mandevilla vine

[Brenda Hammond]

I've got a mandevilla vine that I've recently brought indoors for the fall/winter. We're in a zone 7/8 area (southwestern B.C., Canada). The temperatures have been dipping to about 40°F overnight. Since I've brought it in, the leaves and flowers have been falling off, some of the leaves are turning yellow, others have black areas on them. I'm unable to find any kind of bugs on the plant. It was in a semi-shaded area in the house and I've just moved it to a brighter spot. Does anyone have any ideas about what might be wrong?

Thanks in advance, Brenda

[Pam - gardengal]

Hope you sprayed it down well with a good, strong stream of water to dislodge any hitchhiking insect pests. And dousing with insecticidal soap may be in order if you do find any insects (check on the undersides of the leaves and where the leaf stem joins a stem or branch). Otherwise, I think your primary problem is the plant just adjusting to drier, warmer conditions inside the house and insufficient light levels. It needs lots of bright but indirect light.

This may help:

- gardengal

[Vox Humana]

I have a mandevilla that I bring in every year. It starts to drop leaves after a week or so and by Christmas it is completely bare. I let it go dormant, watering just enough to prevent it from going bone dry. When the nighttime temps are above 40 in the spring, I put it back outside. You might consider just letting it go dormant as I doubt it will do well if you don't have a greenhouse. Mine got a little too dry this winter and died back a lot in the basement. However, it did wonderfully outside this summer. I leave it outside until there is danger of a hard frost. I'm in zone 5 - Cincinnati.