Quote:
Originally Posted by may
over the last few years i have collected quite a few clematis , but i have decided to dig them up, it really greives me to have to do this , but my garden is not pleasing me any more , every year the clematis grows really lush , with lots of really big buds and just when they are ready to bust into bloom those nasty little brown and cream snails eat the stems and the whole lot dies, at first i thought it was clematis wilt, but over the years i have found out it is those snails that are doing the damage, and it does not help that i am having trouble with a low growing heart shaped weed that is taking over my garden, and those snails are hiding in the leaves of that weed , and i just cannot seem to get rid of that weed so the garden is full of those nasty little snails that eat my clematis , after the clematis dies back they look so messy all over the garden with dead buds all over them,
i have had enough of it and i am soo sad about it
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What are you doing in the way of pruning the clematis? It's the new growth the snails like, and although they can climb, most damage is within a couple of feet of ground level. I find that if I can get my clematis above about 3 ft high (if necessary by growing them in a pot in the greenhouse away from snails) then they are OK. It's a matter of making sure they have dry woody stems up to about 3ft, so, obviously, never pruning them lower than that.
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