Njoy Pothos: How to Properly Care for the Plant That Can Purify Air

The Njoy pothos plant of the Araceae family has benefits that are mind-blowing, to be honest. This plant is among NASA’s list of plants that are great at purifying the air from all sorts of toxins.

It also looks so pretty to keep as a houseplant. Our guide here has been compiled to help you raise the best Njoy pothos of the Epipremnum genus you’ve ever seen.

What Is an NJoy Pothos?

Njoy pothos is a houseplant with the scientific name Epipremnum pinnatum “joy,” and it is a cultivar of Epipremnum aureum or the marble queen pothos. It has gorgeous variegated leaves with a mixture of white, dark-green, and light-green colors. The maximum height this plant gets is about 9 inches tall.

NJoy Pothos Care

Your N’ joy plant needs filtered bright light and distilled water when the topsoil dries. A soil with a 50:50 mixture of peat and perlite works the most. This plant shouldn’t be exposed to lower humidity levels. If fertilizing, do so only during spring and summer time.

Learn about these care requirements more up ahead.

Water Requirements 

The Pothos Njoy likes soil that is slightly moist for the most part. You will need to water this plant whenever about one inch of the soil dries up from the top. Given below are some tips regarding watering that you must know.

Determine How Dry the Soil Is

How can you tell for sure that the top inch of your soil has dried up? Here are some of our most effective ways:

• A moisture meter will always be your favorite gardening tool. If it shows a reading lower than 7, it’s time to water your Njoy plant.
• Don’t own a moisture meter? No problem, just put your finger in the soil and feel how dry or moist it is.
• You can also use a pencil if you don’t want to put your finger in the soil.
• The soil is dry if you pick your pot up and it feels super lightweight.

Watering Plants Like a Pro

The most straightforward method to water this plant is from the top. You need to use a large amount of water and aim it towards the soil. Keep the water away from the plant as it attracts mold. Keep watering until the water starts to flow out of the pot.

You can also reverse water this plant. In this technique, the pot is slightly submerged in a bucket full of water. This water is slowly soaked up by the soil. 

When the surface of the soil starts to feel moist, it has been watered through and through. It would help if you now took the pot out of the bucket. This method might not be feasible for regular watering.

Distilled or Filtered Water Is the Best

Distilled water is the best for pothos because it doesn’t add salts and minerals to the soil. The same goes for filtered or reverse-osmosis water. If you must use your tap water, then it must be safe enough. Any laboratory in your area will tell you what constituents are present in your water.

Rainwater is another option you can opt for. When it rains in your area, collect this water and use it when your plant soil is dry.

Light Requirements 

This plant needs moderate to bright light that has been filtered the best. Technically, it will survive low light conditions pretty well. However, the white variegations on the leaves will turn green to compensate for the decrease in light levels.

Here are some pointers to keep in mind when growing this plant at home.

Growing Inside the House

This plant needs to be placed in the brightest room of your home or office. The ideal spot to put it is near large windows that face either east or the west. These windows get bright light all day long, and it is indirect for the most part. You can try filtering direct light with lightweight curtains in the morning or evening.

The window that can harm the plant is if it is towards the south. You should either move the plant away from this window or place thick curtains over it all day.

Growing Outside in the Lawn

Are you planning to keep this plant out in the garden? Since you cannot leave it under the direct sun all day long, choose a shaded spot. We usually place ours next to a tree that filters out the sun. You can use tiny umbrellas to serve as both a shade and a decorative item, and it works quite well.

Any wall that faces north also keeps the direct sun out. You can align your pothos along this wall and be at rest. 

Growing Without Natural Light

Natural light might be the best for plant photosynthesis, but you can grow this pothos variety without it.

Order a couple of artificial grow lights from your local gardening market. You have two options: LED lights and fluorescent lights. Go for LED lights because they are cheaper, longer-lasting, and use less electricity. You will need to run them for longer than fluorescent lights.

Soil Requirements 

Your Njoy pothos needs potting soil that has optimum drainage and is also full of nutrients. That is why a 50:50 ratio of peat and perlite works the best. Peat is a form of moss that provides your soil with the essential nutrients the plant needs for growth. 

Perlite, on the other hand, comes in the form of small, round balls. These balls increase the porosity within the soil and make the air and water flow through it more easily. 

The pot is as important as the soil. Although it depends on your own choice, we suggest you use a terracotta or clay pot. This way, the pot also contributes to the plant’s increased airflow.

Temperature Requirements 

Around 65 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal temperature you need for your Njoy plant. It grows beautifully under conditions of warmth all year round. Now, how can you replicate the hot, tropical weather that is native to this plant? We have got some fantastic tips for you.

• In summer, you will be able to maintain the temperature quite well. This is both inside and outside the house. 
• If the nighttime temperature falls below 65 degrees Fahrenheit during summer, it is best to keep it as an indoor plant.
• If the plant is inside the house during summer nights, keep the windows closed at night.
•  When the winter months arrive, you need to move the plant inside and keep it in a temperature-controlled room that is warm enough for its needs.

Humidity Requirements 

Your plant has to have 50 to 70 percent humidity levels to flourish to its full potential. Most houses usually have indoor humidity levels around 50 to 60 percent. If you want to be sure, get a hygrometer and see for yourself.

Your kitchen and washroom will be the most humid rooms in the entire house. If your house or outdoor area is dry and low on humidity, don’t worry. There are so many ways you can artificially improve humidity around this plant.

Increasing Humidity 

There are different methods of increasing humidity artificially, depending on how low it is. You can read all of them below.

• If only a slight increase in humidity is needed, then moving all humidity-loving plants close together helps greatly.
• You can also very lightly mist your plant from a distance. Misting should be done no more than twice a week and only in the morning.
• If the air in your house is particularly dry, then you should place a pebble tray under the pot.
• You can also get a humidifier and have it running on auto in the same room as your plant.

Fertilizing Requirements 

Pothos N’joy do like to be fertilized every now and then during spring and summer. This is when it is undergoing its most proliferative growth. 

You have several options to choose from when it comes to fertilizers. Read them all below to decide which one suits you the most.

Liquid Fertilizer

This is the most commonly-used form of fertilizer. It provides instant nutrients to the roots of the plant. For Njoy, we suggest you use a well-balanced formula with an NPK ratio of 5:5:5.

It is always practical to dilute the fertilizer before using it on the plant. Add water equal in volume to the suggested volume of fertilizer. This will dilute it to half its strength. Apply this mixture every two weeks.

Pellet-form Fertilizer

Pellet-form fertilizers are mostly those that release their nutrients slowly over a period of four to six months. You can buy these pellets and bury them near the roots within your pot.

Their primary advantage is that they pose a minimal risk of fertilizer burn. Their disadvantage is that they will not instantly rejuvenate your roots with nutrients like a liquid fertilizer would.

Natural Fertilizer

Are you someone who likes to keep it organic and make your own compost? That is great because you can add homemade compost to your soil. 

Put compost on top of the soil and use a rake to gently mix it within the top layers. Do this every third or fourth week for the best results.

Pruning

Grooming is just as important as watering and feeding plants. Cutting off stems that have grown off-kilter to maintain the plant’s shape also helps promote further plant growth. Using only sterilized and thoroughly cleaned cutting tools for grooming and pruning would be best. Regularly clean the leaves of your plant using a slightly moist towel. 

A plant covered with dust neither looks good nor is very healthy for the plant. Regularly pruning off leaves will improve the air circulation around the plant. It will also help spot pest infestations early on.

Propagation

Finding N’joy pothos for sale is not that easy. That is why it is best to propagate the plant yourself at home. You can then gift all of your friends their own pothos joy.

Below, we have explained the two most straightforward methods to propagate this plant successfully.

– Air Layering 

Air layering is when you grow roots on an existing plant and then plant it in a new pot. Carry on down to learn the steps of the air layering technique.

• Choose a strong stem or stem branch on your plant. Make a cut on this branch two inches below where a leaf grows.
• This cut should not cut the entire stem into two parts. Instead, it should cut only one-third or halfway through the stem.
• Place a toothpick in this cut so it doesn’t heal instead of growing roots. 
• Cover the cut first with damp sphagnum moss and then a plastic covering. Secure both tightly with a gardening rope.
• Every second week, open your wrapping to replace the dampened moss.
• New roots will grow from your cut. You can now cut the stem branch two inches away from the cut and place it inside the soil.

– Stem Cuttings or Leaf Cuttings

This is the traditional route of propagating any pothos, be it njoy, golden pothos, or whatnot.

• The first step is to take the perfect stem cutting five to six inches long. Make an angled cut with a clean instrument to take the cutting.
• Your cutting should have at least one leaf node as these serve as growth centers.
• Dip the cut end of the cutting in rooting hormone and bury it within the soil. The rooting hormone accelerates growth and prevents infections.
• Instead of a stem, you can also take several leaves from the plant. Bury them in the soil along with their stems.
• Make sure your pot has the best light, water, soil, and temperature conditions. 
• Your new baby pothos will grow back up within a few weeks, around five to six at most.

Problems

The most common problem among pothos plants like njoy and jade pothos is root rot. Other less frequently occurring problems are legginess and pests.

Find out the details of all these problems up ahead.

– Leggy Plant

Pothos Njoy is a plant that is extremely prone to developing legginess. This is what happens when the plant develops very long, stretched-out stems. 

The plant will have a bare appearance with thin, long stems and very few leaves on it. Legginess often develops when the plant is sort of light-deprived. It starts growing linearly towards any light source that it can find.

Check where your plant is with respect to light. If only one side of the plant is exposed to light, you need to keep rotating the plant daily. This is so that all sides get an equal light and the plant stops stretching.

– Root Rot

Your Njoy pothos plant will quickly succumb to root rot if it is overwatered. Its roots will be the first to suffer from this fungal disease. Soon the disease will progress to the rest of the plant.

Signs of Root Rot

Root rot is hard to miss as it has some classic signs you can learn below.

• Yellow, irregular, and moist spots will develop over the plant.
• Leaves will become swelled up and start to droop down under the extra weight.
• A faint rotten smell will surround the plant.
• Upon depotting, the roots will be thin, brown, and limp instead of firm and white.
• If not treated on time, black patches will develop, followed by the deadly leaf drop.

Treatment of Root Rot

In order to treat the roots, the plant needs to be depotted. It is best to lay it on an absorbent paper to soak all the extra water away.

You must chop off the parts of the plant that have turned black. These are dead parts that will not get better. Spray the rest of the plant with an anti-fungal spray. Sterilize the soil and the pot or use new ones if possible. Again, pot the plant in the soil and carry on weekly anti-fungal sprays until the yellow spots disappear.

Preventing Root Rot

Create several properly-sized holes at the bottom of your pot. Add loads of chunky ingredients to your soil to loosen it up more. 

Be consistent when it comes to removing the water from the drip tray. Lastly, if using a pebble tray for humidity, put large pebbles in it. This is so that the pot touches the pebbles and not the water directly.

– Pest Attacks

Pests are very common among household indoor plants. You might face a recurrence of these pests every second month or so. The most common pests to look out for are mealybugs, aphids, spider mites, and scale insects.

Learn more about these harmful pests here.

Signs of Pest Attacks

When these pests attack your plant, they will begin to feed on its phloem. As a result, your plant will become weaker and weaker until its growth stops altogether. Yellow and brown spots will develop on the weakened leaves, and soon all of the leaves will begin to turn yellow.

Treating Pest Attacks

In order to treat pest attacks, you need to follow some straightforward steps. These are given as follows:

• The affected plant first needs to be washed with water and insecticidal soap.
• Then take a neem oil moistened paper towel or cotton roll to scrub off the pests and larvae still left on the plant.
• You can also use neem oil foliar spray to kill insects every week.
• Manufactured insecticides are also available and work effectively to kill the pests every week.

Preventing Pest Attacks

Pests like to grow and thrive by hiding under leaves and stem sheaths. Because Njoy plants have a bushy growth, pests find it easier to hide under its leaves. That is why you should constantly groom and prune the leaves. You should also clean and wash your plant on a regular basis so that any infestation can be detected right at the start. 

The most important thing to do is isolate an infected plant from healthy ones. Otherwise, all your plants will become infested in a short period of time.

– Toxicity

Your Njoy plant, like its parent specie Epipremnum aureum, is toxic. This toxicity comes from calcium oxalate crystals in it. That is why you better keep an eye out for the pets and kids in your home. Chewing on its leaves will cause severe mouth and stomach burns.

Even you are at risk of developing skin rashes when taking care of this plant. It is best to wear gloves whenever you are caring for your Njoy.

FAQ

What does Njoy Pothos look like when it needs watering?

When Njoy Pothos needs watering, its leaves may droop and appear wilted. The soil should be slightly damp but not waterlogged.

How do you take care of Njoy Pothos for beginners?

For beginners, care for Njoy Pothos by placing it in bright, indirect light, watering when the top inch of soil is dry, and fertilizing monthly.

Does Njoy Pothos need to hang?

Njoy Pothos doesn’t need to hang, but it can be trained to climb or cascade. It thrives in hanging baskets, pots, or when placed on shelves or stands.

Conclusion 

It is now time to summarize this guide on Njoy plants. Here are the important points you need to know:

• Njoy pothos needs indirect yet bright light and regular watering when the topsoil dries.
• Around 65 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature range you need to establish for this plant.
• Don’t let the humidity around the plant fall below 50 percent.
• Njoy is easily propagated through cuttings or air layering techniques.

That is all you need to know regarding this unique pothos plant. Now wait no more and order this plant right away!