Clematis Wilt

[ArtichokeAardvark]

I planted 4 clematis in my new garden this spring. 3 have now succumbed to clematis wilt. And the 4th one is looking suspiciously like it may do the same.

What am I doing wrong? All are planted deeply. The first 2 (Jackmani and a pink one whose name I can't remember, but late flowering) to go were in full sun but with tile shards over their roots to keep cool. The 3rd (Nelly Moser) is in the shadiest bit of my garden under beech trees with only dappled sunlight. The last one (Westerplatte) is in a container, east facing. They came from different suppliers so there's no correlation there. Is this just a bad year for it? Or is it normal for wilt to hit in the first year of planting?

Check that it really is wilt. Snails can hit at the base of any shoots, causing the shoot to wilt, with no apparent sign of damage. I’ve been misled by that a couple of times.

Interesting! I haven't spotted snails around but will get out there with a torch this evening just in case. I think it is wilt though as the leaves nearer the base are going brown and droopy first, whereas if the stem was damaged surely the whole shoot would be affected at once?

I find it strange that 3 of them have wilt at the same time. Could it be a case of unhappy positioning? I find clems can be a bit fussy about position.

I had a The President (bought form Aldi) that was suffering and I cut it right back and changed spot i the garden and it came back again beautifully. I found that it needed quite a lot of deep shad on the roots, sometimes if you put tile shards they may overheat and made the roots warmer? Just a thought and it may not apply to you at all.

@ArtichokeAardvark

Interesting! I haven't spotted snails around but will get out there with a torch this evening just in case. I think it is wilt though as the leaves nearer the base are going brown and droopy first, whereas if the stem was damaged surely the whole shoot would be affected at once?

If the stem was damaged, the softer leaves would droop first.

Watch last night's Gardeners World on I-player - Monty does a piece on clematis wilt and reasons why it might be something else.

I shall do that, come home from hols to find our evergreen clematis, which had been happily growing since I planted it in spring, after a shaky start, has gone all brown.