Why Plants Die
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Grape ivy

Cissus rhombifolia, Vitaceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Forgiving Among the more tolerant plants here.

Grape ivy (Cissus rhombifolia), the whole plant.
Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Toxicity is partly unassessed

  • Listed as non-toxic to cats by ASPCA.
  • Listed as non-toxic to dogs by ASPCA.
  • Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.

What the sources say about its care

Light
Medium light 100–150 fc
Clemson Extension · read 13 September 2026
Full sun, Partial shade
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Water
Moist but well-drained
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Temperature

How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.

H1C — 5–10°C 5–10 °C
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Loam; pH Acid or Alkaline or Neutral
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Listed as non-toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Listed as non-toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

How it usually goes wrong

Crisp margins that appear in winter

On a grape ivy the browning starts furthest from the midrib and works inward, and it crumbles rather than smears. The centre of each leaf blade is untouched.

Leaf margins are the end of the water supply, so they are the first tissue to run short when the air takes more than the roots can send. Penn State Extension cites 30% to 60% as the recommended indoor range, and a heated room in winter sits below it.

Telling it apart: Whether the soil is dry too. Crisp edges with damp soil point at the air; with dry soil, at the watering.

Penn State ExtensionDiagnose brown tips and edges on this Grape ivy
Growth slows and what does arrive is thin

Older leaf blades on the grape ivy keep their colour while each new one comes in thinner, with a longer stretch of bare stem below it.

Medium light is where its source places it. Below that the plant spends stored sugar faster than it makes it, and reaching is what that looks like from outside.

Telling it apart: Whether old growth is affected. Light shows in what arrives next; feeding shows in what is already there.

Clemson ExtensionDiagnose leggy growth on this Grape ivy
The leaves nearest the soil turn yellow and hang

Colour goes before shape on a grape ivy. The leaves nearest the soil yellow evenly, stay soft to the touch, and the compost two inches down is still wet from the last watering.

Kept wetter than the moist but well-drained its source describes, the root tips die back. A plant with fewer working roots cannot drink, which looks from above exactly like one that has not been watered.

Telling it apart: The smell. Healthy compost smells of earth; compost that has been wet too long does not.

RHSDiagnose yellowing leaves on this Grape ivy

Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Grape ivy.

Routine care

Watering
In winter, water sparingly.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Feeding
Feed monthly with a balanced liquid fertiliser.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Repotting
In spring, either top dress or move to a larger pot.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
In summer, take greenwood or hardwood cuttings.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Mealybugs, glasshouse whitefly and glasshouse red spider mite can appear. Disease is uncommon.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

Close view of Grape ivy (Cissus rhombifolia) foliage.
Close upSalicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Native range
Mexico to Bolivia and Trinidad
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP, filed as Cissus alata · read 13 September 2026
Trop. America
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Climate
wet tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP, filed as Cissus alata · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
liana
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP, filed as Cissus alata · read 13 September 2026
Climbing (evergreen)
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 2.5-4 metres; spread 0.1-0.5 metres after 2–5 years
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers green in summer
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Other Cissus

More of the Vitaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.