Hi,

I just planted 6 large flowered Clematis in a raised bed. At the time I constructed the raised bed I wasn't aware of a bulk compost source and I kind of did it in dribs and drabs so a lot of it is composed of Kellogs compost which is not really that great (it seems to be mostly treated bark and wood chips). I added perhaps 10% peat moss, 10% manure and some granite chips. I didn't use any native soil since it is absolutely horrible but I did prepare the bed down an additional 2 to 3' near the rear of the bed so the plants should never need to root in the native soil to any large extent. Of course small amounts of native clay still got in the mix which is good. The soil is extremely well draining and compaction resistant which was my main concern. Location has at least 6 hrs of full sun.

When I planted the Clematis, I put a small amount of peat moss, a small amount of composted manure, and the kellogs compost to "refresh" the soil around the root ball. I also added a small amount of dolomitic lime to counter the acidity of the peat moss. I also added a small amount of Osmocote. I bought these plants from a specialty nursery in pots and they had just been cut down. Most only had a few leaves. I planted them about a month ago. A couple of them had some root rot because the nursery used a very clay rich potting soil and I proabably overwatered the containers not realizing this.

Anyhow, the problem I'm having is that the plants will send out a leader, and shortly afterwards the leaves wilt and fall off. Other existing leaders seem healthy but are not really taking off. One plant sent out a 12" leader which generated a flower then the leaves on the leader promptly wilted.

I don't have any experience with Clematis so I don't know how they behave (I'm in zone 9, Western Garden zone 16) especially given that we at the end of the growing season. I explained my problem to the nursery by e-mail and they said not to add manure and dolomitic lime at the same time because it forms ammonia. This may be true but the dolomitic form releses the lime very slowly, right? I tested the PH and it's at about 6.5. They said this is fine especially for young plants. I dug a small test hole near the plant and the soil is damp but not soggy.

I have some roses planted nearby that I planted at the same time and they are very healthy.

I'm not really too concerned that they will die but I need to stay on top of this. I'll probably do an NPK test to see if there is any nutrient problem.