Oh My! I Found A Satin Pothos aka Scindapsus Pictus
On a recent Plant Haul which really wasn’t a plant haul, I happened to run across a Scindapsus pictus, one of these plants that I have seen in YouTube and heard talked about but I have never had one. A Scindapsus Pictus is what most people call a Satin Pothos or Silver Philodendron, but no matter what name we call it, I love it.
Let me show you how beautiful she is. Look at those spots!
Scindapsus has very velvety leaves with white splotches on them. My particular plant has small scattered white spots so I think it is the Scindapsus pictus “Argyraeus” variety. There is another variety called “Exotica” that has a lance-shaped leaf with larger white areas.
Scindapsus Care Tips
These Scindapsus like to have a lot of bright light but not sunshine. It could lose some of its beautiful variegation if it gets too much light. (Same thing if it is kept in very low light.) I think I will place mine on a shelf near a window but not sitting in front of that window so no sun will shine directly on it.
As with most plants, water only after the soil in the first one or two inches in the pot feels dry. It should be easy to care for since it can be watered on a regular basis with all my other plants including the pothos and philodendron that it resembles.
Pruning and clipping ends from these vining plants can help to keep them full and bushy. Snipping off the end of a branch stimulates the plant to make more leaves and branches. Plus it gives you a start to put in water and root a new plant.
Just put the clipping into water or press it into some soil and it will shortly grow roots and you’ll have another plant to add to your collection.
Growing Scindapsus in a Cache Pot
As you can see in my video, my plant came in a medium-sized terracotta pot but it did not have a hole in the bottom. Since terracotta does allow the air and water through the sides of the pot, I wasn’t worried.
But after some careful examination, I found out that there is a plastic nursery pot fitted inside the terracotta pot so it is actually a cache pot. ( A cache pot is sort of an “overpot” so that your plant can have a pretty outside but inside it is really planted in a plastic nursery pot.)
I really was excited about this and decided that I may experiment with some indoor hypertufa pots with liners of plastic made to fit so that I can switch out planters and plants easily.
Since I am constantly wanting to change things, this could give me a great opportunity to change things up, but still not add too much extra work in the process.
Let me start scouting around for some liners for my Easter Basket Hypertufa Planters!
For example, this plant, a Red Chinese Evergreen, makes a wonderful Christmas decoration plant, lasting longer than poinsettia. I could have red and green hypertufa cache pots ready to switch out at Christmas. Oh the possibilities are endless.
I think that I may look for some paint to paint up a special pot for the Scindapsus in a dusty white color that may just match the spots in the leaves. Talk about custom made!
Anyway, here is the video that I filmed so that you can see the actual size of the plant and see what a good buy I got. Come back and visit for more posts and videos too!