Another of Climador:
Mail order clematis question
Here's Pink Climador:
blissful, are you sure the damage to the flowers is slugs? usually the slugs just strip the outer layer of the lower vine, which causes the vine to wilt at the top and usually you lose the whole vine. it is the earwigs that climb up the plant and chew into the buds or even blooms as they open, or do holes in the leaves,
i am not a bug expert, and the critters could be different in your area, but this is my understanding of the two types of bugs and collateral damage.
your blooms look good except for poor huvi....i just put the two climadors in recently. looking forward to seeing them grow.one was a ssv this spring, the other was from somewhere else last fall.
you are having great results it sounds with your new plants, and building a great collection. love that i am not alone in my obsession.....something enabling about knowing that.....
Hmmm, it could be earwigs. I thought it was the slugs simply because I've been out there pulling slugs off the clems all morning. I did find a centipede as well, but I haven't seen any earwigs. I'll have to go out tonight with the flashlight to see if I have better luck. I haven't noticed slime trails, which was a puzzlement... if the slugs had been the culprit eating the buds, I should have found slime trails up the plants.
And, yes, CG, you are quite an enabler. Zuzu, Sue and Kell started my rose obsession and now your beautiful collection is calling me willingly down the path to clem obsession as well. I didn't need an enabler for the irises. I started that project (about 250 cultivars to start) out of my own desire to research which ones would do well here... a result of my grandfather's love of beardeds. Unfortunately, that experiment hasn't gone as planned... our winter was very dry. Almost every single bearded iris has survived. I anticipated I would lose about 50% to rot over our typically soggy winter, so now my results are completely skewed. Isn't it sad that a good result of too much survivability is actually a disappointment?! But, I truly do not have the space for that many cultivars. I'm back to square one on the research because they just didn't experience a Louisiana winter at all!!!
Just a quick thought on my part....would sprinkling a bit of epsom salts around the plant kill slugs? I know regular salt does.
Hmmm, does anyone know? That seems like quite a good idea!
Someone mentioned in another clem forum topic, I think it was CG, that Oyster Shell (chick grit) repels slugs. There is also a forum topic on earwigs. I have both in my garden, at times. I posted recipes (from other web sources) of two bug repellent recipes for roses. The second one, containing garlic and onion, seemed to keep slugs off my hostas, last night. I sprayed some more this evening.
GQ... lol, I just realized you are "GQ"... like the magazine! ;-) Annnnyway, I certainly have plenty of garlic and onion around here. They are both staples in Cajun cooking. I just had never thought to spray them on the clems. I wonder if that would be too attractive of a smell for the dogs. It's dangerous for the pets to eat onion. Has anybody with pets tried the recipe?
As for the oyster shells, I've already got them around the bottom of each clem, but somehow the slugs are circumventing this. I have found a few slugs literally on the plants, above the oyster shells, so they are getting up the plant somehow. Perhaps they are entering the trellises and then working their way over to the plant rather than starting at the plant base... so maybe I need to hit all the ground contact points of the trellis as well.
Blissful: I mentioned soaking the barerooted Clems overnight, plus filling the hole with water, letting it drain out BEFORE planting Clems. Soooo many Clems die because of lack of water. I just wanted to make sure that Clematis newbies knew to do this. I have very high humidity in my area during the Summer and for the past 5 years we have had water rationing because of severe drought. The very high humidity did not make one bit of difference! I still lost a lot of Clematis, bushes and trees.
Then perhaps it's the water table rather than the humidity that makes the difference. To fill a hole with water here is often the kiss of death to a new plant, as it takes so long for the water to rescind that the plant roots might rot. It is extremely uncommon to find a basement in Louisiana for that reason; those few that do exist have chronic water issues.
Someone on one of the clem threads mentioned a discount for Dave's Garden members at Koi gardens, but I can't find it now. Does anyone remember?
I doubt he has an additional discount going now... his clems are already much less expensive than anyone else. You might ask on the Koi Gardens thread, though. I believe Jerome (from Koi) is monitoring that thread for questions.
doss recommended sluggo, which is easy to find and completely harmless to animals and plants. except sluggos!
sprinkle it on top of the oyster shell. the oyster shell has other benefits too. lighten and airate the soil, relfect light back on plants in semi shade, looks good in dusk and dawn too.
Thanks, CG. I'll head to the nursery to pick some up. I really have got to get these pests under control!
thanks to doss, and if anyone wants to see a beautiful clem, her asao photo is amazing. huge. mature. floriferous. gorgeous. it's on the forum somewhere from this spring.....