My ivy is really green and wilted! Do I need to stop watering or water more???

Question

I am a second grade teacher and my students water the ivy...I don't know if they have over watered the plant...I would think so since it is really green, however, it is also wilted like it needs water. Please advise! :)

Answer 1

Dig down in the soil... if it's wet, you need better drained soil if the kids are going to keep watering.  Or you need to teach them how to water properly.

My guess is the roots are rotting off in the soggy soil.  I would

dump the rootball out of the pot, wash all the soil off, trim any brown roots, trim a proportional amount off the top of the plant, and repot in fresh soil.  You may need to put the plant in a smaller pot -- the root mass should fill about 3/4 of the pot volume.   And you can use the cuttings you removed from the plant to start new ones.

Proper watering: soak the soil completely, let it drain, dump out the water in the saucer within about 15 minutes; don't water again until the soil is dry about 1/2" -1" down.  With practice, you'll find how heavy the pot is when it's wet and when it is dry.  Clay pots will ring (instead of "thunk") when tapped when the soil is dry.