Any ideas on what to do with my clematis? It's clematis Patriot.
It leafs out fine in spring, then mid-summer leaves turn pitch black and the entire vine looks dead - not one green leaf.
Then it leafs out again w/ healthy fresh-looking leaves.
It's done the same thing for each of the last 3 summers.
Here's it is.
Here's a closer view showing the fresh new leaves coming.
Do you by any chance happen to have a tree overhead that has sooty mold on it? I had something very similar to what you are describing. It turned out to be the plants with the problem were situated under a tree that got sooty mold. The tree limbs were not close at all to the plants as you can see in the picture. The cure was move the plants.
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There is a large ash overhead, but it's so tall that I'm not sure I would know if there's mold or not.
Maybe moving it is the best option.
Despite whatever disease it's got, it still blooms, though I'm sure not as much as otherwise.
You can see in this pix the blackened foliage in the background.
It's a bit late in the season to do anything, but if you are not adverse to using chemicals, I've found that Bayer All In One seems to cure everything, bugs disease and even feeds. You use it every 6 weeks. It's been a lifesaver for my confederate rose bushes which always looked like death warmed over by this time of year because of aphids and whiteflies, and canna lily which would be all chewed up because of leaf rollers.
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This message was edited Aug 30, 2009 11:40 AM
This was my first season growing clematis and mine are doing the same....they look like dead, dry twigs...I thought it was the heat....
Might be the heat .. if the black stuff is sticky then it may be sooty mold. You can actually wash off sooty mold with water and a smidgen of dish detergent .. just make sure you rinse the leaves thoroughly.
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Cut them back so you see two nodes on the stem and they should give you new growth.
Here are some at a local place that sells clematis - look how sad they look! They should be cut back by their pruning group (1, 2, or 3). You could get more help at the Clematis forum.
Many people often think "Clematis wilt" but that's not always the case. I'd trim it back and give it a dose of half strength fertilizer and a few inches of compost but not so much as to cover the current stems. Good luck.
Good to know, I'll do that!
