new clematis is 'clump' of root with one shoot w/no green growth

14 years ago

I just bought a new clematis 'plant' at Home Depot. It was sealed in a dark plastic bag and upon taking it out, it was essentially a small ball of 'roots', with one growth shoot coming from it. The shoot does not appear very 'alive'....there was no green growth on it at all.

Nonetheless I planted and watered it and am waiting to see what happens. Is this common for this type of plant...that you get it bareroot and er...I guess you'd call it 'dormant' perhaps? Should I necessarily be concerned that there was no green growth when I opened up the package?

Tx!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

alina_1
14 years ago
As long as the crown and roots are OK, you do not have to worry about top growth. It will appear eventually. Bareroot Clematis take much more time to grow and get established, but it is doable. Personally, I prefer small potted plants from reputable sellers when I want to save.

The crown has to be 2-4" below the ground surface. Did you plant this Clematis in the garden? It is much better to keep it potted until the rootball is large enough (fills a 1 Gallon pot). Keep the soil moist but not soggy. When your Clematis sends shoots, keep pinching them to stimulate roots and promote branching.
Good luck!
Lynn Nevins
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks very much Alina. I planted this in a pot...about a 2 gallon pot. What constitutes the 'crown' of the plant....the entire top portion of the plant? I buried the plant to just above the rootball, and left the one stalk that grew out of the rootball exposed to the sun/air. Are you saying that in fact, even all that part....the entire stalk...should be buried under the ground?

Tx!
Related Discussions
A one-sided love affair with Clematis
Q
Comments (34)
I feel your pain Eduarda. Most garden centers carry the large flowering hybrids because they are the ones most commonly known and are in bloom in the spring when the weather warms up and everyone flocks to the garden centers. The type IIIs tend to bloom later after the mad rush at the garden centers is over and who wants stock that is just going to sit there and that will have to be kept over the summer when it is too hot to plant much of anything. Flora, I would love to have the kind of weather you all have in England. Our summers are very hot and dry and everything suffers to some extent. Mle17, depends on how long the plant has been in the ground. You could dig it up and replant it deeper but at this time of the season, it will be getting hot in your neck of the woods and the plant might sulk. If you can pile more soil around the stem and mulch it to keep the soil in place, that might work. Pinching it out can't hurt. One thing I do want to say however is that some plant naturally seem to put up numerous vines from the crown on their own without the deeper burying and pinching. Those little activities however can't hurt so I suggest doing them nonetheless. Cziga, tomato fertilizer and rose fertilizer generally have higher middle numbers which reflect the phosphorus content. Phosphorus stimulates root development which in turn leads to more blooms in time.
...See More
My fig tree is showing no new growth this Spring
Q
Comments (39)
My 5 year old beautiful fig tree also did not survive the winter in DC. Thankfully i see new growth coming up from the ground. The advice i got from an arborist was to check the branches to see if any of the tree is alive and cut down anything dead. Scrape a twig with your nail or a small pocketknife to reveal the layers beneath the bark. Dead twigs will be gray or brown inside. A living tree has a green cambium layer immediately beneath the outer bark and green, white or cream-colored wood inside the twig. Check several twigs in different parts of the tree to ensure the entire tree is dead. good luck!
...See More
Shooting Star.....shooting!!
Q
Comments (7)
@ Amber Mine is in a heavy pot. It's unsupported atm because it had that setback over the winter, so it's just getting bushy again. In the past, I put a hoop in there just to give it a better center of gravity. When I need to do so again, I'll probably just bind the lower section of each branch to a couple not-too-ugly short stakes. The hoop looked so stupid! @ gmadarr Hoyas on a boat = awesome!!! I wouldn't use vermiculite with Hoyas at all. They really don't need that extra water retention, so save it for your other plants. I had assumed you were rooting in 100% perlite using the semi-hydro method. There are some who use it in place of hydroton, as a temporary rooting medium. Or, do you mean that you were using a medium of perlite + potting soil, and you are concerned about having some algae growth on the top level? Or you just don't like the aesthetics? You can kill the algae with a bit of hydrogen peroxide mixed with water. Or there are various algae killing solutions available for sale that can be mixed in when you water. But, really, the algae is just growing in the aquarium context because it never fully dries out and there is little air flow. Once you remove the plants from the aquarium, after they are rooted, the perlite will whiten up again. So, I don't get too bothered about it, myself, even though I do have algaecide on hand.
...See More
Willow as a root growth hormone?
Q
Comments (9)
catman, willow water has been known for a long time as something to use when rooting cuttings from various plants and shrubs. But when talking about using it for tomatoes I can't see how it would help. Tomato seeds germinate, seedlings are raised, transplanted and put out into the garden or a container. Root development is just fine as long as you transplant the seedlings at the 1-2 true leaf stage b'c doing it then shocks the root system and allows for greater vegetative growth , initially, at the expense of root growth, in order to get as much foliage as possible b'c it's the photosynthesis that supplies the whole plant with energy to grow. If you were to take cuttings from mature tomato plants you still wouldn't need to use willow water b'c tomatoes are somewhat unique in forming roots from any stem that's buried in soil or artificial mix. Which gets to your system of trenching plants, which many do, and many have to do if their plants get too tall, LOL, b'c new roots will automatically form all along the buried stem creating an extensive root system for the plant. So I can't see watering inground plants with willow water to "help the stems root faster", I think you really perhaps meant to increase root growth, b'c it happens naturally with tomatoes. For rooting cuttings from stuff like geraniums, and lilac cuttings, and on and on, it may well be helpful b/c they don't form roots along stems as do tomatoes. Hope that helps. Carolyn
...See More
alina_1
14 years ago
The crown is the top part of the rootball from which the roots spread. Planting it deeper helps to promote multiple basal shoots. It also helps Clematis to survive in case when the top growth is damaged or killed with Clematis wilt. Since the pot space is limited, you can plant it 1-2" below the soil level. Just make sure that you plant it deeper in the garden.
Do not worry about that stalk. It can be buried or exposed depending on its length. Does not matter now. Roots are the most important part for Clematis.
Lynn Nevins
Original Author
14 years ago
OK, got it on the root ball crown thing. Tx.
janetpetiole
14 years ago
I experimented a few years ago with bareroot clematis and this is what I did: I didn't bury them deeper because I didn't know about that at the time. They did fine, but when they were planted into "permanent" locations they were buried deeper. I believe that the plant should have some green about the soil for photosynthesis. I cannot bring myself to completely bury a clematis. The only way I would do it is if a university held a controlled study and concluded that it made no difference. lol

The roots can easily rot or dry out so watch the moisture in the soil. Dead clematis roots are black. Check out the link to see the color of healthy clematis roots.
I would have soaked the roots for a bit before plant, but I have also not soaked the roots, so I can't tell you how much of an advantage soaking has over not soaking the roots.

Here is a link that might be useful: clematis roots
buyorsell888
14 years ago
I have completely buried multiple Clematis with no problems.

I have had bad experiences with bare roots though and won't buy them again no matter how cheap. There are too many established Clems available for me.
katie
14 years ago
Yeah, bare root in those brightly colored packages are a bad deal. I've lost most of the many I have purchased in the past. Give me a clematis in a one gallon container any time, well worth the extra dollars.

Katie
seamommy
14 years ago
I NEVER buy a plant that I can't see. I used to get those little packages and got mostly dead and/or unhealthy plants in them. One time I got a package full of peat and nothing else. I couldn't convince the merchant that it had nothing in it so I was out the money. NEVER again. Shop around and find live plants, you'll be better off in the long run.

new clematis is 'clump' of root with one shoot w/no green growth

Comments (8)

alina_1

Lynn Nevins
Original Author

Related Discussions

alina_1

Lynn Nevins
Original Author

janetpetiole

buyorsell888

katie

seamommy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

new clematis is 'clump' of root with one shoot w/no green growth

Comments (8)

alina_1

Lynn NevinsOriginal Author

Related Discussions

alina_1

Lynn NevinsOriginal Author

janetpetiole

buyorsell888

katie

seamommy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Lynn Nevins
Original Author

Lynn Nevins
Original Author