The leaves near the lower part of my Clematis Beth Currie are wilting and turning brown. What could be the problem and is it going to get worse? The plant was new last year, has climbed to the top of its tuteur and is just starting to blossom.
Clematis Question
Hi Marcha! I'm no expert on clems and I haven't seen that problem before, but I'll bet someone on the clematis forum can answer your question. I know that my soil requires me to add some lime for my clematis. Is your soil as acid as mine is? We aren't very far from each other. Good luck....wish I could give you a better answer!
Louise
It could be the soil. It could also be the very wet weather. Do you have much mulch around the base of the clem? Perhaps it needs to dry out a bit. Just my 2 cent's worth of thinking.
DonnieBrook and Candyce - Thank you for your suggestions. It certainly has been wet lately! My chrysanthemum Becky, which is usually foolproof and rampant, has a lot of spots on the leaves. I wondered if that was caused by the wet. I can try the lime for the clematis. I think it must be an acidic area, since moss seems to thrive in that bed. When I checked the clematis today, I noticed there was a tie on the stem that is going bad. I needed to use some early in the spring to encourage it up the tuteur. I used the flat green tape that is made for plants, but I wondered if I had tied it too tightly. I took the tie off, since it is not needed at this point, but the damage is done whatever the cause. The rest of the plant still looks o.k. and a second bloom is starting to open. I also wondered if I should be using a fertilizer. I vaguely recall something about that in the directions that came with it, so guess I should check it out.
Thanks, again.
Mine do like regular food, Marcha! I think you could be onto something with the tie thing. And I also think Candyce is a good one to listen to. You should see her gorgeous clems!!!
Thanks Louise, for the compliment on my clems. This year they are far from spectacular, however. All this rain seems to have stunted their growth as they are only about two feet tall so far. Unless the weather stays warm for quite a while this year, I'll not get a second blooming on them!
I think warm weather is coming, Candyce!!