Q. One of the vines on my new Clematis wilted followed by the other three doing the same. I nearly threw it away, but instead replanted it in another spot. This spring it sprouted and produced a beautiful many-vined plant. Around a month ago it again started to wilt. Again I pruned it down and planted it into a large pot. It sent a vine over 6 feet tall and once again it has started to wilt. I have three other plants that are just fine. Each time I replanted it I replaced all the soil with good Miracle Grow garden soil. George Mello – Tacoma, WA
A. This sounds like a condition called Clematis Wilt. It is believed that a fungus causes Clematis Wilt. The leaves and the stem should have turned black (especially on the inside when stem is sliced open. If instead they simply turned brown then it could be physical damage to the stem, like a slug eating through it or something of that nature. I am not sure from the phrasing of your question if you have one plant that you divided or multiple plants. Some cultivars are more susceptible to this condition than others are. It is believed that there is lack of resistance in the species Clematis lanuginosa, which was used in many breeding programs that produced commercially available hybrids. So any progeny of C. lanuginosa is potentially more susceptible to the disease. But the nature of the problem is inconsistent is as you mentioned. Some plants get knocked back completely or partially, others not at all. Clematis wilt usually doesn’t usually kill a plant completely. Most people yank the plants when they wilt back assuming they are dead. You did the right thing and waited. It seems that the fungus doesn’t attack below the soil line. I have seen suggestions to plant the clematis a few inches deeper than it is in the pot so it has below ground nodes. This can be accomplished by removing the two lower sets of leaves (2 nodes) on each stem and planting them below ground. When the disease does hit cut back the infected shoots back to healthy tissue. This could mean a cut below the soil line. Other suggestions are to apply a broad-spectrum fungicide as a preventative.