Hi,

I have a vine kind of plant that leaves on the top of a shelf by the heater. The plant was triving until the winter started. Although the soil is moist, the leaves are drying out starting from the ones closer to the roots. I believe this is happening because when the heater is on, the heat goes up to the ceilling closer to where the plant is.

1) besides moving the plant to another location, what else could I do to help it heal?

2) what plant I could put at the same location that would not suffer with the heat?

Thank you!

Not many plants, if any, are going to relish having heat blown on them!

I believe your plant is a Grape Ivy (Cissus rhombifolia). I don't think that the heater is the problem. Rather it is either lack of sufficient light and/or improper watering.

Your Ivy should be within a few feet of a sunny window. It is not a low light plant. On top of that shelf, it is too high to get maximum light.

Allow the top half-inch of soil to get quite dry before watering thoroughly. It will also benefit from pruning back some of the stems that are either very long or have lost many leaves.

A better plant for that location is a Pothos.

To my eyes, the leaf shape resembles those of Ivy (Hedera) rather than Grape Ivy (Cissus alata) Here are photos from our database for comparison:





Whichever plant it is, I agree that it requires higher light than what it has been receiving atop that tall bookcase. Both the Hedera and Cissus are drought tolerant and will tolerate heat to an extent but constant, direct heat blowing on any plant will dry the foliage considerably. If the soil is staying moist, there could be an issue at root level from the soil retaining too much moisture.

I agree that your plant needs brighter light, closer to a window. Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is one that would do well in lower light situations.

My sense is that the high shelf is too far from the heater for the heater to be doing much damage. Inadequate light, however, is a good reason to relocate it.

Good point Will ... it appears the heater is to the right bottom of the high shelf and the heat would have to be directly blowing on the plant or the entire room would have to be extremely hot to cause damage. Inadequate light and watering are more than likely the cause of the problem.

Even if the heat isn't that hot, say 80 degrees, warm dry air blowing up there and bouncing off of the ceiling could be significant, no?
This would essentially be a warm draft. The plant and soil would dry out more quickly. A cold draft would be worse! I just would avoid placing any kind of plant in any kind of draft.
But at least we know that it is a grape ivy. That's something.

Dry, hot air will surely make a lot of plants unhappy ... unless it's perhaps a cactus.

Thank you so much for all the replies. I'm new to caring for plants. Overall I have been doing a good job, but from time to time things like this happens.

I moved the plant to a brighter location, and cut the damaged leaves off. The soil has enough moist, so I'll wait longer to water again.

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I think the damage done by warm drafts is overstated unless the plant is so close that the foliage is overheated. That would not be the case here. It is certainly true that warm air will dry out the soil much sooner, but that can be remedied by more frequent watering.