Need an easy tip to keep your ivy plant fresh and healthy? Check out this great pro tip to keep your ivy plant fresh and looking it’s best all year round.
At the beginning of the week I wrote a post about how to make a topiary from a coat hanger.
If you haven’t read it yet and don’t have $75 to spend on a real ivy, you might want to read it here.
So many of you e-mailed me.
There were tales of woe about ivy plants that didn’t make it and ivy plants that shriveled and turned brown and went to meet their maker.
I get it.
I understand.
Keeping an ivy alive and green and ready to take on the coat hangers of the world can be a little bit challenging.
The number one enemy of ivy is a spider mite. If your ivy looks a little sad and the leaves start turning white or brown and you turn up the leaves and find these little black bugs on the underside of the leaf? Those are spider mites. They are NOT YOUR FRIEND.
Banish spider mites forever with this one simple solution.
Dishwashing soap.
I think my grandmother told me this years ago when I first started making topiaries. I was complaining to her about the leaves and the ivy shriveling and she told me to use dishwashing soap to get rid of them.
And I don’t know why it works.
But it does.
The secret is cheap soap.
No fancy stuff.
No extra anti-bacterial nonsense.
Just soap.
How to keep your ivy fresh and free of spider mites
1. mix the soap and water mixture
Simply add 2 tsp. of soap to one pint of water.
Don’t add any more soap or your topiary may not recover.
Then pour the mixture into a spray bottle filled with water.
2. spray leaves
You want to give the leaves a thorough soaking.
I typically put my ivy plants in the sink before I spray them. Then I take my spray bottle and spray the leaves every two to three weeks.
I spray the top and then flip the leaves over and make sure to spray the undersides where the bugs live.
That’s it.
I don’t really like using harsh chemicals on my plants.
It’s not that great for them and it’s definitely not that great for me.
The soap and water mixture is such a better option.
Your topiary will thank you.
Your ivy will thank you.
And the spider mites will have to buy a Winnebago and take a cross-country trip to their condo in Florida 🙂
PS Here’s an article on using soap that has much better directions and tells when not to use soap under certain conditions.
My daughter told me this simple treatment solution and it saved my ivy that I'd had for three years. Her friend told her that lemon Joy dish soap is the best, (don't know why) and that's what I use. I've not had those pesky things since using the soap and water on the ivy plants. Also use it on any other plants that get those bothersome pest.
Yes have been using that method for awhile!!! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Spider mites are a major pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, now that i know i may have to go buy some different kinds, love ivy, you are so kind and smart!
Omg - thank you!! I just put my ivy plant outside because I could tell it had bugs! Tomorrow I’m trying this 😊
I have an ivy that my brother gave me when my first son was born, 45 years ago. It is really looking scroungy, so I'm going to try this and see if I can keep it many more years. It's hard to believe that it has stayed alive all these years!
Hit the road spider mites!!! xoxo