A possible early indicator of a problem with your English ivy plant is wilting leaves and a generally weak appearance. Leaves will droop if the plant isn’t given the required attention and is grown in an unfavorable environment.
However, it might take a few days before you can detect the cause of the problem. Find the root reason for drooping leaves and address it before the situation worsens.
English ivy leaf drooping can occur for different reasons, including:
Why is My English Ivy Wilting
Overwatering
English ivy is known to be a resilient plant. However, like all plants, it will die if it receives too much water. The plant will drown from excess water in a pot without drainage holes or in low light and temperatures.
Overwatering and unhealthy plant growth result in too wet and dense soil. If you overwater, the soil will become waterlogged, and the roots won’t get enough oxygen to transport water and nutrients to the plant’s leaves and stems.
When English ivy gets too much water, it flops and looks terrible. It might also result in root rot and other diseases.
It would help if you examined the plant’s roots to see whether or not your ivy dies after being transplanted. Your plant’s soil will dry out faster if you put it in a bright, well-ventilated environment.
If the roots are healthy, you can dry them by spreading them out on paper and placing them in a well-lit area where the light isn’t directly hitting them.
Roots that are deteriorating should be cut back, and fungicide should be applied to the soil around the healthy roots.
Transplant your ivy into a new container using potting soil. Check that there are adequate drainage holes in the pot.
Once your plant has recovered from being repotted, you can begin regular watering and fertilizer.
Underwatering
While it’s true that English ivy thrives best in dry soil, that doesn’t mean you should water them too infrequently.
A wilting English Ivy plant can also indicate that the plant is under-watered. However, this is not always the case and can be confirmed by measuring the moisture content of the soil.
Ivy plants need enough water so that their roots can absorb water, nutrients, and minerals. Without adequate watering, the plant will eventually wilt or wither and die.
Dry Soil
Your English Ivy plant can become dry, brittle, brown, and droopy if it hits the age of thirty.
A small pot with less soil or exposing the plant to high temperatures or intense light can also cause the soil to dry out quickly.
Dry soil can be remedied by poking holes in it with a chopstick. Then, water the plant thoroughly until it leaks out the holes in the bottom.
However, there is another way to save your English ivy.
Put the water to a depth of three to four inches in a bucket. Remove it from its container and set it in the bucket for 30 to 40 minutes to soak the plant. After the soil has been wetted, return the plant to its pot and put it in indirect sunlight.
If the top soil is dry to the touch, soak your ivy until water drains through the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot.
Poor Light Conditions
The ideal light conditions for English ivy growth range from moderate to brilliant. However, it should not be placed directly in the sun. Strong sunshine causes the plant to lose water quickly because of the elevated transpiration rate.
When plants lose too much water, their leaves wilt or droop due to stress. They become wavy and bleached, develop brown patches, and lose their natural color.
On the other hand, if the plant isn’t getting enough light, it starts to wilt. It means the plant fails to obtain the energy it needs to carry out its many life activities. Therefore, it loses its vigor and becomes floppy as it runs out of food and water.
Growth retardation, wilted and droopy leaves, smaller leaves, and legginess are all symptoms of inadequate lighting.
Therefore, you should place your English Ivy in a spot that receives filtered or partial sunlight. The plant should be kept out of direct sunlight to avoid sunburn and wilting.
Position the plant next to a window that faces either north, east, or west. Keep the plant away from a south-facing window to shield it from the sun.
You can either move your plant a few feet away from the window or use curtains or window films to diffuse the light if you don’t have an east- or north-facing window.
If your plant struggles to thrive in low-light conditions, you can opt for artificial lights in its preferred location.
Poor Temperature Control
Your English Ivy becomes sick and feeble if kept at the wrong temperatures. They thrive between 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
The leaves dry up and wilt whenever temperatures go too high due to the plant’s inability to retain water. The cold damages the plant’s cells, causing them to droop.
Wilting leaves are a sign that a plant has been shocked by a change in temperature. If you suddenly expose your English ivy to a different temperature range, it will experience stress like any other plant.
If you want your English ivy to thrive, you must keep the temperature regulated and shield it from sudden shifts.
Do not place the plant near draughty windows, open doors, or air conditioning units. Furthermore, keep your plant away from heat sources, such as heaters, radiators, vents, or fireplaces.
If you relocate the plant, ensure the new area maintains consistent temperatures. You can also use a thermostat to check the temperature range.
Low Humidity
English ivies require humid to very humid surroundings. They cannot survive in environments with lower than 40-50% humidity. The water is lost from the plant leaves by transpiration when the relative humidity is low, wilting the leaves, making them crispy, curly, brown, and dry.
Spritz the leaves of your English ivy plant with a spray bottle to enhance humidity twice a week. You can use a hygrometer to precisely measure the humidity around your plant, allowing you to spot a problem with low humidity. You can also increase the humidity in a room by using a humidifier.
Over-Fertilization
Over-fertilizing your plant might cause damage to its roots due to the accumulation of excess salt in the soil. It prevents the plants from carrying out physiological functions, causing them to weaken and droop when their roots are injured or diseased.
Brown patches on foliage, wilting leaves, brown tips and margins, and a white crust on the soil’s top are signs of over-fertilization in your English ivy.
You can remedy minor harm from overfertilizing ivy by scraping the soil’s top layer and replacing it with new, untouched dirt. Irrigate the soil thoroughly three or four times to flush out the extra residue after applying fertilizer.
The plant should be dried in bright filtered sunshine once the soil has been washed. Your plant will begin to show signs of recovery after a few days.
However, if the damage is severe, the English ivy must be repotted in new potting soil. Remove the diseased or damaged sections of the plant and repot it in new, nutrient-rich soil. Hold off on fertilizing it for a few months until it recovers.
Pest Infestation
If you think Your English ivy is wilting, it might be suffering from pests and diseases if you have already ruled out improper irrigation and environmental variables.
Various insects and pests, such as mealybugs, spider mites, aphids, whiteflies, and scales, can cause damage to your English ivy. They can extract all the water and nutrients from leaves by sucking their sap.
As a result, the plant loses water, gets sick, and starts wilting. These insects can kill your plant in a few days if you don’t cure it early enough as they spread rapidly.
Therefore, you should keep your English ivy separate from the rest of your houseplants.
Remove any dead, dying, or diseased branches and leaves from the plant using clean, sharp pruning shears. Place your plant under running water to wash away any bugs. Use cotton swabs dipped in rubbing alcohol to wipe out the affected area.
If you want to keep the pests away from your ivy, spray it with Neem oil or horticultural oil once a month. If the problem persists, use insecticides.
Final Words
There can be numerous reasons for a wilting English Ivy. Thoroughly examine the plant to determine the root of the problem.
Even if only a few of your ivy’s leaves are wilting or drooping, you may have caught the problem in time to salvage the plant
You can fix the situation plant and have it looking healthy again in a matter of weeks if you figure out what’s wrong. Leaves won’t droop if you provide your English ivy with the best circumstances to develop.
Check more:
- Why Is My English Ivy Not Growing?
- What Is the Best Fertilizer for English Ivy?
- 6 Reasons Why Your English Ivy Is Dying and What You Can Do About It
- Why Are My English Ivy Leaves Crunchy?
- What to Plant With English Ivy?
Hi! I’m Sophia, and I love plants – especially an expert in growing house plants. I stay in Chicago, United States of America, and through my blog and social media platforms, provide tips and tricks on how to grow healthy, vibrant plants indoors. Check out more here.