You didn't mention the name of your Clematis...The reasoning I ask..is the "not blooming" much part could come from not pruning it properly...yellow leaves can be a sign of a Magnesium Defiency or too much water..you can put some epsom salts in a hose end sprayer and water the leaves and the clematis well to correct that problem...Jeanne

Thank you for the information. It was very helpful.

I honestly do not know the name of the clematis, I have had it for a very long time. It is a medium to light purple color and has fairly large leaves. (I haven't figured out how to post a photo yet or I would put a pic here for you to see)

As far sa pruning, I usually cut it down completely in the fall, since by fall the leaves are completely brown. I know it doesn't get to much water, buy lacking other minerals is a likely cause. And since I have been using the wrong fertilizer, that wasn't helping.

I am going to try fertilizing as you've suggested.

Thanks again for the help.

Stevie if you want to post a picture here's a good tutorial: Pooh Bear's Tinypic tutorial.

Susie is right..I hadn't noticed in your post that you said you were using Miracle Grow...The problem with some Miracle Grows is that they are high nitrogen which will just help produce very healthy leaves and no blooms...You really have to read the N-P-K ratio on all fertilizers a high middle number aka "P" will make a plant bloom more...Jeanne

I use Scott's 12-4-8 (slow release, similar to Osmocote) after applying Mills Magic Mix, all of which are about the same as far as NPK. Other than that, they get hit with the Milorganite when the lawn is being fertilized. I top dress all plants with mushroom compost in the fall, cotton gin trash in the winter and mushroom or horse manure in the spring.

Thanks again for all the info. You guys are giving me lots of ideas on how to save my poor plant. Someone had asked the name of my clematis and I do not know it, but here are two photos (from back when it was doing better) Do you know the name of it?

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It's beautiful. I wonder if it's Violet Charm.
You can see mine in the bottom picture at CotW.
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=553
Suzy

Looks like my Violet Charm from last year, too.

I'm wondering, do you leave ANYTHING at all when you prune it, or do you really take it all the way to the ground? If you normally take it all the way to the ground, try leaving about a foot of it above ground next time, so that 1-2 leaf axils are left on the vine.

I just re-read your post regards yellowing leaves. Could this be "burn" on the edges secondary to using a foliar feed? Depending on where the yellow is, could be a lack of iron, nitrogen and/or magnesium.

Can you post pictures of the "yellow" leaves?

Suzy...your clematis if beautiful! Mine used to look that way, now it is a sickly looking bugger!

The above photos were at a healthier time. This plant would bloom almost from spring into fall. I do not have a photo from the last couple years because it looked so bad, I didn't photograph it.

I went out today and took the below photos. You can see the yellowing beginning and it will just get worse as the summer goes on. You can compare the size of the vine. The above photos were taken in May of 2002 & May of 2003. Now below in May 2006, it looks miniture in comparison.

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Thanks to everyone for your help. I really appreciate all your advice.
Stevie

Stevie, I know this is not the appropriate time of year when clematis are about to bloom to be getting into potions, but I think your clematis will do better if you do. You may have some burn from foliar feeding, but you probably need something in your soil that you are not getting with that. How about testing your soil? I think if I were you, I would give it some Epsom salts in water, a soil drench sotaspeak and see. In the meantime, it would not hurt to do a soil test. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether a problem is lack of iron, manganese or just what. I would start with the Epsom salts (magnesium) and see. Don't do anymore foliar feeds. Hold off on that. About two weeks after the Epsom salts, try giving it some Rosetone or Mills Magic Mix.

hi stevie, are you sure it's not a "ramona"? i'm no expert, looked at both "violet charm" and "ramona" pictures and can't tell the difference myself.

either way, aren't they both pruning group 2? which means your clematis flowers on old wood and you should do a very light pruning - only prune out the dead wood.. then i can only conclude that every year that you've been cutting down the supposedly "dead" wood (it is not really dead, just looks that way), you're also pruning away your flowers..

I agree with Kitova. If it's a Type 2 it should only be lightly pruned in the winter, not back to the ground.

Katie

I have many different types of clematis and always take the advice of my elder neighbors and friends. They tell me lime is the best clematis fertilizer for this neck of the woods - Northern Illinois. It depends upon the Ph factor, right? Or is lime just good no matter where it is?

Carole (Westy)

Lime isn't fertilizer in the true sense. What it does is help balance the soil pH to the degree of alkalinity (non-acidicness) that clematis need, which allows the clematis to suck up more of whatever mineral nutrients are already in the soil. Clematis can't extract those needed minerals from an acidic soil.

It's still good to fertilize. I like organic liquids such as a locally made seaweed-and-fish emulsion (it doesn't stink. Really.), which enriches the soil without leaving deposits of unusable (and non-earthworm-friendly) mineral salts the way Miracle-Gro does. Manure compost is great too, and improves the soil's tilth in addition to slowly and steadily supplying nutrients.

Lime the soil if it's too acidy, but feed it too.

Can you explain this

I haven't seen this very old thread before (nearly 20 years!!) otherwise I would have commented previously. There is a lot of misinformation posted here............ 😫 And much of it may be confusing to new clematis growers.

First, rose or tomato fertilizer is NOT a requirement for healthy clematis growth and flowering! Plants don't care about the source or labeling of fertilizers. It has been established that virtually ALL plants will take up necessary nutrients in a specific ratio, requiring 3 times as much nitrogen than phosphors and twice as much as potassium regardless of where they are in their bloom cycle. So a fertilizer that offers nutrients in a 3-1-2 formulation will work perfectly well. That includes certain formulations of Osmocote, Miracle Gro and Dyna Gro products and others. Additionally, these all offer a full range of micronutrients or trace elements which many 'organic' fertilizers lack but plants still require for healthy growth.

Second, browning or yellowing leaves may not be a sign the plant lacks proper nutrients. This is most often an indication of water issues - too much or not enough. It can also be a sign of excessive heat. Be sure to keep the root zone well mulched or otherwise shaded to keep the roots cool and conserve soil moisture. Clems really dislike drying out.

Finally, you can prune a type or group 2 clematis as hard as you like. It will not remove this season's flowers, only delay the bloom cycle a few weeks. There are posters here that have their group 2 clems knocked back to the ground in cold winters and yet they still manage to flower well. Personally, I have always treated my group 2's as group 3's and hard prune in late winter, as I have grown more clems than are easily addressed by specific pruning methods and treat them all the same, so they get a hard prune or no prune at all, depending on type. I also worked for a large wholesale clematis grower and they prned their clems as often as necessary to facilitate shipping and delivery and to encourage later blooming than they would normally produce in the ground to induce sales. Didn't affect them negatively at all!!

"Can you explain this "

Explain what? That lime is not a fertilizer? Lime is typically considered a soil amendment as it lacks any required plant nutrients other than calcium and occasionally magnesium. But neither of these two minerals are required in any quantity and over-applying lime will effect the availability or uptake of other much more important nutrients. Lime is used primarily to raise soil pH and has little to no impact on soil fertility.