Hi.
I transplanted a couple of Clematis last year, and this year, they have lots of pale, mottled green and yellow leaves. Drainage is good, and I have been giving them plenty of water. I have also given them a balance fertilizer. Is this chlorosis or just the plants reacting to the transplant? I have taken some photos.
Here is another photo
It's a very pretty Clematis, with just the lightest violet, large flowers with dark centers:
Caroljeanie,
You're plant looks like it is going through a bit of everything.
I'll just type what my handy 'Reader's Digest - Garden Problem Solver' has to say.
Clematis:
Consistently moist.
Plant is not growing well
Problem: A new plant starts to decline in smidsummer. Or an older plant tha had been doing well suddenly declines.
Sorry I'm having problems with the website...
Dax
Hi, Conifers.
Thanks for trying to reply. I will look forward to seeing what the site has to say when you are able to post it. I do think the transplant has a good deal to do with how the clematis is doing. It does not look as if it will die. It seems to be hanging on pretty well. Just that the leaves are not looking healthy on a good part of the plant and it is not flowering nearly as much as it usually does.
Maybe next year it will do a lot better.
Please let me know if you have any other thoughts. Thank you.
Caroljeanie,
You're plant looks like it is going through a bit of everything.
I'll just type what my handy 'Reader's Digest - Garden Problem Solver' has to say.
Clematis:
Consistently moist.
***Plant is not growing well:
*Problem: A new plant starts to decline in midsummer. Or an older plant that had been doing well suddenly declines.
*Cause: Soil that is too warm commonly causes a newly planted clematis to do poorly. With an older plant, the cause is often some change that lets the soil overheat, such as removing a shrub that once shaded the roots.
*Solution: Keep the soil moist and shade the roots from direct sunlight.
* Apply a 4-inch layer of an organic mulch, such as bark chips, around the base of the plant to shade the roots.
* Or shade the roots with a spreading shrub such as juniper or a spreading annual, such as verbena or petunia. But provide extra water, because the groundcover will compete with the clematis for moisture.
***Leaves have pale spots with dark borders:
*Problem: A stem or two suddenly wilts, or leaves develop light spots with dark, reddish borders. Damage begins at the bottom of the plant. The rest of the plant seems healthy. Occasionally the entire plant is affected and may die.
*Cause: Ascochyta leaf spot and stem rot is a fungal disease that enters a plant through damaged tissue, often where a stem is tied to a support. The fungus prevents water from reaching the foliage. It's most common in very old or newly planted shrubs. The fungus produces spores that may attack other stems. It may travel to the roots, killing the entire plant.
*Solution: Use pruning, spraying, and proper planting techniques to combat this disease.
* Prune wilting stems just above soil level.
* To protect healthy plants, spray the leaves with an organic sulfur fungicide. Follow label directions carefully.
* When planting clematis, place it lower in the soil than it grew in the pot, putting some buds below soil level to ensure new growth if the top is killed.
***Plant is stunted; shoots wilt:
*Problem: the plant doesn't grow well and seems stunted. The leaves are soft and hang down. Individual shoots or the entire plant eventually wilts and dies.
*Cause: Clematis borers, the creamy white larvae of clearwing moths, tunnel and feed inside plant roots and crowns. Larvae hatch from eggs laid at soil level from spring to early summer. One inside the plant, larvae are not easy to control chemically. (Source: 'The Garden Problem Solver' (1999). ISBN: 0762101407)
Good luck!
P.s. The HTML codes I used were stopping me. Now 'topics' have (3) asterisks and points made about topics have (1) asterisk.
Dax
Thank you, Dax.
I greatlly appreciate you going to the trouble to copy all that and post it for me.
The plant was doing beautifully for me till the fence it was climbing on blew down and I had to replace the fence. When I did that, the new fence was placed differently than the old one, so I had to transplant the clematis. Since it was an old, established plant, it was not an easy transplant. I muight cut it back seriously this fall so as to start anew next season.
Well it's a large flower so probably a spring, repeat summer (minimal), and second display bloomer for fall. If that's the case (or you don't know - either way), wait till next spring to see what livens from the "old wood" and make your cuts accordingly...
I say 'accordingly' because maybe you don't have a huge trellis and maybe the plant outgrows it quickly... well, in that case, you may just cut it pretty low. Other cases - and since usually large-flowered types bloom primarily from old wood, the more wood that can be used (is alive), the more blooms and vines the plant produces. Kind of a push-shove, if you know what I mean.
That's my advice. Wait till spring.
I think right now I'd fertilize to get the root zone "working" with something like phosphorus and then next spring feed it with a Rose Fertilizer or Bulb Fertilizer, etc.
Dax
Thanks!
