Probably not. Treat it as if it's still unbroken and chances are very good that it'll put up new stems from the roots. That's happened lots to me - a new plant appears when I thought it was dead and gone long ago. Clematis are very forgiving that way. Good luck.

kendra2 I have just about conclued gophers are my problem. I realized that the plants were not just cut off, but the end was pulled down into the soil. Never had any real time with the critters and I could never find any kind of hole the stem was being pulled into and the roots were still completely intact. But I did find some rather large tunnels, much larger than mole tunnels, in my tomato bed and outside. I got some poison blocks, sort of parafin with seeds imbedded and some nast stuff, blue, and put some in the tunnels I could find outside the garden. Closed up the hole without filling up tunnel. I was gone on vacation for a week and havn't lost any more like that so maybe that was it. My Roma has lost all of its leaves, but I think that is something else. Early Girls are starting to produce. Thanks for you response, kendra2. Wish I could have been there while you and the critter were having a tug of war with your flower. Sounds like somthing out ot Lunny Tunes.

I think that you are right spidie, you can rule out cutworms. They only bother young and tender seedlings before the stems get as big around as a slim cigarette. I have seen complaints about rats and squirrels eating green and ripe tomatoes, or parts of them, but never about them chewing the bark off the stems near the soil level. I would tend to suspect fungal problems from the soil, or perhaps if you have tons of them dammed pill bugs aka rollie pollies aka sow bugs aka wood lice and / or slugs they may have developed a craving for tomato stem bark. Don't let anyone blow any smoke at you about them only eating dead and decaying matter. Just a couple of thoughts about possibilities. Bill P.

I would clean up the break, pull the soil away from it, temporarily seal the cut with caulk or wax (know that the seal will eventually fail and if you don't remove it then you are causing more potential problems by trapping moisture) and hope it starts to push a branch out from the side.