Clematis

[smashingtime]

Help - my Clematis Armandii has stopped growing! It was so healthy and was shooting up until a few weeks ago and it has now stopped growing and the shoots at the ends have withered and died off. The leaves look a bit yellow and some are going brown at the ends. I've given it some epsom salts and it has had fertilizer but it still doesn't seem happy. I didn't prune it because it didn't flower this year. It was new last year so not sure what I'm doing wrong It was really expensive and I don't want to lose it - anyone got any suggestions please!

Daft Q but has it had enough water or too much water?

I was being careful not to over-water as said it needed about a pint a week - hopefully I've given it enough!

Is it in a pot or in the ground? If it's in a pot it might be rootbound and potting on might help.

A pint a week doesn't sound like much if it's a decent-sized plant - are you sure that's adequate?

Sometimes in these circs pruning a little can be helpful too - nothing too harsh, just trim back a bit.

Its in the ground. Agree a pint didn't sound a lot! Will give it a bit of a prune - find the instructions on pruning clematis quite complicated so will trim back a bit as you suggest - thanks!

How tall is it? Certainly a pint a week seems far too littlel for a good-sized plant of even a few feet high. Mine is leggy but 5ft high (inherited from previous tenant and wasn't properly pruned for first few years at all) and I water it every evening along with the rest of the garden. I reckon it must get 2-3 pints or even more over the course of the week - I just go by making sure the soil is damp at least just under the surface if not on the surface too.

It shouldn't be madly complicated to prune - I got good results just from cutting back to just above a leaf joint, and making sure that I wasn't pruning right back to woody stalks but to where it's still greenish and softer, iyswim. It quickly branched out and seems much happier.

Mine grew from 1 foot to 5 feet in the space of a few months - I wonder if it has burnt itself out as I could almost see it growing! I've pruned it back to the leaf joint as you suggested - fingers crossed!