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Clematis Armandii & Solanum Jasminoides Album (Potato Vine)

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  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I haven’t got the clematis, but the Solanum got so big, despite cutting it back every spring almost to the ground, we dug it out in the end. 

    It  was a small plant, £1.79 from  Morrison, I never realise it would keep growing, thought a cut back every year would keep it small, quite the opposite!
    Here we’ve already taken all the lower growth off before I took the photo, two builders bags full,  they’re very wide plants,  it will grow as wide at the bottom as at the top so you need to allow for that if you decide to keep them.

    This was taken in the September after it had been cut to a foot tall in March. You can almost watch it grow. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    edited September 2020
    Not just pruning Philippa,  you didn't have the pleasure of meeting my beast! 😀

    edited to add, I see you were talking about the clematis.   Not many of those grow good here,  apart from the Montana types. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    edited September 2020
    The Solanum Laxum will grow back quite fast, so if they are wilting, you can prune them down a bit to help them recover. It's most likely a watering issue. Even moving the root-ball up, the roots may have lost contact with the soil, or some parts of the roots have broken away. Keep on top of the watering to help the soil collapse down. 

    Like others have said, the concern is more to do with the amount of Clematis and Solanums you have. I have seen Clematis Armandii left un-checked and they are climbing 4 storeys high into nearby trees.
  • Thanks everyone for the advice above - I will regularly water with a tomato feed in the hope they come back! I know I have a lot of them along a 14m wall, but it backs on to a farm, so I'm hoping to push the excess growth over the top of the wall and let it trail down there. 
    One final question @Borderline - Will Jasminoids grow back as quickly as the Laxum you mention above? 
    Thanks again.
  • I wouldn’t use a tomato feed at the moment. That promotes flowering and fruiting which is not wanted at this time of year and will simply put an already stressed plant under more stress. 

    I would not feed at all until early spring (mid Feb?) when I would feed with an organic slow acting feed like Fish, Blood &  Bone. 
    Then when growth is well underway (May/June?) some clematis feed or even tomato feed will encourage flowering. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • I would remove the top foliage of the plants, leaving about 12ins of stem.The roots have had a shock being moved and they cannot support the whole plant as well as the rest of the plant. It sounds drastic but the plants will benefit. Also, at this time of year the roots are beginning to go into dormancy so have reduced activity.
  • I had a evergreen Clematis, had to get rid of it this year, it nearly took the fence down, on a wall it would be great.

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    david.fleming, Laxum and Jasminoides are the same plant. I believe it used to be called Jasminoides. They are fast growing plants when the conditions suit them. That would be warm sunny conditions with reasonably free draining soil. No need to worry about the limp leaves, you can cut them down a bit so they can recover. 
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