posted
I recently got married and trasplanted several of the ivies from my wedding for my new house. My Ivy was doing wonderfully, there is new growth and nice healthy leaves. Recently I've found little holes developing in some of the leaves and also the leave right by the soil are starting to turn brown and fall off. What am I doing wrong? To much, not enough water? I fertalize and can't find any bugs. A pot of Ivies my mom transplanted for me did the same thing and slowly died over two months. Starting at the base the leaves turn brown. I don't want to lose my Ivy:( Any ideas?
* * * * Every Day is a beautiful and blessed gift from God. Plants: 1 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 2005
| Seeded: 216.211.104.163
posted
The brown, falling leaves at the bottom sound like spider mites, which ivy is especially prone to. Spider mites are rarely visible to the naked eye, but look for very fine, mini spider-webs. But you may not even find those unless the mite population is quite high. If it is indeed mites,I would recommend thoroughly spraying the leaves and stems, top and bottom and undersides, with a mixture of 2 parts water to 1 part of rubbing alcohol. Every 3 days for 1 month. But I must add that I've never myself defeated spider mites on an English Ivy, though I've eradicated them on other plants. E.I. seems to be the perfect food for the monsters, rendering them impervious to assault! I've given up on E. Ivies for this reason.
Plants: 22 | From: Lexington, KY | Registered: Sep 2005
| Seeded: 207.200.116.66
posted
I just re-read my post and realized it was quite discouraging, so I want to add that some people have been known to win the ivy-mite battle. Coolness (50f to 65f)and humidity are important to preventing an ivy infestation from occuring. If you're not sure whether it's mites and don't want to risk the strain of the frequent alcohol sprays, you might try just one alcohol spray followed by frequent misting with plain water. It is also possible that the problem is under or over watering, under-watering would seem more likely with ivy...do you water as soon as the very top of soil surface begins to dry?
Plants: 22 | From: Lexington, KY | Registered: Sep 2005
| Seeded: 207.200.116.66
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