A drooping Pothos almost always makes people reach for the watering can. Sometimes that’s exactly right. Sometimes it’s the worst thing you can do (aren’t plants just the BEST???).
Before you water anything, spend two minutes figuring out which situation you’re actually in — because treating overwatering with more water is a fast track to root rot, and treating underwatering with nothing is just cruel.
Here’s every reason a Pothos droops, how to tell which one you’re dealing with, and what to actually do about it.
The Most Common Causes of Pothos Drooping
1. Underwatering
The most obvious cause and the one most people land on first. If your Pothos hasn’t been watered in a while and the soil is bone dry, drooping leaves are the plant’s way of telling you it needs a drink.
How to check: Pick the pot up. Dry soil is dramatically lighter than wet soil — if it feels almost weightless, underwatering is likely. You can also push your finger into the soil or use a moisture meter. Dry all the way through? Water it.
The fix: A proper soak, not a splash. Water thoroughly until it drains freely from the bottom, then let it dry out before watering again. If the soil is repelling water rather than absorbing it, sit the whole pot in a basin of water for 15 to 30 minutes. [Full guide to fixing an underwatered Pothos here.]
2. Overwatering
Here’s where people go wrong. Overwatered Pothos droop too, and it looks almost identical to underwatering. Both leave you with a sad, floppy plant. The difference is in the soil.
An overwatered Pothos has been kept consistently wet for long enough that the roots have started to rot. Rotten roots can’t function, which means the plant can’t take up water even if there’s plenty of it right there in the pot. You end up with a drooping plant sitting in damp soil, which is a confusing combination if you’re expecting drought to look like drought.
How to check: Stick your finger into the soil or check with a moisture meter. If the soil is wet or even just damp and the plant is still drooping, overwatering is the more likely culprit. Check for mushy stems at the base, a sour smell from the soil, or yellow leaves alongside the drooping.
The fix: Stop watering and let the soil dry out fully before you water again. In more serious cases, you may need to check the roots for rot. [Full guide to fixing an overwatered Pothos here.]
3. It’s A Very Hot Day
Pothos love bright light. A south-facing window in spring or summer is often the ideal spot, and plants in good light tend to be healthier and grow faster than those stuck in dim corners. But on extremely hot days, even a Pothos that’s perfectly happy in a bright window can start to droop.
This isn’t the same as drought drooping. It’s the plant conserving moisture by wilting slightly to reduce the surface area losing water to the air. Check the soil — if it’s damp and the temperature is unusually high, heat is probably the cause.
The fix: Move it out of direct sun on the hottest days, or just wait it out. Once temperatures drop, the plant usually perks back up on its own.
4. It’s Root Bound (And You’re Actually Underwatering Without Knowing It)
This one catches people out. A Pothos in a south-facing window in summer can drink a remarkable amount of water — more than you’d expect. If your Pothos is also very root bound, there’s so little soil relative to the amount of roots that the pot dries out extremely fast, sometimes within a day or two of watering.
I had exactly this with one of my own Pothos. I’d moved it to a bright south-facing spot and it was thriving, growing fast and looking glossy. Then I noticed it started drooping even though I felt like I was watering it constantly. I started checking the soil more frequently and found it was drying out almost immediately after watering. It got to the point where no matter how much water I put in, the soil couldn’t seem to retain any of it. When I finally slid it out of the pot to investigate, there was almost no soil left at all — just a solid mass of roots that had taken over the entire pot.
The fix was repotting into a slightly bigger pot with fresh soil. Within a week the watering settled down and the drooping stopped.
How to check: Slide the plant out of its pot. If the roots are circling the bottom, packed tightly together, or you can barely see any soil, it’s root bound. Roots growing out of the drainage holes are another giveaway.
The fix: This is one of the few situations where repotting is genuinely warranted. Go up one pot size — not two or three — and use fresh potting mix. Don’t repot just because the plant is big; only repot when root binding is causing a real problem, like this one.
5. Cold Draughts
A Pothos that’s sitting near a draughty window, an external door, or an air conditioning unit can droop from cold stress. Pothos like temperatures between roughly 15°C and 30°C and don’t cope well with sudden cold blasts, even if the average room temperature is fine.
How to check: Think about where the plant is sitting. Is there a window that gets opened regularly? A door nearby? An air con unit blowing cold air in its direction? Cold drooping tends to come with leaves that look a bit dull or pale, rather than the limp, papery look of drought.
The fix: Move it away from the source of cold. Pothos are adaptable but they don’t want to sit in a draught.
6. Repotting Shock
If your Pothos has recently been repotted, drooping in the days or weeks afterwards is normal and doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong. Repotting disturbs the root system, and while the plant adjusts to its new soil and pot, it can look a bit sorry for itself. Resist the urge to water it excessively during this period — the fresh soil will retain moisture longer than the old compacted root ball did, and overwatering a recently repotted plant is an easy mistake.
The fix: Leave it alone. Keep it in a stable, warm spot with decent light, water only when the soil is almost dry, and give it a couple of weeks to settle. It’ll come back.
How To Diagnose Your Drooping Pothos In 60 Seconds
Not sure which one you’re dealing with? Work through this:
- Check the soil first. Bone dry? Underwatering. Wet or damp? Overwatering.
- If the soil is somewhere in between: Is it an extremely hot day? Heat. Has it recently been repotted? Shock. Is it near a window or door that gets cold air? Draught.
- If the soil dries out within a day or two of watering: Check for roots — it might be root bound.
- If none of the above fit: Check for pests. Stressed plants attract them, and some infestations can cause drooping as the plant’s health declines.
The One Thing Everyone Gets Wrong
The instinct when a plant droops is to water it. It seems logical. But if your Pothos is drooping because it’s been overwatered and the roots are rotting, adding more water makes things worse, not better. Always check the soil before you reach for the watering can.
If you’re not sure how to read whether your soil is dry enough to water, [the watering guide here] covers the moisture meter and lift test methods that actually work.
Drooping Pothos FAQs
Why is my Pothos drooping after watering?
If it droops right after watering or stays droopy even though the soil is wet, the most likely cause is root rot from overwatering. Waterlogged roots can’t function, so the plant can’t absorb moisture even when it’s available. Let the soil dry out fully before watering again and check the roots for damage. [Full overwatering guide here.]
Why is my Pothos drooping even though the soil is moist?
Same answer: if the soil is moist and the plant is still drooping, the roots may be damaged from sitting in wet soil too long. Check for yellowing leaves, mushy stems, or a bad smell from the soil as additional signs of root rot.
Can a Pothos recover from drooping?
Almost always, yes. Pothos are resilient plants and drooping on its own — without significant root damage — is rarely permanent. Fix the cause and the plant will perk up, sometimes within hours.
How long does it take a drooping Pothos to recover?
Underwatering drooping can resolve within hours of a proper soak. Overwatering recovery takes longer — days to weeks depending on how much root damage has occurred. Heat and draught drooping resolves as soon as the plant is moved somewhere more comfortable.
Should I cut off drooping Pothos leaves?
No, not unless they’re yellow, brown, or clearly dead. A drooping leaf that’s still green can recover once the underlying problem is fixed. Cutting healthy leaves off a stressed plant just adds more stress. Wait until the plant has recovered before doing any tidying up.
Why does my Pothos droop in the same spot every day?
If the drooping happens at a particular time of day (often the afternoon) and the plant recovers on its own by evening, heat or direct sun is almost certainly the cause. The plant is wilting in peak heat and perking back up as temperatures drop.
New to Pothos? If drooping has you spiralling about what you’re doing wrong, the free guide — Everything You Need To Do When You Bring Your First Pothos Home — will set you up properly from the start.