to calm the inflammation and coat the gastrointestinal tract.

How Long do Pothos Flowers Last?

Pothos blooms will last only a couple of days until they start fading and changing color. So not only are pothos plants difficult to get to bloom, but the blooms are also relatively short-lived.

Conclusion

Contrary to what you may think, pothos plants are blooming plants. It’s just that they bloom so infrequently, and their blooms aren’t particularly impressive that you may not think of them as anything else than foliage plants.

Pothos plants, just like philodendrons, will take a longer time to grow into blooming plants, something that they rarely, if ever, do indoors.

You have a higher chance of seeing a pothos bloom if it’s grown outdoors and if it’s allowed to reach a bigger height.

A mature pothos plant looks very different from a juvenile pothos grown indoors. Because pothos plants grown indoors aren’t allowed to grow as large, they never really reach a size that could support blooming.