Clematis Wilt Texas

4 years ago

I started growing Clematis 10 years ago. The basic ones available at local nurseries, large flowered Jackmani, Earnest Markham ect. Adding Viticella's after learning what grows best in my zone 6/7 Texas Panhandle. This past summer was brutal, weeks with high temps over 100 and then 4" of rain in one week, followed by no rain for a month. My clems all turned a dark crispy brown. I believed it was the drastic heat, with no rain followed by 4" of rain the last week of June. I have never had clematis wilt but this came on in a weeks time. Just to be safe I cut them all, not to the ground, but to about 10-12". I sprayed Bayer 3 in 1 on them. I waited a few weeks and put a light amount of systemic rose food, I have successfully used in the past. It is so heartbreaking to raise something for over 10 years and see them gone within a weeks time. Any thoughts or advice for the future would be appreciated. I must add that the Clems in the more shaded areas facing east and lightly shaded fared better. I lightly cut them back and treated them as well.

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Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years ago
Did ALL your clematis go through the same issues and somewhat simultaneously? If so, I doubt it is wilt. It would be highly unusual for all the clematis in the same garden to become affected all in a single season. And the viticellas, their hybrids and most other species clematis are more or less immune. Wilt seems to be focused on the large flowered hybrids (LFH). And finally, wilt tends to be a young plant affliction.......once the vines develop some maturity and the stems bulk up and become woody, they seem to outgrow the problem. I would be surprised at a 10 year old vine developing wilt!

I think this is more of a weather issue than anything else. Wide fluctuations of temps and rain/drought can be very stressful. I've been growing clematis all of my gardening life and this season was one of the least impressive I've had. Somewhat sparse flowering, not very long bloom cycles, lots of browned foliage and even a few upper vining stems dying off. I cut back several quite hard midseason. I attribute it to a summer that was much warmer and drier than "normal" and the vines' reaction to those unusual conditions. And my probable failure to water enough :-)
Debra Vessels thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
Debra Vessels
Original Author
4 years ago
gardengal48, Thanks, I was hoping you would know. Just as a precaution I'm glad I did treat them as I did. We have had an extreme summer, hot dry/extreme moisture. So, I missed my fall bloom, but that's better than losing all of my clems. The Viticellas have become my favorites. But I am forever praising my first ones, Jackmani, Earnest Markham, all the great old reliables that never fail. How old are your oldest ones? And let me just say that Little Mermaid is my wild child that will not respect other clems space.

Viticella Venosa Violacea and Avant Garde. My Favorites.
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charles kidder
4 years ago
I think every time I've had wilt, it was on a new stem emerging that year. I agree that once the stems get thick and woody, wilt isn't an issue. And it frequently seems to happen when I'm over anxious with training them. Sometimes it's better to just let the plant grow where it wants for a couple of years instead of where you want it to grow.