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Ivy wall covering suddenly dying

r_lambTIZfst0mr_lambTIZfst0m Posts: 3
in Problem solving
 Oh no!!   2 or 3 weeks ago the ivy growing on a house wall started to turn brown and is now looking almost dead! Just a few pale green leaves hanging on. It's been there happily for 25 or more years, on a 5m x 2.5m section of north wall, planted on it's own through a gravel driveway, so is well drained and is kept tightly clipped. It's not near anything that could threaten it's wellbeing. It has been a bit hot and sunny during this time but there have been a couple of storms and it has never suffered in the past ....I have been watering it recently too.
So.....are there any ideas why this has happened [will we be able to replant something?], is there a chance of reviving it, and, if it has to be removed, any clever ideas how to get the remnants of aerial roots off the rough-rendered and specialist coated wall prior to re painting [scraping and blow-torches are not going to work!]?
I have searched the web to little avail but any help and guidance would be much appreciated, thanks....Richard L.

Posts

  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    edited June 2023
    Sorry to hear this. Could you post some photos at all? A few older brown dead leaves under the canopy are not unusual, but that is not the case with yours? Which direction does it face in relation to the wall - is it north-facing?
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    It could recover - I would wait and see. Possibly it has just got too dry and defoliated. If it's dead getting it off a rendered wall is going to be problematic!
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    @r_lambTIZfst0m - I 'd agree with @Loxley - the very dry conditions, not just over summer months, that many areas have had in the last couple of years can just be a bridge too far for many plants, even tough ones like ivy. They shed higher foliage to save the roots and the lower part so that they can survive and live to fight another day.  :)

    It also depends on the variety as well as the aspect. I grow a variegated one which can't cope nearly so well with winter conditions as well as others can, but it also hasn't enjoyed the very hot, dry weather we've had recently here where I am. In most years it would be much healthier at this time of year, and would have bounced back after winter, even though the winter was pretty mild compared to our usual ones. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    My Hedera hibernica got badly frosted but is now fully green.  My Hedera helix "curly locks" survived the winter unaffected; my vaiegated helixes suffered little damage. 

    Look for some problem with the roots.  Do your neighbours enjoy your ivy as much a you?
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    We have an ivy covered wall in the garden, not tall. All the ivy went brown after last year's drought, I thought it was dead. Now the ivy is all green again.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • r_lambTIZfst0mr_lambTIZfst0m Posts: 3
    Thank you everyone. Here's a pic to reaffirm the problem. Oh! That's come out large! Apologies -  Anyway just to confirm that this is a north facing wall and does get late afternoon/evening sun and the root's in the centre so no interference from neighbours or anything else. Virginia creeper on the right is doing fine as is the laurel on the left (not our boundary). The ancient bay's been struggling but that's a different story!!
    Thanks for the replies so far. It would be good to think it'll come back so I'll try not to panic and leave it a while. When would anyone give up on it and take it down though?.... and should I keep watering it? Over watering seems to be as big a problem sometimes on some forums.
    No idea what variety except in its youth it was variegated.
    Thanks again
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Variegated plants of any kind will always tend to be less tough than plain green ones.  :)
     
    There still seems to be green on it, so it isn't dead,  but it's hard to see anything from that distance. It may just be a bit of weather damage and will probably recover. Ivy generally doesn't succumb to many problems.
    It's almost impossible to overwater ivy unless there's a hidden problem with the ground that we don't know about, but if it's been there that length of time, it seems unlikely.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited June 2023
    Waiting is always a good strategy in gardening.

    I would recpmmend planting two new ivies in the free spaces and let them take over gradually.  Fibrex Nursery are closing at the end of this year.  I suggest you get a catalogue quick.  You could even ask their opinion of the problem.

    Your property certainly would look different without the ivy.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • r_lambTIZfst0mr_lambTIZfst0m Posts: 3
    Thanks for further help. Patience plus planting a couple of new ones...sound plan. There IS a drain under the left hand window though which runs away from the wall so are ivy roots invasive and likely to get [or have got!?] into it?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Yes and yes … particularly if the drain is the earthenware type rather than modern plastic. 

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





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