Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Climber losing leaves

pinkvampirepinkvampire Posts: 5
in Problem solving
Newbie gardener here. Unsure what climber this is on my fence but had it since we moved into our house a couple of years ago. For the first time it's shedding quite a few leaves this month and leaving bare patches. Anyone know what this climber is and if it's dying?

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2021
    It's an ivy ... possibly this one https://www.greatplantpicks.org/plantlists/view/752 or a variant 

    I would clip that hard back to the fence and trellis otherwise one day it'll get so heavy in a rainstorm  it'll pull the fences down ... that's exactly what happened here a week after we'd moved in, and we had to pay out for new fences and a skip for all the rubbish ... 

    Clip it hard back (after first checking for birds nests of course) and then it'll grow fresh new shoots and cover the fence thickly again without all the long reaching branches ... then every year clip it back like a hedge and it'll look great.  B)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Mrs-B3-Southampton,-HantsMrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants Posts: 732
    Are the roots in your garden or next door?  Maybe they've done some pruning.
    Southampton 
  • pinkvampirepinkvampire Posts: 5
    Roots are in my garden. We haven't touched it at all for past two years.
  • Mrs-B3-Southampton,-HantsMrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants Posts: 732
    In which case Dovefromabove said:
    It's an ivy ... possibly this one https://www.greatplantpicks.org/plantlists/view/752 or a variant 

    I would clip that hard back to the fence and trellis otherwise one day it'll get so heavy in a rainstorm  it'll pull the fences down ... that's exactly what happened here a week after we'd moved in, and we had to pay out for new fences and a skip for all the rubbish ... 

    Clip it hard back (after first checking for birds nests of course) and then it'll grow fresh new shoots and cover the fence thickly again without all the long reaching branches ... then every year clip it back like a hedge and it'll look great.  B)
    and I agree.
    Southampton 
  • pinkvampirepinkvampire Posts: 5
    Thanks I'll try that!
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    The roots will be in both gardens!  We had ivy like that covering a fence when we first moved here.  Kept clipping back as per Dove's instructions but we missed a few years and it was as thick as it ever was - and it was making the fence lean.  We had it all out, fence and all, a couple of years ago (yes, a skip job) and that area is now my veg patch. But there are still ivy roots at the far end and ivy on the fence twixt my neighbour and me and I think the roots are coming from next door now.  
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
Sign In or Register to comment.