"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 9 May 2005 18:45:32 +0100, "Emrys Davies"
wrote:

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
.. .
My daughter is developing a really lovely garden, in which everything
seems to be doing well. (Gloucestershire)
However, a clematis montana which she planted 2 years ago to cover a
shed, started off well this year and then gradually died back. This
weekend she decided to remove it. She found that the bottom 12 inches
of the stem was covered in "gunge". She described it as "snotty", I
more politely said it looked like thick creamy wallpaper paste. It was
definitely oozing out of the stem, not deposited on it.
1. What is it? I've never heard of c. wilt causing this.
2. Can she replant if she removes some soil?
3. Is it worth sterilsing the soil with Armillatox or something?
She's waiting for the expert advice I said Urglers would come up with!
TIA


Pam in Bristol

Crown gall can infect clematis. These sites describe it and show
photos. of it. Are there similarities?

http://www.ipm.uiuc.edu/diseases/series1000/rpd1006/

http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/tfipm/crowngall.htm

http://grapes.msu.edu/crowngall.htm

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

No, Emrys, but thanks. I don't think it's that. There are no growths
such as indicated on that site. Just this horrible mucus-like gunge on
the bottom 12 inches of stem.

Pam in Bristol

Clematis Flux I think it is called. Cut it back and it should regrow. It is
bacterial.
My only doubt over it is that I thought Clematis Flux issued forth from the
end
of a stem, I didn't know that it spread all along a stem.

Andy.