Yes. Reliably, and with less fuss than you’re expecting.
Now the useful part, which is why you’d bother, why it takes longer than a normal cutting, and why this particular technique is far more relevant to Pothos owners than the people who invented it ever intended.
What a wet stick is
A wet stick is a piece of stem with a node on it and no leaf attached.
A bare chunk of vine. It looks like something you’d sweep up rather than plant, which is exactly why most people bin them without realising they’ve thrown away a plant.
The name is unfortunate and I’m sorry. Say it in front of someone who doesn’t keep houseplants and watch their face.
How To Propagate Pothos: Every Method Explained
Why this matters more for Pothos than you’d think
Wet sticks came out of the rare plant world.
A few years ago, people were paying serious money for a single leafless node of an expensive Philodendron on Etsy, because that was the cheapest way into a plant costing hundreds.
Then tissue culture arrived, rare plant prices collapsed, and the market for buying nodes largely evaporated. The technique got quietly abandoned along with the trade that created it.
Which is a shame, because it solves a problem almost every Pothos owner eventually has.
Long bare vines. The plant gets long, the oldest leaves at the base yellow and drop, and you’re left with several feet of naked stem with a tuft of leaves way out at the end. Those bare nodes will not grow new leaves where they are, so the stem stays bare no matter how good your care gets.
Every one of those bare nodes is a wet stick. A vine you were about to throw away is ten new plants.
Why Is My Pothos Leggy? (And How To Fix It)
Does it work, and what’s the catch?
It works. Pothos wet sticks root about as readily as anything I’ve propagated.
The catch is speed, and the reason is worth understanding rather than just accepting.
A wet stick has no leaf, so it cannot photosynthesise. It has no way to make energy. Everything it does, it does on whatever is already stored in that piece of stem, and that’s a finite budget with nothing coming in until the first leaf opens.
A leafy cutting is at least earning while it works. A wet stick is spending down its savings.
So expect it to take longer, expect nothing visible for a while, and don’t read slowness as failure. The stem staying firm and green is the plant telling you it’s fine.
How to root them
Same clear plastic box as every other method, with one change: use moss rather than soil.
Most wet sticks root best in moss, and it’s what I’d recommend for anything leafless, anything you’ve not propagated before, and anything you’d be upset to lose. It also holds moisture more evenly than soil, which matters more when there’s no leaf to tell you how the cutting is doing.
Soak the moss, squeeze it out hard so it’s damp rather than wet, lay it in the bottom of the box, and press each node into it so there’s proper contact between node and moss. Lid on, holes in the lid, somewhere bright and warm.
Then leave it. Condensation on the inside of the lid means everything is working. No condensation means it’s dried out and needs a spray.
I leave wet sticks in the box until they’ve produced a leaf, rather than potting them up as soon as roots appear. Roots on a leafless node aren’t the finish line. The leaf is.
How To Propagate Pothos In Soil
The bag method, for one or two sticks
If you’ve only got a couple of nodes, a whole box is overkill. A sandwich bag does the same job.
- Soak your moss until thoroughly wet. Dehydrated moss takes about fifteen minutes
- Squeeze it out so it’s damp
- Put the moss in the bag
- Lay the wet stick on top and press it down into the moss so the node is properly in contact
- Seal the bag about three quarters of the way, trap as much air inside as you can, then seal it the rest of the way
That last step is the only genuinely fiddly part of the whole process. You want the bag inflated rather than vacuum-packed, because the air is what keeps humidity around the stick instead of pressing wet moss against it.
Check every few days. If the moss looks like it’s drying, take the stick out, spray the moss, put it back.
The bag is easier to store, easier to tuck somewhere warm, and easier to check without disturbing anything. The box is better once you’ve got more than a few.
Which nodes to use
Any node with a visible line around the stem will work, but some are better bets than others.
Green, firm stem beats old woody stem. Younger sections have more stored energy and root more readily.
A node with an aerial root nub is a head start. You don’t need one, but a node that already has the beginnings of a root will get going faster.
Skip anything mushy, hollow or shrivelled. A stem that’s soft when you squeeze it has already gone and won’t come back.
Cut so each piece has one node with a bit of stem either side. You don’t need much, but a node cut flush at both ends has less to live on.
Pothos Aerial Roots: What Are They and What Do You Do With Them?
The other use: rescuing a plant that’s rotting
Wet sticks aren’t only for tidy propagation projects. They’re also the emergency option.
If a Pothos develops stem rot, the plant is finished as it stands, because rotten stem can’t transport water and nutrients up to the leaves no matter how healthy the roots below it are. Cutting off the rot doesn’t save the plant, it just delays things.
What does work is cutting the plant up. Take every section of stem above the rot that’s still firm and green, chop it into individual nodes, and root them. You’ll lose the original plant and keep its genetics, which is the best available outcome.
Worth knowing before you panic: healthy roots and a rotten stem can happen together. Roots being fine is not evidence the stem is.
Root Rot In Pothos: Can You Save It?
How long does it take?
Longer than a leafy cutting, and it varies enough that I’d rather not give you a number to hold me to.
Roots come first, usually within a few weeks in a warm box. The leaf takes considerably longer, because the node has to build a growth point from scratch rather than extend one that already exists.
Warmth is the biggest lever. A heat mat under the box makes a real difference to leafless nodes specifically, since they’ve got no other way to speed themselves up.
How Long Does Pothos Propagation Take?
Frequently asked questions
Can you propagate a Pothos from a stem with no leaves?
Yes, provided it has a node. The node is the line around the stem where a leaf used to attach, and it contains everything needed to grow both roots and a new growth point.
How long does a Pothos wet stick take to root?
Usually a few weeks for roots in a warm, humid box. The first leaf takes noticeably longer, and warmth speeds both up more than anything else.
Do wet sticks need light?
Some, but less than a leafy cutting, since there’s no leaf to photosynthesise with. Bright is fine, blazing is not.
Can I root a wet stick in water?
You can, but moss works better for leafless nodes and I’d start there. Bare stem in water is more prone to rotting than a cutting with a leaf drawing water up.
How do I know if my wet stick is still alive?
Squeeze it. Firm and green means fine. Soft, hollow or shrivelled means gone. A wet stick doing nothing visible for weeks is normal, so firmness is the test, not progress.
Should I use rooting hormone on wet sticks?
Not necessary for Pothos. It won’t hurt, but it isn’t what’s holding you up.
Can I buy Pothos wet sticks?
You can, but there’s rarely a reason to. Pothos are cheap enough that a whole plant costs about the same, and anyone with a leggy Pothos will hand you a vine for free.