Question
Hi Darline,
Actually I have 2 questions.
First, I have about 25 ivy. A strange thing is happening to almost all of them. They are having some leaves turn brown and wilt, the strange thing is it is the same leaf on all of them. It is the next to the newest leaf that is turning brown. What could be causing this? They all have done very well in the past and there has been no recent change in care or environment.
The other question I have is about a large ' Peacock ' Chinese evergreen. The plant seems to have stopped growing, there has been no new growth on it for the last few months. Otherwise the plant is doing well, there has been no leaf loss or leaf browning. I have given it small amounts of fertilizer and there has been no change in care or environment since it was growing before. The only thing is it has always been under artificial plant lighting and the lights went out, it took me about 4 days to get the lights up and running again but it had stopped producing new growth a couple months before this happened. What could be the problem and what can I do to get it to start growing again. I am very fond of this plant.
Thank you for your time.
Mick

Answer
Mick,

Your Chinese Evergreen may have reached it's maximum mature size for the pot it is in. Plants do not grow larger forever. For it to grow larger you may need to divide it first or just leave it the size it is. Is it pot bound? What size pot is it in?

As for the ivy, inspect it very closely in bright light for signs of spider mites such as webbing over the ends of the vines. Spider mites frequently attack ivy and to get rid ot them you can take the ivys outside and spray them off with a hose and literally wash away the spider mites.
Or you can spray them with rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. If you do not see spider webs let me know what you do see when inspecting whe plants closely in the damaged area. It is either insect damage or human damage. Let me kn ow what you find.

Darlene