A couple weeks ago our temperatures in Portland were dropping to unusually freezing temperatures. I wrote about the mysterious happenings, describing how my China Blue vine started turning black on the areas of new growth. I also noticed my beautiful hardy kiwi vines were showing black leaves as well.
I decided to write the folks over at One Green World to see if this was temperature related, or if something else was wrong (disease, unmet light requirements, etc). It took them a couple weeks, but here is an excerpt of their response:
“Blackened leaves and new growth tips are typically caused by freezing or dropping in temperatures such as we have had lately. Our China Blue Vines had been flowering when the temperatures dropped more recently and they themselves are now black in color. The old established growth seemed to not be affected, but the new shoots and flowers did not appreciate the cold. Once your vines get more established they will be more tolerant of the late frosts and will be more acclimated so that you will not have as many new shoots and tender growth coming out at the first sign of warm weather.”
I am relieved to know that my observation was correct and only the young, new growth was being affected. Some of you commented about having similar problems during our temperature drop, so hopefully this helps you hardy kiwi and china blue vine gardeners!
Yea for experts! It’s nice to know what the problem is. Your Taj Mahal is epic.
We have been having a problem with new growth tips dieing on our China Blue Vine all summer long. The new vines start and grow for maybe a couple feet then the last bit of the growing tip turns black and dies. We amended the soil well with compost before planting, keep it reasonably well watered, and gave it a nice tall trellis to grow up. The location gets good morning and early afternoon sun. It is on it’s second year and this tip wilt problem has been happening since the beginning.
Jack, that is strange. I would give the folks at One Green World Nursery a call and pick their brains. My china blue was just frost bitten, but you obviously have another mystery going on.