Hi, I'm completely new to growing any type of plant so a real novice here. I planted some ivy on my balcony in a reservoir type pot which I thought would be an easy way to keep the ivy watered. I haven't been so worried about keeping it topped up recently because it has been raining quite a bit. I have been away for a few days however and I came back to some of the vines completely full of brown leaves. It has been really dry while I was away. This morning I decided to strip the vines of all of these leaves but I have no idea what has happened. I have three of these pots on the balcony which some of the plants are starting to wilt and brown but one now is looking pretty sick.

Do you think the reservoir pots are a bad idea for ivy? And it is drowning the plant? Or is it lack of water while I was away. The soil was pretty dry when I got back. But I'm not sure if the soil underneath is soaked and it's causing the roots to rot? 've included some pics if you could have a look.

Thanks

The type of sub-irrigated plants that you have works fine as long as it is set up properly initially and as long as you refill the reservoir as soon as the indicator reaches the lower red line. When used outdoors, rainfall can keep the mechanism from working properly.