You’ve noticed the little brown nubs. They stick out of the stem opposite each leaf, they look slightly like something has gone wrong, and nobody warned you about them.
They’re aerial roots, they’re completely normal, and on most Pothos they will sit there doing absolutely nothing for the entire life of the plant. Here’s what they’re for, why yours aren’t using them, and what you can do about it if you want to.
What an aerial root actually is
A root that grows above ground instead of below it.
On a Pothos they emerge from the nodes, which are the points along the stem where leaves grow out. One leaf, one node, one aerial root, all the way along the vine.
On a young or unclimbing plant they stay as short brown stubs, maybe half a centimetre, looking a bit like the plant is growing tiny antlers. Given something to grab, they extend and go looking.
Why Pothos have them
Pothos are Epipremnum, which puts them in a family of aroids that climb trees for a living.
In the wild that’s the whole business model. The vine finds a tree trunk, the aerial roots grip onto the bark, and the plant hauls itself upwards towards better light. Every node it passes puts out another root, gripping as it goes, so a mature Pothos is essentially velcroed to the side of a tree several metres up.
So the nubs on your plant aren’t decorative and they’re not a defect. They’re climbing gear on a plant you’ve given nothing to climb.
Why yours aren’t doing anything
Because there’s no tree.
This is the bit that surprises people. A Pothos will not go hunting for something to attach to with any real enthusiasm. In my experience they simply don’t use their aerial roots unless you actively encourage them, by putting something climbable directly against the stem.
Leave a Pothos trailing off a shelf and those nubs will stay nubs indefinitely. Put the same plant on a damp moss pole and within a couple of months they’ll be extending and burrowing in.
It’s also, in fairness, quite convenient. Monstera aerial roots will happily attach themselves to your wall, your skirting board and your curtains, and taking one off a painted surface is a decorating job.
Pothos won’t do that UNLESS YOU PUT THEM UP AGAINST A WALL OR ATTACH THEM WITH HOOKS.
Do Pothos need their aerial roots?
No, and it’s worth being clear about this because it stops people worrying.
Some plants genuinely depend on aerial roots. A Phalaenopsis orchid grows all of its root system in the air, because that’s how it lives, clinging to trees rather than sitting in soil. Cut those off and you’ve taken away the plant’s actual roots.
Pothos aren’t in that situation. They have a perfectly good underground root system doing the real work of feeding and watering the plant. The aerial roots are supplementary: useful if the plant is climbing, entirely optional if it isn’t.
A Pothos with no functioning aerial roots at all is a normal, healthy Pothos.
Should you cut them off?
Here’s the honest answer: it barely comes up, because they rarely get long enough to be a problem.
On a trailing Pothos that isn’t attached to anything, the aerial roots stay as small brown nubs. They’re not going to trail across your furniture or grab your curtains. Most people who ask this question are looking at something a centimetre long.
If you don’t like the look of them, cut them off. The plant will not care. It’s not going to sulk, drop leaves, or slow down, because it wasn’t using them for anything.
Two things worth knowing before you do:
Cut the root, not the node. The node is the raised band on the stem the root emerges from, and that’s the part you need if you ever want to propagate that section. Snip the root off flush and leave the node alone.
Don’t cut them off a plant that’s climbing. If your Pothos is on a moss pole and the roots have grown into it, those roots are now doing real work, and removing them is removing part of the plant’s water and nutrient supply.
How to put them to work
If you want the aerial roots doing something useful, give them something to grow into. Not just something to touch, something to grow into.
A damp moss pole is the gold standard, because the roots penetrate the moss and establish a second root system partway up the plant. The plant is then drinking and feeding from two places, and the growth difference is obvious.
Kratiste poles get the roots to attach to the surface without any watering on your part, which is a decent middle ground.
Coir won’t work unless your humidity is unusually high, because coir can’t be kept damp and there’s nothing for the roots to get into.
Bare wall, bookshelf or curtain rail: nothing will happen. See above re: your paintwork being safe.
How To Train Pothos To Climb A Moss Pole
Aerial roots and propagation
Two things people get muddled here, so let’s separate them.
You cannot propagate an aerial root on its own. A root is not a plant. Cut off a bare aerial root with no node attached and you have a small brown stick that will do nothing. The node is the part that contains the growth potential.
You don’t need an aerial root to propagate a Pothos. A cutting with a node will root perfectly well without one. Plenty of successful cuttings never had a visible aerial root at all.
That said, an existing aerial root does help. It gives the cutting a head start, roots tend to appear faster, and success rates go up. If you’re choosing between two possible cuttings, take the one with the more developed aerial root.
There’s a nice bit of logic behind why this works. Imagine a Pothos growing up a tree in the wild when a flood tears away the bottom of the plant, along with its entire underground root system. The plant isn’t finished. Every node it has left is capable of generating a whole new root system, most likely by extending an aerial root it already had, and it carries on. That capability is exactly what you’re borrowing when you take a cutting.
How To Propagate Pothos: Every Method Explained
One thing I’ve noticed about variegation
In my experience, the more white a Pothos has in its leaves, the longer its aerial roots tend to be. My whiter, more heavily variegated plants consistently put out longer aerial roots than the plainer green ones next to them.
I’ve no idea whether that’s a real pattern or just my particular plants.
It might be that a plant with less chlorophyll is working harder to find better light and putting more effort into climbing gear. That’s speculation, not science. But I’ve noticed it enough times to mention it, and if you keep a mixed collection it’s worth watching for.
Frequently asked questions
Are aerial roots a sign my Pothos is unhappy?
No. They’re standard equipment on every Pothos and their presence tells you nothing about the plant’s health. A Pothos with lots of them is a Pothos, not a distressed one.
My Pothos has no aerial roots at all. Is that a problem?
Not really, though it’s unusual. Very young plants and plants growing in low light may not produce obvious ones. If the plant is otherwise growing well, ignore it.
Can I put aerial roots in water or soil?
You can tuck them into the soil surface of the same pot and they’ll often root in, which is a free way to add a bit of root mass. In water they’ll adapt over time, though water roots and soil roots behave differently.
Do aerial roots turn into normal roots?
Effectively, yes. An aerial root that reaches soil or damp moss will develop into a functioning root system. That’s the whole mechanism behind layering and behind how a moss pole works.
Why are my Pothos aerial roots turning brown and crispy?
They’re usually brown anyway, so that alone isn’t a worry. Genuinely crispy, shrivelled ones normally mean very dry air, or a moss pole that’s been allowed to dry out and killed off roots that had grown in.
Will aerial roots damage my walls or furniture?
Not unless you actively encourage them to climb up your walls. Pothos aerial roots don’t go off on their own and attach to surfaces on their own the way Monstera roots do. This is one area where Pothos are considerably better behaved.