Just wondered if there was anyone else out there with this prob. I have tried growing several kinds of ivy (tried my first one when I was 16) and they ALWAYS die on me.
The last one I had got spidermites, the ones before that would usually get dry and crumble even though I watered them quite often!!
I have the same bad luck with schefflera for some reason.. they will get puny and wilty, or turn yellow, or get big brown spots in the leaves!

But anything else does fabulously for me!!

Soooo...here is the weird part:
I was at my MIL's house and noticed her beautiful ivy plant and touched (with my fingers) a leaf of it and told her how pretty it was. It shriveled up and died within 2 weeks and she'd had it for years!!! We thought it was funny and speculated that it was something about my touching it that did it. Wellll... I touched her schefflera as an experiment and it died too!
Could I have poison fingers? LOL Maybe something about the oil in my hands or something??

Just curious if anyone had ever had an experience like this!

That does sound wierd. I've never heard of anything like that. I'll be interested to hear any information you get on this one.

I'm sorry, it's just so funny the way you typed your post!
I highly doubt it's the oil on your hands. There's oil on everyone"s finger tips. I've never had that problem before, but hopefully we can get it solved, I'll try to google and see.

On the other hand, I have a black thumb (black's worse than brown! LOL ) I care too much about my plants and seedlings and over water them and kill them

Hey, what's so funny about it?!

Anyone have a mother-in-law whose plants they want me to touch??

LOL

--Manda

manda, i'm sure it is a coincidence. i can't imagine you being able to kill a sheflera just by touching it once.

that said, i'm wondering if your ivy problem is much like mine. i have a hard time finding healthy plants. it seems that if they are healthy when i get them, they pick up something on the way home and are dead in a month or less. i can grow nearly anything else.

Manda your funny..I am sure it was just coincidence as jiffy said;-) Ivy for me is the easiest to grow, I have a few varieties.

Are you over or under watering? most of mine are in my bathroom with the skylight as their main source of light. Too much light will brown them.

Also which types have you grown?

I have no luck with ivies. I wish I could get them to live, I'm lucky if they survive a month here. :p

I guess somethings grow better for others...I have that with africa violets- always die on me?....I am trying again..;-)

I'm going try ivies again in the spring. Although I have no problem with them in the Summer months and even into the Fall. But every Winter, I lose them I don't know what I'm doing wrong.... maybe practice makes perfect!

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/growingivy.html
scroll down half way and it has ivy as house plants,
i just got a little ivy, hopin it dose well for me,

Ha!
Sorry about laughing, that is a quite the situation Manda!
I have a kangaroo paw fern and it seems to have problems mirroring that of the ivy. I water it and then it drops. Looks healthy in all other areas..wonder if it is b/c of the winter?

I'm a glutton for punishment :rolleyes:
and bought some more ivy today. I just love it and it was 75c/each on the clearance table at Walmart, so I thought I would try again!!

One quick question. Does ivy like to be misted?? I have typically used the mister on it in the past. I want to make sure I don't make the same mistake with this one!! Mine is "Glacier Ivy" which says it likes more sun, so we'll see....

Thanks ya'll!
Manda

Manda,
For what it's worth, I have three ivy plants (two types) all hanging in west-facing windows. I tried them elsewhere and they didn't like it at all. Since I moved them to the west windows (where they stay all year long) they are all growing and are just beautiful. I only water them about once every 10 days or so. I let the water run through to about 1/2 inch in the saucer and then just leave them alone. Every two or three months I put them in the shower to wash the dust off the leaves. BTW, two of them are now over 1 year old. Hope this helps.