Ivy hoop

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Scallionboy New York, NY Nov 21, 2007

I don't know what to call this thing; topiary or bonsai seem a little elevated. Anyway, my wife bought one of those potted ivies at Trader Joe's, the kind that's been trained to grow around a wire hoop forming an ivy ring about 8" in diameter. It looked great when it came home (assuming that you like that kind of thing; I don't) but soon started to look dry. I repotted it. The roots were a solid mass. Didn't help. I tried daily mistings. Didn't help. This morning it went south.

Any ideas why this happened? She had another one that died, but I'm pretty sure that one had mites. Totally different appearance.

Thanks.

Happy Turkey Day,
Bill

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Nov 21, 2007

If it was really that rootbound, it could be by the time you repotted it, it was already too late. The problem when plants are really rootbound is that it's almost impossible to get the plant the amount of water it needs. If you catch it in time and repot, most of the time you can save the plant, but if the plant had been chronically underwatered for long enough before you got it, it may have been too late to turn things around. The other possibility is that you didn't untangle the roots enough when repotting--if you have a totally rootbound plant and you just drop it in a larger pot without untangling the roots a bit, then you haven't really fixed the problem.

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Scallionboy New York, NY Nov 21, 2007

Thanks. That was pretty much what I guessed. It was clear that no matter how much I watered or misted, the plant was dying of thirst. I made an attempt to untangle the root ball when I repotted it, but it looked like I'd have to start hacking away with a knife.

Maybe next time. Anyway, I saved the wire form, so I can give it a shot from scratch.

Bill

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