I have one or two clems that have brown/black spots on the leaves. Do you know what is causing this and how should I treat it? Will appreciate any advice.
What's wrong with this clem?
And here's a study that is researching different treatment methods and their effectiveness:
http://books.google.com/books?id=sxYFAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA331&lpg=RA3-PA331&dq=clematis+leaf+spot&source=bl&ots=YWVCuKStbk&sig=AShRW5G9EQjA2q7ZRGV1TFMVs6A&hl=en&ei=1gqWStGFGYPQsQPztJShDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=clematis%20leaf%20spot&f=false
P.S. - There may be other treatments that are available now. Those would be the organic remedies. But, that study was published in 1915 (yes, almost 100 years ago), so perhaps new chemical treatments would be available.
This message was edited Aug 26, 2009 11:37 PM
Great links, Bliss.
sharky, can you post a pic of the whole plant to show the size and habit and whether there is any new growth anywhere on the plant?
is the newest growth tainted as well as the leaves shown?
Guru, here are the plants. There is a multiblue and a carnaby planted next to the steps. In fact, Carnaby has just finished its second flush of blooms, which I just snipped off a few days ago. Both did very well. Carnaby was a liner, so no big loss if I have to dig it up. These look awful right now. They are next to a knockout shrub rose which I sprayed with that awful stuff less than a week ago. I wonder if the same Ortho spray would kill the clem?
Thank you for the links, BG. I tried reading the research, but I'm still having my first cup of coffee and couldn't absorb a lot of it this early. If this is a fungus, I need to know how to treat it, or just dig up the plant and discard it.
could be , in addition to something fungal or some type of powdery mildew:
heavy rain/drainage issue
pressure treated wood poisoning . how new is the wood in the steps?
over fertilization
tired plant who needs a break
in your zone why not cut off damaged foliage and see if new growth has same issues?
usually powdery mildew leaves a blueish cast to the whole leaf, but i have seen it be more spotty and rusty before.
The wood was purchased a little over a yr ago. I know I was told that they no longer put arsenic in landscape timbers, which were also put there at same time.
I think pruning them is a good idea, as I may even see some growth during the next few months. They are both G2's. First, I may try Sevin dust that I use on peppers. We are just now getting first rain in over a week and I think drainage is good there.
plants will probably recover sharkey.
i know pressure treated wood is not allowed in the green tree limbs, and woody limbs and wood materials we take to a place called price barnes to be composted. i assumed they didi not allow pressure treated wood to be in the stuff they compost due to some type of chemicals that would leach into the compost, but perhaps it is just because how long it would take. i can ask hubbie and see what he knows.
i do have some evergreen cedars i bare rooted in pots many years ago, they are not about 5 ft tall, near pressure treated wood stairs on our property and have had not had problems with those growing there.
i have had so many clems get so many different leaf conditions, sometimes you leave it as a mystery if the plant gets over it. if not, keep sleuthing.
sorry about your clematis browning dilemma.
Im in zone 7b and have several clematis also as does several neighbors. All of ours get or have this browning so some degree. Im thinking ours may be this drattedly poor draining tan/gray clay we have for soil. Not sure soil type you may have in 8a but it is a possibly.
Sadly several neighbors have seemingly just given up and have left their clematis turn ALL crispy brown - dont know if they are still begin watered but they dont look like it.
While the garden pics of clematis are a green lush, my personal observation is more browning crisp than anything else.
Good Luck and keep us posted
Hi Sharkey;,,
Black leaf spot.. It's a fungus.. High humidity more than likely triggers it... I know down in your area the humidity this time of year can get bad... Damp nights, cloudy days coupled with those warm temps is a perfect breeding ground....
I've noticed a few mild cases on a few of my clematis and other plants this past month but because it's getting so late in the season I'm not going to spray as I'll be cutting back all the vines soon...
Dave
Dave, thanks for the input. That is very useful and appreciated info for all of us Southern clem newbies!
sharkey:
Dave is right, it is a fungus, I have dealt with it by cutting back the plant, and all gone... I really hate using the sprayes, I have too many bees and worry about killing them. I don't mind the cutting when the new growth comes in unaffected.
Janet
Cutting it back is far safer than some anti-fungal sprays. We bought one before we noticed the warning on the label: WILL CAUSE BLINDNESS. Not maybe but will. No plant is worth that.
I have a couple of bottles of stuff in my shed. Wash All Clothing Immediately After Use. I'll prune, much safer.
It's so true.
They might as well not bother to tell us, on the label, to call Poison Control, but to leave a text message for loved ones.
The one time I sprayed this year, my husband looked out and didn't know what to make of my get up. I've worked in the medical field too many years and have seen the health problems that folks who work using chemcials and don't protect themselves. Terrible and especially if they would have at least used a mask. Once you continue to breath that junk in the cancer seed has been laid in waiting for when the immune systems has enough of a weakness or break for it to rear its ugly head.
So this one time I broke down (due to the beetles eating my clem and other plants, and had the mildew) and used the Bayer 3 in 1.
Guess what it didn't make enough of a difference to make it worth every using it again. and the whole time all I did was worry about kills all of my bees.
Funny for me to worry about my bees, especially honey as I've very allergic to honey bees.
Janet
I worry about the bees too and for good reason. I see them hiding under clematis leaves at night when I'm out at night squashing earwigs.
I'm new so not sure how this all works. I have lloved Clemitus for years. But am not sure what I am doing wrong. I am about 4 miles from the pacific ocean as a crow flys. Sandy soil. But I plant in plastic pots. I use potting soil that is heavy with chicken manure and worms. No matter what I do, they all start out green and good, but then starts the brown leaves, Evenutally ALL they leaves are brown curled up.I have tried cutting it down and also not cutting it back. If I don't cut it back new green leaves come out on the old stems. I even get some flowers, but eventually I have all these brown leaves again.
Temp here is very mild. Not too hot, not too cold. Tropical. HELP
Otis, you may have a few things going on. Clems can get wilt, some varieties are more prone than others. When mine brown out, I just cut them back for another flower display. You can try drenching the ground around them with a fungicide but I never bother with that. Why do you leave them in the pots? Clems like evenly moist soil but not drowning. The pots could be holding too much water and rotting the roots. I'm about 4 miles from the Atlantic with sandy soil, so I am familiar with amending and amending and amending the soil :) Try planting directly into a well amended hole. Clems develop large root systems and the pots could be hampering the" leg room" needed. Also, be careful with chicken manure. Chicken manure is very strong, so it should be well aged before using. If it's too fresh it can burn the roots. You might try mixing the manure with other compost, such as leaf mold, to make a more balanced amendment. Lastly, Clems often outgrow the wilt by themselves. Some believe letting the plant fend off wilt on it's own makes for a healthier Clem at maturity. I take that approach because the caution statements on chemicals scare the heck out of me. Hope this helps!
I agree with venu.
I'd also like to know if all of your clematis have the same problem.
For as bad as my Clematis look, they are very resilyant. Not sure I spelled that right. No spell check!
I have had them be snapped right off at the root. They came back just fine. I guess I plant in pots because we have a really hard time with moles, voles and gophers. I also live in a mobile home. Not much room for planting. I also buy very young plants. They come in tubes. I keep increasing the size of the pot each year.
The spacing between leaf buds is far apart. Not enough sun? We have a LOT of fog.
Forgot to mention...most of my soil has oak mold in it. It kills many plants that are in the ground, so have many things in pots.
The spacing issue of the nodes is due to lack of sun. Potting up the clematis is the best answer if space is limited and moles are prevalent.