clematis is turning brown

19 years ago

Last june I bought 3 clematis (clematie??? clematises???) to cover our porch. I knew nothing about them for the most part. Don't know the group or the names. I put them in the ground and let them do there thing. They grew a bit last summer and got settled in. I didn't expect much.

This year they have taken off. Two of the three have exploded with blossoms. I am now an official clematis junkie. I had no idea. What an amazing plant. It's barely been a year. We had a hard frost in march so it's really only been 6 months of actual grow time.

Here's the problem though.

The top is beautiful the bottom is turning brown. The leaves as well as the stems. It is slowly creeping up the plant. I'm afraid in a month the whole thing will look dead. Is this what is meant by naked leg? Is there a mag. deficiency? I understand from the forum that wilt starts at the top and works its way down. Mine is at the bottom working its way up.

I will try to now upload some images.

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Comments (4)

buyorsell888
19 years ago
Most likely they need more water. Type II's do this in summer a lot.

Hard prune all of them next early spring. This will help them by making them more compact, sprout new vines from the roots and let the root system catch up with the top growth to better deal with summer's heat and drought.

All Clematis should be hard pruned the first two to three early springs regardless of variety or pruning group.

They are not instant gratification plants and require this seemingly harsh treatment to get off to the best start. Especially the large flowered type II's.
dirthappy
19 years ago
My 4 yr old is doing the same thing. It's an early bloomer and last year died off by mid July. This year I have a beautiful vine and no blooms, not a one. It's starting to turn brown again. I'll try more water tonight.
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kevinlondon
18 years ago
My Clematis is turning brown on the tips as well. I have noticed that it is the older leaves and that it starts on the tips then spreads down. I also noticed that some leaves going brown have spidery webs on them and leaves are attached together. Is this spider mites? Do I have two different types of things going on as not all the leaves have this spidery web? The plant is not in a hot sunny spot and my soil is clay an loam combination. Living in London UK we get enough rain but not overly so and I am therefore not overwatering. What can the problem be?
buyorsell888
17 years ago
They tend to get fungus. Cut off the affected parts.

Clematis can be very frustrating.