There’s a big chance that you’ve encountered a couple of Manjula Pothos plants sitting indoors somewhere. They’re charming, eye-catching, and extremely low maintenance.
Adding Manjula Pothos to your plant collection will elevate it visually. Moreover, it’ll take care of itself once you put it in the right environment, making it a perfect plant for gardening newbies.
In this article, we’ll tell you all about the Majula Pothos plant alongside some tips and tricks on how to grow it in your house.
What Is Manjula Pothos?
Manjula Pothos, or Epipremnum ‘Manjula,’ is a patented Epipremnum with broad, heart-shaped green leaves with silver, cream, white, and light green shades. There’s a debate about the plant’s origin. While it’s widely known to be Florida university, another theory claims that a man named Hansoti developed it in India as a result of naturally occurring branch mutations over the years.
The attractive appeal of the Manjula pothos is because each leaf has different shades. Some leaves are abundantly silver and light green, while others have large patches of dark green. Light areas are mottled with the darker greens and vice versa, giving the beautiful Manjula pothos a distinctive textural appearance.
The leaves’ edges are wavy and a bit curved, so the leaves don’t lie flat. This is an easy characteristic that you can use to distinguish the Manjula from other pothos.
Common names for the Manjula Pothos include Epipremnum Happy Leaf, Pothos Happy Leaf, Manjula Money Plant, and Devil’s Ivy Happy Leaf.
Growth and Pruning of Manjula Pothos
A regular Manjula pothos plant will grow to reach a height of 20 to 40 feet on average.
Because of the white and silver parts in its leaves, the Manjula pothos leaves have less chlorophyll, which results in slower growth. Thus, you shouldn’t worry about your Manjula pothos overgrowing their pot in the short term. It’d rather grow slowly over time in a compact space, cascading dense foliage that’s a delight to the eye!
Usually, Manjula pothos plants will grow horizontally, making them a perfect choice for hanging baskets. A totem pole would be a nice part of their setup, as well.
When we think of the perfect companions of Manjula pothos, Ponytail Palm and Arrowhead Plant come to mind because of their similar growing conditions. Accompanying it with other pothos would be a wise choice, too. We’d recommend Neon pothos, Jade pothos, N-Joy pothos, and Golden pothos.
Manjula Pothos isn’t a flowering plant. While some pothos might flower in its native tropical environment, it won’t flower as a houseplant. However, the wavy colorful leaves make up for that.
Caring for Manjula Pothos
Manjula pothos will thrive with minimal care given the right environment. Here’s how this environment looks like.
Soil
This plant will thrive in any soil as long as it’s acidic, which translates into a pH of (6-6.5). Like most pothos plants, the Manjula loves an airy, light potting soil that allows for proper drainage. Adding a drainage layer like Leca on top of the soil might help with this, too.
This means that you can plant your Happy Leaf in regular potting soil from your local garden center and a pot with drain holes. A mix of potting soil and about 30% perlite would be ideal for it. Another efficient mix would be orchid bark, coco coir, and perlite.
These charming plants will require extra attention during their active growing periods in summer and spring. You can simply do that by providing them with liquid fertilizer once every two weeks.
Speaking of fertilizer, when you need to fertilize Manjula pothos, use half-strength houseplant fertilizer. Again, this should only be done during its growing season in spring and summer. Avoid fertilizing Manjula pothos in winter and autumn.
If you find any sparse leaves, you can simply cut them so as not to ruin the rest of the plant. A fresh start is needed sometimes, even for plants!
Light
Manjula isn’t picky when it comes to light. It’ll do well as long as it’s not subjected to direct sunlight that might scorch its whiter leaves. In fact, Manjula pothos plants are adaptable to a wide range of lighting conditions.
To give them the chance to exhibit their variegated foliage, you need to grow them in low to bright light. The variety is essential to show the whole color range. Too much light will scorch pale leaves and too little light will conceal variegation. Balance is key here.
Given this information, we’d say that the best lighting conditions for this plant would be somewhere with indirect bright light. An east-facing window would be a nice option, as the plant will be getting bright light from the morning sun and dimmer light towards the afternoon. That’s perfect lighting conditions for the Manjula pothos.
On that note, we don’t recommend placing Manjula pothos in dark corners or indoors with little light. Although it’ll survive in that setting, it’ll have slow growth and lose the rich color vibrancy in its leaves.
Watering
Manjula Pothos loves moist soil. The soil has to be damp but not soggy. You should never leave your plant to get ‘wet feet’ because this results in root rot and fungus Gnats.
One of the nice features of Manjula pothos is their ability to withstand drought, which makes them easy to care for. One inch of water every two weeks would be more than enough for them to survive since the plant’s root structure is relatively shallow.
Here are a few tips that’ll help you water Manjula pothos.
- Use bottled water instead of tap water.
- Water your Manjula pothos every other week during summer and spring.
- Let the soil dry between waterings.
- Use a moisture meter to check if the plant needs watering.
Temperature
Manjula pothos enjoys warm temperatures. There’s nothing a Manjula pothos plant hates more than frost. A temperature ranging between 60 to 80 °F would be ideal for them.
People living in areas between USDA zones 10 and 12 should be fine. If you’re in a USDA zone below 10, we’d recommend keeping them indoors unless the weather is warm enough for them.
Generally, you can keep your Manjula pothos plants outdoors in spring and summer, then move them inside when it starts to cool in autumn to protect them from low temperatures.
Humidity
When it comes to humidity, Manjula pothos plants prefer medium to high humidity, which is pretty convenient given their love of warm weather. Medium to high humidity translates into 50% to 70% humidity, roughly.
This might be a problem indoors, where the average humidity is around 40%. In this case, you can use the help of a hygrometer that’ll tell you the exact percentage of humidity at any given moment so that you can take proper measures to save your plant.
The easiest measure is to get a humidifier. It’s a perfect solution given the benefits it provides for us, humans, as well. Besides, it’s available at a wide range of prices. If this seems like too far of a stretch to you, there are other -less expensive- ways to go.
Higher humidity will result in more aerial roots that will help you propagate the plant. How exciting!
How to Provide Manjula Pothos with Enough Humidity
There are multiple ways to give your Manjula pothos the humid environment they crave. Here’s how.
- Put them in the bathroom for a perfectly humid environment. Having an open window for indirect lighting would be a plus.
- Use a pebble tray to put your Manjula pothos in so that there’s always water around. This way, the plant gets moisture from evaporated water without overwatering its soil.
- Group your Manjula pothos with other plants to allow for plant transpiration. Make sure they’re evenly spaced to avoid fungal infections.
- Mist your Manjula pothos every few days to ensure it’s always humid.
Manjula Pothos Diseases and Problems
Overall, Manjula pothos is low maintenance when it comes to pests and diseases. However, they might be susceptible to some infections that you can keep under control if you’re aware of them.
The first cause of Manjula pothos maladies is overwatering. An overwatered soil might result in root rot, botrytis, leaf spot, and other fungal diseases.
The second issue you need to keep an eye out for is overpotting Manjula pothos. Many gardening newbies aren’t familiar with how shallow the root system of Manjula Pothos is. As a result, they might overpot the plant, leading to a weakened planting, leaving the poor Manjula Pothos as an easy target for pests like mealybugs.
Root rot is the easiest to spot because you will literally find the roots of the plant rotten. They’ll be black or brown and mushy. Yellow leaves also might be a sign of root rot. To fix this, you need to remove the infected part, and your plant should be fine. The reason for root rot would be either overwatering or improper drainage from the pot.
In this case, you can use a spray bottle to get rid of pests. A mix of water and an insecticide in a spray bottle will do in case of mealybugs. You can go further and remove them one by one using Q-tips sprayed with alcohol. If your plant is severely damaged, you can use a pesticide. Yet, that’s a rare occurrence.
Keep in mind that all pothos plants are considered toxic. Make sure to keep them out of children’s and pets’ reach. Putting them in a terrarium would be an excellent idea here, both visually and for protection against toxicity.
Propagating Manjula Pothos
Good news for gardening enthusiasts; propagating Manjula pothos is no rocket science!
Stem Cuttings
The most common and easiest way to propagate Manjula pothos is through stem cuttings. We’re looking for stem cuts of at least 2 inches, ideally, these little ones that are attached to aerial roots.
Once you have your stem cuts, you need to keep them in a water jar until they start to grow bigger, which usually happens after a couple of weeks. You should always change the water in the jar. Having fresh, clean water is essential to this process.
You can put cuttings into the soil directly, but we don’t recommend that, as you won’t be able to follow the root’s progress. Having visibility through a water jar will make the process a lot easier, given the shallow roots of Manjula pothos.
Don’t forget to keep the container in a warm place with indirect lighting to mimic the environment of a growing Manjula pothos.
After the cuts show some growth, you can transplant them into their permanent environment. At first, you need to keep the soil damp so they don’t feel an abrupt change in the environment. Then, cut back on the watering as we discussed previously.
Following this process, your Manjula pothos will establish its root and start growing within a month.
Splitting
The other method to propagate Manjula pothos is through splitting the plant. This is the better way to go if your plant is overgrowing its pot.
Here’s how to do Majula pothos splitting in a few steps:
- Water the plant well before to minimize stress resulting from splitting.
- Prepare the new pots with drainage holes and proper potting mix.
- Wear gloves and eye protection and remove the pothos from its pot.
- Divide the root into multiple sections that are roughly proportionate to the stems using a sharp knife.
- Replant each section in its pot at a similar depth to the previous plant.
- Water the newly potted plant gently.
- Root in any cut stems to enhance the process.
Conclusion
Rarely do we come across such aesthetically pleasing plants with attractive foliage that require so minimal care. That’s a strong reason to try and add the Manjula pothos to your plant collection, especially indoors.
Training your Manjula Pothos to grow horizontally over a trellis or something would be a huge hit in your home or office. It’s definitely worth a try!