I have three clematis: Multi Blue, Golden Tiara and Jackmanii. The Golden Tiara is healthy. Both the Jackmanii, which I have had for many years and the Multi Blue which is two years old, developed wilt last summer. They looked pretty bad. They are not planted any where close to each other. They are beginning to leaf out just now. What, if anything can I use to treat them or should I just bite the bullet and pull them up and replant elsewhere?
Clematis Wilt
If you cut them to the ground after the wilt and cleaned up well, you shouldn't have a problem this year, or at least that's what I've always been told. I will however, defer to the more knowledgeable clematis growers on here... :)
Diann
Whatever you do ...don't pull them up~~!! You should have pruned the wilted vines down to the soil and new ones are emerging..right??..Just give your clematis some rose or tomato fertilizer..remember they like to stay moist..not soggy but moist..."Jackmanii" is a pruning group 3 and rarely do the 3's suffer wilt...while your "Multi-Blue" is a pruning group 2 and can...One school of thought is that wilt is caused because the rootsystem is too immature to handle all those vines grown above ground and 99% of the time will re-emerge again..do you think that maybe somehow your "Jackmanii" might have had broken vines from a critter or something?..I am not saying that Wilt isn't possible on pruning group 3's ..it's just I've only had it happen once on clematis "John Huxtable" but after I pruned those wilted vines down ..he started coming back up just a few weeks later...Jeanne
You might also try spraying your group 2 Clematis vines with a light horticultural oil to help protect them from wilt. Apply the spray a couple of times throughout the growing season. It should help to protect the leaves.
Well JeanneTX you hit the nail on the head. The Jackmanii was badly broken fall before last. In a storm a tree limb sailed across yard and smacked into the whole lattice and really did a number on it. I just pruned out the broken. When wilt showed up last year on the Multiblue and the Jackmanii I just removed the wilted parts back to the ground. So, having made all wrong moves, should I be doing any pruning now or just apply tomato fertilizer? They are both just beginning to leaf out. The Jackmanni is several years old. The roots have never been disturbed. The ground is good there (compost every other year).
By the way, I appreciate this. I would love to keep them both.
How WONDERFUL!! that you are seeing new vines emerge..yup..just fertilize and sit back and wait for it to give you some beauty in your gardens..I am so happy to hear that its re-emerged!!..Jeanne
also..they like the compost..I do the same thing!!
I had continual problems with 4 of my clematis wilting. Three of them only had one pathetic stem so I suspected a waterlogged root ball. Someone suggested carefully pulling them out and on all 3 I found heavily rotted roots. I sprayed off the root ball with water to remove the clay and replanted them in my very well draining soil. Hopefully they will fully recover.
However, I had one other plant that would send up several 2-3' stems and suddenly one or more (but never all) would wilt and die. I became frustrated and decided to pull that one out just in case it had rotting roots. Well, the root ball, although somewhat root bound because of tangled roots, was very dense and healthy. So I suspect that this one was suffering from wilt. Apparantly wilt does not always attack the whole plant.
Anyway here is an article with more info. Thye mention sulfur as a preventative control agent - is that readily available in the home centers?
http://gardening.wsu.edu/column/07-23-00.htm
This message was edited Apr 24, 2007 3:45 PM
Alex...I think what you experience is what most of us keep saying in around about way..Altho Clematis love to have their roots Moist..they must be in well draining soil..I believe your problem was rotting from having clay soil..which is different from Wilt..You can buy sulfur in any garden center..people with heavy clay soil should consider raised beds or amending prior to planting...yearly top dressing with compost and composted cowmanure will ensure your soil gets better each year as the worms till it in for you...Jeanne
I think I may have this. :(
One day this looked good and blooming, today it looks like this.
The blooms on the left of the picture are a different plant than the wilted flower and vine.
What should I do?
Susan
=^..^=
I just went out and while looking over the gardens as a whole noticed that some of the new shoots on the clematis' affected last year are now showing signs of wilt. For crying out loud. Well, I cut them off just below ground level. There are still some healthy shoots remaining, for now anyway. I am going to try a soil drench with lime/sulfur. It probably won't do any good but at least I'll feel like I'm doing something. The Golden Tiara still looks good. I have two growing up opposite sides of an arbor. While not a large flowered vine the sheer numbers of the blooms and the contrast between the yellow petals and brown/purple stamens puts on quite a show.
Susan, First you swear.
Susan, look to make sure than the vine isn't broken somewhere below the part that's wilting...