Hi Everyone! I'm new to this forum and posted a little introduction earlier. I'm a very novice houseplant owner living in Manhattan and I thought I would join to learn from this online community. Currently, my favorite houseplant (after my blooming jasmine plant) is my Swedish Ivy. I've noticed recently that it's not looking as spritely as it did before. Some information: 1) I've had it for about a month, repotted it into a bigger pot 2) I mist it every morning and night. 3) I make sure it has a moist soil but I usually wait for the soil to dry a little on top before watering again - this ends up being once every two weeks. That seems like not enough, but I've been using my soil indicator very frequently to check and it seems to always have enough water. 4) However, sometimes it reads "wet," which worries me a little. The water isn't sitting on the soil or anything - it's fully incorporated, but it does read "wet." I heard I should be pinching back on the Swedish Ivy but I don't know how to do it or where to start! I want this guy to get bushy and stay that dark green, shiny way it used to be. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks, Kinza
Hey There Kinza, I had to look up the Latin name to be sure of which plant you were talking about. hahaha. I know this plant as La Planta del Dinero or sometimes simply, Moneda. I had a huge one when I lived in Spain. Here we call it, Geldplant. Right then miss--on to your questions: BTW, before I comment, what do you mean when you say that it isn't looking as spritely as it did before? Are you referring to the leaf colour? Are you referring to the turgor of the leafs and stems? Brown crispiness of the leaf edges? I have to say that in the foto that you supplied, it looks oké. Pinching off--I would take the distal 1/3rd of the stems that you target to pinch-off. This will shorten the stems and yet leave the "eyes" plenty of room produce side branches, making your plant more bushy than it already is. BTW, should you want to make a second hanger, the stems will root easily in water or if you use some rooting powder and plant them in seeding soil. In either case, remove all leaves except for the most distal 2-4. This cuts down on moisture loss during the period that the cutting will be trying to form roots. This pinching out handling is not something that you need or ought to do frequently. Only do this when your plants begins to show signs of age and loosing stems or leaves...looking sort of baldish. About every 2-3 years I would suggest. Has your plant bloomed for you yet? It will bloom when it is happy and produce flower stems with a number of flowers on them. Good luck meid.
I think your plant looks fine too. I have noticed that plants that looked fresh and new at the garden center don't look as pretty at home after a few weeks. And I think that is normal since when they arrive at the garden center for sale they are coming from the perfect environment of the green house where they were grown....perfect amount of sunlight or artificial lighting, purified water and clean air. They get into a typical home or garden setting where there is no perfect sunlight, water or air and they loose some of their prettiness. That might be what you are noticing about your plant and shouldn't be a life threatening problem. I think it's just adjusting to life in the real world.
It actually looks fine to me too. You can if you wish just take a pair of scissors and dip the blade in alcohol to sanitize, and snip all those growth tips protruding above the main plant. That will help the plant stay bushy and full. Like was said before you can also snip a few in the stems close to the soil line and start more plants. Swedish ivy is a pretty tough plant. I had it growing outside once with little care and Texas heat and would have sworn it was indestructible.
Thanks for all your help guys - the more I think about it, the more I realize too that it came from a perfect greenhouse environment most likely and is just adjusting to life in my apartment where humidity is always an issue, among other things. I would like to control its growth a little bit to make it bushier so I'll see what I can do about pinching back.
http://www.gardenstew.com/plantstew/565414 It looks great! If you trim any pieces off, stick them in the ground. They'll quickly cover the ground & can be a lovely "annual" that way. Picking it up is probably a much better gauge of whether it's time to water than the gauge. When it feels significantly more lightweight than when you just watered, it's probably getting thirsty. Does that hanging pot have an attached drain saucer?
@purpleinopp It doesn't have an attached drain saucer unfortunately - actually its too heavy to hang on anything currently!!! It's such a dense plant. When I got it, it was originally in too small of a pot (plus it was one of those flimsy ones). So I transferred it to a hanging planter thinking I could hang it. I'm going to get those heavy duty hooks for heavy plants and go from there. My cat actually pulled one out and I've rooted it in water for now! It's growing some roots . Ill definitely try the weight method because I think the gauge isn't as accurate as I thought it was. Thanks!
If it's really heavy, that makes me wonder why. A fluffy/chunky soil shouldn't be too heavy to hang, and not a heavy plant w/o any soil. Attached drain saucers that come on hanging pots don't do anything but harbor about 1/2 inch of water that can kill plants. When pots have one, I remove it. IMO, it's good that your pot doesn't have one. But when there's not one, the drain hole may be recessed about 1/2 inch above the bottom surface of the pot right in the middle. That can be dangerous too. I use a pruner to nip a hole at the bottom so excess water can drain out when I realize I have a pot like that.
I noticed my first buds of this season for this species today. How are others' plants doing? It's a piece in this pot. I also have some in this giant pot.
@Kinza Hasan - your Swedish Ivy looks lovely to me and quite healthy. I've had them over the years and if they're happy they look like yours but if not they'll let you know pretty quick. I can't really offer any suggestions that haven't already been mentioned here. They are easy to grow and give lots of lush looking foliage.
Your plant looks fine to me.Here are some tips that you could follow to ensure that your plant remains healthy throughout the year.I read these tips from a blog online and I hope that you find it useful.Swedish ivy needs a constant room temperature of 60-75F year round.Water them atleast once a week and make sure that you allow the soil to dry a little between the waterings.Good drainage is necessary here so make sure that you do not let the ivy sit in water.Feed them once every two weeks during the summer and spring and once a month during fall and winter.If it becomes too leggy you could pinch off the vine tips after flowering.You could repot the swedish ivy every 2-3 years.
