All my clematis have new growth and some even have buds; is it too late to fertilize?
I trimmed them back in Feb. and thought I could fertilize now.
Feeding clems
I think It is time. I haven't done so yet but I will unless I hear otherwise.
Yes, start feeding as soon as you see a tiny bit of growth on the clem's.
Pirl does that go for zone 5 also? I have some buds but haven't trimmed yet, was waiting for a little warmer weather.
You can feed them. Anything you use won't be available to the plant until the weather warms up anyhow. You are not doing harm to the plant.
If you can get a warm enough hour or two then go ahead and trim. You want the trimming done before they begin active growth.
Okay- dokay, thanks for the info!
I saved Jeanne's posts about feeding clematises and here they are:
10-10-10- is a balanced fertilizer..Like I use the 13-13-13 often through out the growing season but in the Beginning of the season (when you see the leafbuds starting to green up) you should use a fertilizer like Rose or Tomato Fertilizer that has a high middle number ..the "P" in the N-P-K ratio because like Roses Clematis are heavy feeders and really respond to a higher "P"..so use one of those fertilizers now and AFTER it finishes its bloom cycle..NEVER use Rose or Tomato Fertilizer ONCE it has set flowerbuds as this will rush (Shorten) the bloom period..a flush of about 6 weeks will end up being a 2 week flush..and you know how we love to get each and every day of our blooms to last as long as possible..and they will love the composted cowmanure you've put on them and don't forget your alfalfa tea!!..Jeanne sanannie
MORE:
JeanneTX wrote:
http://www.britishclematis.org.uk/qa_growing.htm
"Prune down to the lowest pair of growth buds in early Spring..then you pinch out the tops of each new shoot after it has grown 2 pair of leaves..Pinch out again once these new leave have also made two pair of leaves. If Growth also starts again from soil level, this too can be pinched out at the same two pair of leaves..just continues to repeat this process as often as you wish until mid-May, by which this time your plant will already have many branching stems instead of just one or two.Pinching out will obviously delay the start of flowering, but now you have blooms on much lower on the plant and no bare expanse of stems and also this can give you much better insurance against losing your new plant to wilt.Clematis wilt may still attack but now, because it is shorter and bushier the wilt may only affect a small portion of the plant"
..Clematis "H.F.Young" is one of the few clematis thatbuild up a bushy plant without pinching..this I can attest with my "H.F.Young"