About
The marble queen pothos, Epipremnum aureum “Marble Queen,” a member of the Araceae family, was originally found growing on French Polynesia islands; today it is native to tropical and subtropical forests throughout the world. As a houseplant, the easy to care for marble queen pothos, also called Devil’s Ivy,” grows well in many different locations throughout your home. Its long, cascading, draping vines look beautiful decorating a table, hanging gracefully in a basket, or set in wall planter. A marble queen pothos can also be trained to climb a bark or peat moss pole.
Marble Queen Pothos Description
As an outdoor plant, the vines on a marble queen pothos can grow 50ft – 60ft ( 15m-18m) long, using aerial roots and thick stems to cling to trees and other surfaces. The leaves can be as large as 35” (90cm) long and 16”-18” (40.6cm – 45.7cm) wide. As a houseplant, a marble queen pothos is a much smaller plant with thick, waxy, green, and white, heart – shaped leaves that are usually 4”- 6” (10cm- 15cm) long and 2”- 3” (5cm -7.6cm) wide. The long vines, if left untrimmed, grow 6ft (1.8m) or more in length.
Quick Care Tips for a Marble Queen Pothos
Minimum winter temperature 50°- 55°F (10°-12°C) or leaves may be damaged.
In low light, the attractive white pattern in the leaves turns green.
Black or yellow patches on leaves indicate over watering.
Entire leaves turn bright yellow when the soil gets too dry and then you water.
Easy to propagate using stem tip cuttings.
Aggressively prune the ends of long vines to keep plant full and bushy.
Pothos Plant Varieties
Jade pothos has solid green, leathery, heart shaped leaves.
Golden pothos has green and yellow, leathery, heart shaped leaves.
Neon pothos has bright chartreuse, heart shaped leaves that get darker as the plant matures.
Pearls and Jade pothos (a marble queen variant) grows more slowly, has smaller leaves, and the white highlights are along the edges of the leaves.
N’Joy pothos resembles the Pearls & Jade variety; the small, green leaves have a cream and yellow design.
Snow Queen pothos has more white in its leaves than a Marble Queen pothos.
Glacier pothos has smaller, more rounded, white and green marbled leaves.
Neon Pothos Pearls & Jade Jade Pothos Golden Pothos Snow Queen
Conclusion
A Marble Queen Pothos is a popular, hardy, fast growing, attractive plant that is perfect for someone just starting to care for houseplants. Although it is a “clean air plant” that removes harmful chemicals from the air, a Marble Queen pothos is also a poisonous plant and should be kept away from pets and small children. Read more about common houseplants that are poisonous in Don’t Feed Me to Your Cat! A Guide to Poisonous Houseplants .
Plant Care
Light
A marble queen pothos survives in low light but looks better and grows faster in medium to bright indirect light. When the light is too low, the white swirls on the leaves revert to green on the new growth.
Water
Marble queen pothos like their soil to be kept on the dry side. During the spring and summer, water well and then allow the top 50% of the soil to dry out before watering again. During the fall and winter, let the soil get almost totally dry before watering. If in doubt, wait for the leaves to become soft and droop a little before you water. Black leaves indicate over watering while bright yellow leaves mean the plant has gotten a bit too dry before you watered.
Fertilizer
Feed every other month with a plant food high in nitrogen diluted to 1/2 the recommended strength.
Temperature
The best temperature is between 65°F-85°F (18.3°C-29.4°C) The leaves may be damaged if the temperature drops below 55°F ( 12.8°C).
Humidity
Marble Queen pothos grow well in basic household humidity.
Pests
All pothos plants are relatively pest free. Thrips and mealy bugs may be a problem and can be treated with the “Green solution” (recipe in the Glossary the website).
Diseases
Bacterial leaf spot disease causes dark spots with yellow halos. Keeping the leaves dry helps prevent bacterial diseases. Root rot and stem rot fungal diseases cause stems and roots to become mushy and die. These problems need to be treated with a commercial fungicide and correcting how you are watering the plant.
Soil
Use a well-aerated, quick-draining potting soil; if the soil is heavy and doesn’t drain well, add a little sand to the mix.
Pot Size
A marble queen pothos likes to be root-bound in a small pot. When the roots have filled the existing pot, move to the NEXT size pot and nothing larger.
Pruning
Aggressively trim the long vines every few months to keep your plant full and bushy. You can use the stem tip clippings to easily start new plants.
Propagation
Stem Cuttings are a very simple way to propagate a marble queen pothos and all other pothos varieties.
Clean Air Plant
All varieties of pothos plants clean the air of harmful chemicals.
Poisonous Plant Info
A marble queen pothos is very poisonous with a #2 toxicity level. Pets that eat stems or leaves of the plant may exhibit vomiting, pawing at the mouth, lack of appetite, and drooling.
FAQ
Your marble queen pothos is not getting enough light to maintain the white variation in its leaves. Move your plant to a brighter location and the new leaves should be white and green again.
The temperature in your sunroom may be getting too cold for a marble queen pothos especially at night. Cut off the damaged leaves and move your plant to a warmer location.
Sounds like you are over watering your marble queen pothos and the stems and perhaps the roots are rotting. Cut off all of the dead or dying stems and do not water again until the soil has totally dried out.
Yellow leaves occur on a pothos plant when you allow the soil to dry out too much before you water. The plant can droop a little, but be sure to water it well before it has drooped too much.