Why Are My Pothos Leaves Curling? 10 Causes, Most Likely First
If you are asking why are my pothos leaves curling, the honest answer is that nine times out of ten it is a water delivery problem, not a humidity problem and not a light problem. The leaf is curling because it cannot get enough water into its cells — either because the soil is bone dry, or because the roots that were supposed to drink it are dead.
Those two causes look opposite and they are treated in opposite ways, so the first thing you do is not water the plant. You put a finger 5 cm (2 in) into the soil.
The second thing worth knowing up front: a leaf that has already hardened in a curled shape will not flatten back out. If the curl is fresh and the leaf is still soft, it can recover in a day. If it is stiff and curled, you fix the cause and judge the result by the next leaf, which in a dim room takes two to four weeks to appear.
And if what you really mean is why are my pothos leaves curling up at the edges while the stems stay firm and the soil is damp, skip to causes 4 and 7 — dry heated air and fertiliser salt. Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is tough enough to survive almost all of this, but in low light it recovers slowly, so being right the first time matters more than acting fast.
| The situation | Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) leaves curling inward or upward at the edges, some going limp or crispy, often with stalled growth |
|---|---|
| Light you have | Ordinary flat, north- or east-facing room, plant 1-3 m (3-10 ft) from the only window — low to medium light, no direct sun on the leaves at any hour |
| What is happening | The leaf is losing water faster than the roots are supplying it, so it is rolling up to cut its exposed surface area. |
Start Here
Push a finger 5 cm (2 in) into the soil, in the middle of the pot, not at the edge.
If it is dry, the plant is simply thirsty: stand the pot in 5 cm (2 in) of water in the sink for 20-30 minutes until the soil surface feels damp, then let it drain completely. Soft curled leaves usually firm up within 12-24 hours.
If it is wet, do not water. Tip the plant out of the pot and look at the roots: firm and white or tan is fine, brown and mushy means rot, and the curl is dehydration caused by dead roots. Cut the mush off with clean scissors, repot into the same pot or a smaller one, and water again only when the top 5 cm (2 in) is dry — in a north-facing room that is often 10-20 days apart.
Either way, leave the light alone for now. Low light makes this slow, it does not make leaves curl.
What Actually Goes Wrong
Jump to your case
- 1. Soil dried out through the whole pot
- 2. Overwatering that has killed the roots
- 3. Root-bound, compacted soil that water runs straight past
- 4. Dry hot air from a radiator, heat vent or air conditioner
- 5. Too much direct sun after a move
- 6. Spider mites or thrips feeding on new growth
- 7. Fertiliser salt build-up in the soil
- 8. Cold draught or ice-cold tap water
- 9. Repotting shock from root disturbance
- 10. A new leaf unrolling normally, mistaken for a problem
1. Soil dried out through the whole pot
How it happens
North-facing room, plant 2 m (6.5 ft) from the window, 15 cm (6 in) pot, watered whenever you remember and the last time was three weeks ago. Leaves fold inward like a taco, stems still firm, and the soil has shrunk away from the pot wall.
Why the plant reacts this way — Leaf cells stay rigid by being full of water. When the roots cannot supply that pressure, the leaf loses turgor and rolls inward, which cuts the surface area exposed to the air — a self-defence move, not damage.
What to change
Bottom-water: stand the pot in 5 cm (2 in) of water for 20-30 minutes until the surface darkens, then drain fully for 10 minutes. From now on water when the top 5 cm (2 in) is dry and the pot feels noticeably light, not on a day of the week.
How you will know it worked — Soft curled leaves unroll within 12-24 hours. Leaves still curled after 48 hours have hardened and will stay that way — judge the fix by the next new leaf, which emerges flat in 2-4 weeks in low light.
2. Overwatering that has killed the roots
How it happens
Watered every Sunday regardless of season, 18 cm (7 in) pot with no drainage hole or sitting in a saucer that holds water, dim corner 3 m (10 ft) from the window. Soil is damp but leaves curl and yellow, and the stem bases feel soft.
Why the plant reacts this way — In low light a pothos uses very little water, so wet soil stays wet and the air pockets roots need are gone. Root hairs suffocate and rot, and a plant with dead roots dehydrates while standing in water — which is why it looks thirsty.
What to change
Unpot it. Cut every brown, mushy root back to firm tissue with clean scissors, then repot into the same size pot or one size smaller in a chunky mix — 3 parts potting soil, 1 part perlite, 1 part bark. Water only when the top 5 cm (2 in) is dry; expect 10-20 days between waterings in a north-facing room.
How you will know it worked — No further leaves curling or yellowing within 2 weeks means the root loss has stopped. New growth takes 4-8 weeks in low light, and arriving late is normal.
3. Root-bound, compacted soil that water runs straight past
How it happens
Still in the nursery pot it came in two years ago, roots circling out of the drainage holes, surface pale and hard. You water weekly, it appears in the saucer within five seconds, and the leaves curl anyway.
Why the plant reacts this way — Peat-based mix that has fully dried becomes water-repellent and shrinks away from the pot wall. Your water runs down that gap and out of the bottom, so the root ball itself never wets — the plant is thirsty in a pot you just watered.
What to change
Bottom-water for 30 minutes to rewet the root ball, then up-pot one size only, e.g. 15 cm to 18 cm (6 in to 7 in), loosening the bottom 2 cm (0.75 in) of circling roots by hand. Mix 20-30% perlite into the new soil so it stays open.
How you will know it worked — Lift the pot right after watering and again 3 days later. A root ball that is genuinely holding water still feels heavy on day 3. Flat new leaves follow in 3-6 weeks.
4. Dry hot air from a radiator, heat vent or air conditioner
How it happens
Winter, heating on, pot on a shelf 50 cm (20 in) above a radiator or in the path of an AC vent. Leaf edges roll upward and go papery brown at the tips while the soil is still damp.
Why the plant reacts this way — Warm moving air pulls water out of the leaf much faster than still air does. In low light the plant's water transport is slow to begin with, so the thinnest tissue — the margins and tips — runs dry first and curls up.
What to change
Move the plant at least 1.5 m (5 ft) from the heat source and out of any direct airflow. Group it with two or three other plants or stand the pot on a pebble tray. Skip misting: it wets the leaf for a few minutes and does nothing to the air around it.
How you will know it worked — Crisp edges never heal. Over the next 3-6 weeks the leaves that unfurl should come out flat with intact margins — that is your confirmation.
5. Too much direct sun after a move
How it happens
You moved it out of a dim hallway onto a south-facing windowsill 30 cm (1 ft) from the glass in summer. Leaves fold up along the midrib every afternoon, relax by morning, and some develop pale washed-out patches.
Why the plant reacts this way — A pothos grown in low light builds thin leaves with little protective pigment. Hit with more light than it can process, it folds to reduce the surface facing the sun and to slow water loss in the heat.
What to change
Pull it back to 1.5-2 m (5-6.5 ft) from a south- or west-facing window, or hang a sheer curtain. Target light level without a meter: you can read small print comfortably, and your hand held 30 cm (12 in) above the plant casts a soft-edged shadow, never a sharp one.
How you will know it worked — Afternoon folding stops within 2-3 days of moving it. Bleached patches are permanent; the leaves that open over the next 3-4 weeks show whether the new spot suits it.
6. Spider mites or thrips feeding on new growth
How it happens
Warm dry room, nobody has looked at the undersides in months. The newest leaves come out curled, small and lopsided, with fine pale stippling, a dusty grey cast and faint webbing in the leaf joints (mites), or silvery streaks with black specks (thrips).
Why the plant reacts this way — These are sap feeders. They puncture cells on a leaf that is still expanding, so the damaged side stops growing while the healthy side keeps going — the leaf has no option but to curl and twist.
What to change
Wipe both sides of every leaf with a cloth and a mild soap solution, 5 ml dish soap per 1 L of water (1 tsp per quart). Repeat every 5-7 days for three rounds to catch newly hatched eggs, and keep the plant at least 1 m (3 ft) away from your others until it is clean.
How you will know it worked — Hold a sheet of white paper under a leaf and tap it. No moving specks after the third round means you are clear. Undistorted new leaves take 3-5 weeks to appear in low light.
More causes (4 remaining)
7. Fertiliser salt build-up in the soil
How it happens
You feed at full label strength every two weeks all year, in a room 2-3 m (6.5-10 ft) from the window. There is a white crust at the pot rim and on the soil surface, leaves curl downward with brown edges, and nothing has grown in months.
Why the plant reacts this way — Light is the energy budget, and in a dim room the budget is small, so the plant takes up very little mineral nutrition. The unused fertiliser accumulates as salt, which holds water in the soil chemically and burns root tips — the roots cannot drink even from damp soil.
What to change
Flush it in the sink with 3-4 times the pot's volume of water: a 15 cm (6 in) pot holds roughly 1.5 L, so run about 5 L (1.3 gal) through it slowly and let it drain. After that, feed at quarter strength at most once a month, and only in the growing season — roughly March to September in the northern hemisphere.
How you will know it worked — The leaves that unfurl over the next 4-6 weeks should have clean, unburnt edges. Existing brown margins stay.
8. Cold draught or ice-cold tap water
How it happens
Mid-winter, leaves resting against single-glazed glass or sitting beside a door that opens to outside, and you water straight from the cold tap. Leaves curl downward and go limp, sometimes with dark patches appearing overnight.
Why the plant reacts this way — Cold roots take up water slowly, and below about 10 °C (50 °F) a pothos is close to chilling injury. The leaf keeps losing water to the room while the root system has effectively slowed to a stop, so it curls.
What to change
Keep leaves 10 cm (4 in) clear of the glass, keep the room above 15 °C (59 °F), and water at room temperature — fill the can and leave it out for a few hours before using it.
How you will know it worked — Limp curling reverses within 1-2 days once the temperature is stable. Dark cold-damaged patches are permanent; watch for 2-3 weeks to confirm no new ones appear.
9. Repotting shock from root disturbance
How it happens
You repotted one or two weeks ago, teased the root ball apart, possibly jumped two pot sizes, then watered it heavily. Leaves started curling within a few days and the plant has done nothing since.
Why the plant reacts this way — Most water is absorbed by fine root hairs, and those are what tear off during repotting. Until they regrow the plant has a fraction of its absorbing surface, and in low light rebuilding roots is slow because there is little energy to spend on it.
What to change
Change nothing else — same spot, same light. Water only when the top 5 cm (2 in) is dry, give no fertiliser for 4-6 weeks, and if you went up more than one size, move it back into a pot only 2-3 cm (1 in) wider than the root ball.
How you will know it worked — Curling should stop spreading to new leaves within 10-14 days. A genuinely recovered plant pushes a new leaf in 4-8 weeks.
10. A new leaf unrolling normally, mistaken for a problem
How it happens
Only the newest leaf at the end of a vine is rolled into a tube, light green, emerging from a papery sheath. Every mature leaf on the plant is flat and firm.
Why the plant reacts this way — Pothos leaves develop rolled up inside a sheath and unroll as they expand — that is simply how the plant builds a leaf. Nothing is wrong with it.
What to change
Leave it alone and never unroll it by hand. In a north-facing room 2 m (6.5 ft) from the window expect it to open over 7-14 days, against 3-5 days in brighter light, and expect it to be a smaller leaf than one grown near a window. That size difference is the light budget, not a fault.
How you will know it worked — Photograph it next to a ruler today. If the same leaf is still rolled after 3 weeks and has gone dull or brown at the tip, go back to causes 1 and 6.
## None of Those? Narrow It Down
- Push a finger 5 cm (2 in) into the soil in the middle of the pot. Dry points to cause 1 or 3; damp or wet rules both out and sends you to 2, 7 or 8.
- Lift the pot immediately after watering, then again 3 days later. Still heavy with wet soil on day 3 means poor drainage and likely root rot; light again within 24-48 hours in a dim room means the water is channelling past a compacted root ball.
- Do the shadow test at midday: hold your hand 30 cm (12 in) above the leaves. A sharp dark shadow means direct sun is reaching the plant, so cause 5 is in play; a soft fuzzy outline is medium light; no visible shadow means low light, and low light alone does not curl leaves — keep looking.
- Turn over the three newest leaves and hold them up to the window, then tap one over a sheet of white paper. Stippling, grey dust, webbing or moving specks confirms pests; a clean underside rules cause 6 out.
- Squeeze the stems where they enter the soil and smell the surface. Soft, collapsing stems or a sour swampy smell is root rot and means you unpot it today, not next week.
- Look at the pot rim and the soil surface for a white or yellowish crust, and recall how often you feed. Crust plus full-strength feeding confirms salt build-up.
- List what changed in the last 14 days — repotted, moved, heating switched on, fed, new window. A change that lines up with when the curling started usually is the cause, and shock cases need stability rather than intervention.
- Check whether the curl is on old leaves, new leaves, or only the single leaf at a vine tip. Only the tip leaf rolled and every mature leaf flat means nothing is wrong at all.
Why Low Light Does This
Start with the thing that explains nearly every low-light houseplant problem: light is the energy budget. A pothos 3 m (10 ft) from a north-facing window receives a small fraction of the light it would get on a bright windowsill, and everything it does has to be paid for out of that small income — new leaves, new roots, repairing damage, and crucially, pulling water through itself.
Water movement in a plant is driven mostly by transpiration: water evaporates out of pores on the leaf, and that pull drags a column of water up from the roots. In bright light those pores open wide and the whole system runs fast. In a dim room they barely open, the pull is weak, and the plant drinks slowly. This is why the same watering routine that works beside a window drowns a plant in a corner: the soil is not drying because the plant has stopped asking for water. The roots suffocate in a pot that stays wet for two weeks, and the leaves then curl exactly as if they were thirsty — because functionally they are. Overwatering and underwatering produce the same curl, which is why the finger test comes before the watering can.
The same budget explains the rest of the pattern. Low light means fewer root hairs and a smaller root system, so there is less absorbing surface to buffer a dry spell or a draught, and less reserve to regrow after repotting. It means small, thin leaves with little protective pigment, which is why a plant moved straight into sun folds up rather than thriving. And it means the plant takes up very little fertiliser, so anything you add beyond a quarter-strength monthly feed accumulates as salt in the soil. Once you can see light as income and water, roots, leaf size and feeding as spending, you can predict what the next plant in that corner will do before it does it.
Keep It Alive From Here
- Water by condition, never by calendar: check with a finger 5 cm (2 in) down in the centre of the pot and only water when that depth is dry. In a north-facing room that will land somewhere between 10 and 20 days apart, and it will stretch out further in winter.
- Keep it in a pot with a drainage hole that is only 2-3 cm (1 in) wider than the root ball, in a mix with 20-30% perlite or bark, and tip the saucer out 10 minutes after watering. In low light, a pot that is too big is the most common way to kill a pothos.
- Feed at quarter strength once a month during the growing season only — roughly March to September in the northern hemisphere — and flush the pot with 3-4 times its volume of water once a year to clear accumulated salt.
- Wipe the leaves with a damp cloth every 4-6 weeks. Dust on a leaf in a dim room is a direct cut to an already small light budget, and wiping is also when you will catch mites before they curl new growth.
- Keep it 1.5 m (5 ft) from radiators, heat vents and AC outlets, 10 cm (4 in) off cold window glass, and above 15 °C (59 °F). Rotate the pot a quarter turn each time you water so the whole plant gets its share of the window.
- When you do move it to brighter light, go in stages: 50 cm (20 in) closer every two weeks, and never straight onto a sunny windowsill from a dim corner.
Related Guides
What Usually Goes Wrong Next
- pothos yellow leaves after repotting
- pothos leaves turning brown and crispy at the tips
- pothos not growing new leaves in low light
Curling is the one symptom that cannot tell you whether to water or stop watering, so the finger in the soil always comes before the watering can. In a dim room, treat wet soil as the more dangerous of the two — a pothos there drinks slowly and drowns easily. And once you have fixed the cause, stop reading the old leaves: they keep the shape they hardened into, and the only honest progress report is the next leaf, three or four weeks out.
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