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Why is my golden pothos sweating?
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acockworkorange mander.xyz acockworkorange@mander.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-09
(edited) Quote

I work in a windowless office. My wife got me a plant to spruce up the place, it's supposed to be watered once a fortnight and need very little light.

It sat in the dark in the weekend and when I got it it had these water drops on many of its leaves. What's up?

30   Original
MentalEdge sopuli.xyz MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-13
#2 · (edited) Quote Reply

Plants evapotranspire.

Fancy word for what you might call "sweating". Normally you won't see it because the humidity evaporates as quickly as it builds up in and on the leaves.

Water moves from the roots out to the leaves to transport itself and nutrients. The excess generally doesn't go back down, but instead evaporates through pores on the leaves.

I'm not sure this is that, but if the air in the office gets cold/humid, you'll see the water bead up on the leaves instead of evaporating.

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thagoat lemmy.dbzer0.com thagoat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-03-28
#3 · Quote Reply

It went over your budget spreadsheet this weekend and it has some bad news for you

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acockworkorange mander.xyz acockworkorange@mander.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-09
#4 · Quote Reply

It went over your budget spreadsheet this weekend and it has some bad news for you

Oh no.

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acockworkorange mander.xyz acockworkorange@mander.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-09
#5 · Quote Reply

Plants evapotranspire. Fancy word for what you might call "sweating". Normally you won't see it because the humidity evaporates as quickly as it builds up in and on the leaves. Water moves from the roots out to the leaves to transport itself and nutrients. The excess generally doesn't go back down, but instead evaporates through pores on the leaves. I'm not sure this is that, but if the air in ...

Thanks! So not a sign of over watering or some other stress, I take?

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MentalEdge sopuli.xyz MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-13
#6 · (edited) Quote Reply

Thanks! So not a sign of over watering or some other stress, I take?

I don't think so.

If you know the species of the plant you might look up what to look for in terms of under/over-watering.

But "morning dew" is something you'll see on plants all the time in nature. That's when the cold air during the night causes water to bead up on their leaves. It'll disappear as it falls off and starts evaporating again with warmer temperatures.

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acockworkorange mander.xyz acockworkorange@mander.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-09
#7 · Quote Reply

I don't think so. If you know the species of the plant you might look up what to look for in terms of under/over-watering. But "morning dew" is something you'll see on plants all the time in nature. That's when the cold air during the night causes water to bead up on their leaves. It'll disappear as it falls off and starts evaporating again with warmer temperatures.

Thanks!

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cybervseas lemmy.world cybervseas@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#8 · Quote Reply

Plants evapotranspire. Fancy word for what you might call "sweating". Normally you won't see it because the humidity evaporates as quickly as it builds up in and on the leaves. Water moves from the roots out to the leaves to transport itself and nutrients. The excess generally doesn't go back down, but instead evaporates through pores on the leaves. I'm not sure this is that, but if the air in ...

My dieffenbachia drips water from the tips of its leaves after a thorough watering. I believe it's called guttation. I think that's another reason the leaves get wet.

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TJDetweiler lemmy.ca TJDetweiler@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-07-02
#9 · Quote Reply

Our pothos do that too. Pretty normal stuff according to my wife.

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