[Arid_gardener] RE: Passionvine

[Christine M. Bahto]

ORIGINAL QUESTION:
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:34:50 -0700 (MST)
From: idontbelonghere_ at msn.com

Melissa
85032
idontbelonghere_ at msn.com

I have several passion vines (the typical purple flower sold here) on a west
facing wall.  One has leaves that are growing all curled in and wrinkly and
some of the flower buds dry up and go brown before opening.  This particular
vine also seems to spread as 2 or 3 feet away from it a new vine will pop up
from the dirt.  I've noticed it is covered with ants but don't suspect
they're causing the deformed leaves.  My other vines are doing great-can I
help this one?
Thanks!

ANSWER:
Melissa,
I have a few ideas about your passionvine, but I need more info from you.

First, is the irrigation to this particular vine working properly? Make sure
its not clogged and water is flowing freely
(I'm assuming they are on drip?).

Second, it could be thrips or spider mites. Do you see any webbing on the
plant? Are leaves also stippled, spotted, or
yellowing? If you see webbing it's spider mites, you can try giving the
plant a good spray of water, as they thrive in
dry conditions, this will also work on thrips (although you won't be able to
actually see the insect).

Third, have you used any kind of herbicide near this particular plant that
you might not have used near the others?

If you can provide some answers to these questions, I (or, we) can probably
give you a more accurate answer.

As for the ants, passionvines exude honeydew through their leaves which
attracts ants, so they're normal.

Christine Bahto
Master Gardener, Maricopa County, U of A Cooperative Extension