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Should I remove these old clematis stems?
puschkinia
Posts: 229
in Plants
I bought & planted this Clematis Guernsey Cream (group 2) in a container in November. There are lovely new stems growing well, but the older ones look dead to me (though I don't have any experience with them so I may well be wrong).
There are buds on those older stems that appeared around February, but they haven't done anything since then. Perhaps there was a late-night frost that finished them off? I know that clematis can look dreadful over winter, but I figured that if it's already started its spring growth then perhaps those older stems aren't coming back.
Should I just leave everything alone, or would it be better to prune those older stems away?
There are buds on those older stems that appeared around February, but they haven't done anything since then. Perhaps there was a late-night frost that finished them off? I know that clematis can look dreadful over winter, but I figured that if it's already started its spring growth then perhaps those older stems aren't coming back.
Should I just leave everything alone, or would it be better to prune those older stems away?
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Frost won't affect it either.
Keep an eye on that long stem, and you can always trim it back to a healthy set of buds in a month or so, if there's no further new growth on it. If you like, you could trim it back to the bud where that green tape is just now if there's no sign of growth above that.
You'll also need to get a proper support of some kind for it, and tie in with soft string to that. The tape and canes are only there for transport/display etc, so it would be better to replace all the tapes too. A decent support put in now is easier than trying to do it later, if it grows on well over the next few months
It'll be several years before it's properly mature. It'll keep producing new stems from below ground
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'd suggest cutting the old stems back to a decent pair of buds.
Starting at the top of the old stem look for a decent pair of buds and cut just above them.
Next year you should be able to follow the light pruning regime in early spring.
The compost does look very wet, have you raised the pot from the paving so it can drain freely?
It could probably do with a little fertilizer now too.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
It's usually after the first flowering that they get a trim. They sometimes give a 2nd flush of flowers in late summer if you're lucky, and once they're mature enough.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I thought that perhaps I should remove the cane, but it came with a note saying I should leave it in for 2 years! I'll replace with a better one & tie in properly.
Yep, it's on pot feet and I fed it last week
If you can keep it somewhere that it won't be likely to get waterlogged for the next couple of months, that'll help. It'll depend on your weather too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...