Can anyone diagnose this problem?

My Virginia Creeper is only 18 months old but was doing grand until this week when brown spots appeared on the leaves and it seems to be wilting. My local garden centre says it needs feeding but it looks more serious to me. Any thoughts anyone??

blackbox

too wet?

I wonder?? - it has deteriorated further since I posted with the new growth turning brown immediately after it emerges and more brown spots appearing. Also the leaves are much smaller than they should be - compared to my neighbour's gorgeous one - so I don't have much hope for it. There is no problem with surface drainage where it's planted but as you suggested maybe the underlying clay is heavy and wet.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7HItjU5zqcZKL_Ks9edpEXGmKR6lGtfGYvgUd31duSs?feat=directlink

Marhay70

Looks like some sort of fungal leaf spot, possibly caused by all the wet weather. Pull off a couple of leaves and take them to a local garden centre where the horticulturist should be able to confirm it and suggest a treatment. Virginia Creeper can also suffer from scale, are there any little grey or brown bumps on the stems? Scale, I imagine would also affect your neighbour's vine but give it time.

I did bring a couple of the leaves to the garden centre on Sat last and they told me it needed feeding and sold me a box of Growmore....maybe I'll try a different centre and see what they say.
I've just checked there now for scale type insects but I don't see anything in the line of bumps. It's growing in a gravelled area so I raked all the gravel away from it today and the soil underneath the stones was quite damp. I gave it a new layer of nice dry sandy soil around the base and will see if it makes any difference.
If it's a fungal infection can it recover?

lk67

It looks typical of a plant that needs better conditions. Spots and colouring like that usually have thier root (!) in poor soil. This can mean too wet, too dry, or just poor quality. Has it a good depth of soil? Is it planted tight to a wall? (It should be planted slightly out and leaned in.)

Generally plants need feeding for the first couple of years to help root establishment and growth. This is especially true of wall plants as the soil gets leached of nutrients because of the drainage caused by the wall foundations. This causes roots to dry out too...

So ... keep it fed and watered for a couple of years until it gets established. This will promote growth and make it less susceptible to disease.

macraignil

I saw a prize winning clematis grower on TV a few weeks back and they claimed a big way to help climbers grow well is to only water the roots directly. I guess that less moisture near the surface and on the foliage make it more difficult for fungal spores to become a problem. He simply cut the end off plastic water bottles and stuck them in the ground upside down without a cap near the roots of his climbers. In dry weather he can pour water into the upturned bottles and so feed water directly to the deeper roots of the climbers.

ShayH

Hi. I have a 10 year old Virginia Creeper. For some reason this year at least half the plant has failed to come into leaf. I'm wondering if the recent hot dry spell is to blame and whether or not I should give it a chance or just dig it out?