While English ivy is a beautiful plant to grow indoors and outdoors, it does have a common problem—it grows leggy. While a leggy plant isn’t always bad, it can be bothersome if you want a fuller-looking plant. So, how do you make an English ivy plant fuller?
Here’s how to make an English ivy plant fuller:
- Ensure the English ivy receives adequate sunlight.
- Trim the plant periodically.
- Provide it with a humid environment.
- Water as needed.
- Use the correct type of soil.
- Fertilize your ivy.
- Take cuttings and add them to the pot.
English ivy is a robust and fast-growing plant with vibrant leaves that grows well indoors and outdoors. There is no reason your ivy shouldn’t have full foliage, and there are ways you can fix a leggy ivy. This article will discuss how you can make your English ivy plant fuller. Read on!
1. Ensure the English Ivy Receives Adequate Sunlight
One of the most critical aspects of plant care is sunlight, as plants can’t thrive without it. With English ivy, providing the right level of sunlight is essential, especially if you want the plant to grow fuller. Too little sunlight will cause the ivy to grow “leggy,” while too much direct sunlight will scorch the leaves.
English ivy needs sufficient bright, indirect sunlight for ideal growth. This plant can survive in low light conditions, but it won’t grow as fast or develop fuller foliage as in bright light conditions.
If you’re struggling to find an area that has bright, indirect sunlight, consider the following tips:
Find an East-Facing Window
East-facing windows will have indirect sunlight for your plant, while west or south-facing windows will be direct sunlight.
Hang a Sheer Curtain
You should hang a sheer curtain over a west or south-facing window. A sheer curtain will block the direct sunlight and give your plant the indirect sunlight it needs.
Keep Some Distance From Bright Windows
Place the plant three feet (0.91 m) away from a brightly lit window. Any further away will be more low-light, and any closer will give your plant direct sunlight. It’s also best to ensure the light isn’t directly hitting your plant, even from three feet away.
2. Trim the Plant Periodically
Trimming your English ivy now and then is a good idea to promote fuller growth. Not only will trimming shape your ivy (which also makes it look a bit fuller), but it encourages the plant to grow more stems. In fact, every time you remove a stem, plants typically grow two new limbs in its place.
Trimming will encourage the plant to branch out with more stems, leading to a fuller-looking ivy plant.
If you want to trim your ivy, consider these helpful tips:
Consider the Purpose of Your Ivy
If you’re growing your ivy outdoors, it might not need to be as full or bushy as you think, as growing longer stems is ideal in this case. If you’re growing your English ivy indoors, shaping it and making it fuller is best.
Trim Outdoor Ivy in the Spring
If you’re growing ivy outdoors, trim in the spring. It’s best to cut your outdoor ivy right before the growing season.
Trim Ivy Straight
When trimming ivy, be sure to make a straight cut just above a leaf. This cut will encourage new growth on the stem.
Avoid Pinching
It’s best to use pruning shears or scissors over pinching. Pinching is often perfectly acceptable, but scissors guarantee a clean cut on the stem.
Leave Room for Regrowth
When trimming, leave at least 18 inches (45.72 cm) of the stem. Otherwise, the stem may not regrow.
3. Provide It With a Humid Environment
Ivy thrives in moderate humidity. So, if you want your plant to be fuller, it’s ideal to provide it with the environment it needs to grow healthy. It’s crucial to provide a more humid climate if you’re growing your ivy indoors. Additionally, keep ivy at a temperature around 50-70 °F (10-21 °C).
If you’re growing your English ivy indoors, consider these tips for increasing the humidity of the plant:
Buy a Humidity Tray
A humidity tray not only increases the humidity for plants that need it, but this tray also comes with decorative rocks, which add a beautiful accent to your home.
Place Your Ivy Around Other Plants
Grouping plants together often increases the humidity levels around them, which is necessary for your ivy’s growth and development.
Mist the Ivy Daily
Misting creates more humidity, but ensure you’re not over-misting, as you don’t want to give your plant too much water daily.
Use a Humidifier
Although humidifiers aren’t the best-looking option to put near your plant, they offer many benefits, including keeping your ivy in a nice, humid environment.
4. Water as Needed
Along with sunlight, water is an essential part of plant care. With English ivy, it’s important to water it only as needed, as too much or too little water can stunt the plant’s growth.
If you want your ivy to grow as full or bushy as possible, only water it when the top inch of soil is dry. Additionally, when you water it, ensure you water the plant thoroughly.
It’s also essential that the pot it’s in has suitable drainage holes. Otherwise, your plant can run into root rot, which won’t help it grow to its full potential.
5. Use the Correct Type of Soil
The soil you use for a plant is essential to its growth and development. Some plants require more or fewer nutrients than others, which is why there are so many different types of soil, and why it’s essential to use the one right for your plant.
English ivy requires well-draining soil. This requirement is essential because ivy needs proper drainage to avoid root rot.
Additionally, using loam soil is ideal. Loam soil includes various particles, such as clay, silt, and sand. This soil drains well and contains all the nutrients necessary for English ivy.
6. Fertilize Your Ivy
While fertilizing your ivy isn’t always necessary, it does help if you don’t think your English ivy is growing as it should or if you want to give it a little boost to grow more.
If you’re trying to give your ivy a fuller appearance, consider giving it a 20-20-20 fertilizer, such as the EZ-gro 20 20 20 Fertilizer on Amazon.com. This liquid fertilizer contains various essential micronutrients and functions as an all-purpose fertilizer, which will help your ivy grow more robust and fuller.
How Often & When Should I Apply Fertilizer?
You should fertilize English ivy twice a month in the summer and spring. Fertilizing every two weeks during these seasons will encourage better, faster growth in the plant. However, it’s essential to provide the ivy with the proper environmental conditions for fertilizer to achieve optimal results.
It’s essential only to fertilize English ivy during these seasons because they’re considered the ivy’s growing seasons. Feeding the ivy during its seasons of growth will encourage more (or better) growth overall.
7. Take Cuttings & Add Them to the Pot
Lastly, if you want your English ivy plant to be fuller, consider taking cuttings from the plant and adding them to the pot that holds your ivy. Propagating English ivy is simple, and repotting it is even simpler! If your main goal is to make your ivy fuller, this is a perfect way.
Here’s how to add cuttings from an English ivy back into the pot:
Collect Your Materials
To make cuttings and propagate them, you’ll need pruning scissors and a water container.
Cut the Shoots
Use the scissors to cut off 4 to 5-inch (10.16 to 12.7 cm) shoots. Depending on the current size of your English ivy will determine how many cuttings you’ll want to propagate.
Remove Any Leaves on the Bottom of the Cuttings
When propagating the cuttings, you should ensure that you don’t submerge any leaves in the water. Ensure nodes are left on the stem, or create your own nodes.
Place the Cuttings in a Container of Water
Again, you’ll want to ensure that you submerge only the stem in the water. Then, place the container in an area with bright indirect sunlight. After around five weeks, you’ll start to notice root growth.
Transplant the Cuttings
After the roots have grown around 2 inches (5.08 cm) long, transplant the cuttings to the soil. Carefully place the cuttings with their roots around the original English ivy plant. As the cuttings grow, you’ll have a fuller-looking ivy plant.
Conclusion
English ivy plants are prone to growing long and leggy, but for those who want the plant to be fuller, this can pose a challenge. Luckily, there are many ways you can promote fuller growth in your English ivy plant.
It’s essential to provide the plant’s ideal environment and growing conditions, including adequate sunlight, humidity, and water. Using the correct soil type, trimming, and fertilizing are also essential.
However, the best way to make an English ivy fuller is to take cuttings from the plant and add them to the same pot.
