Clematis - how to care for a flower so that it blooms beautifully? Fertilizers for clematis in spring for abundant flowering Clematis spring feeding.
Clematis are liana-like plants of the ranunculaceae family. Among gardeners, it is known as clematis, vine or grandfather curls and is widely used for vertical gardening. Spectacular climbing shoots of clematis, covered with elegant flowers from early June to August, decorate gardens and cottages, balconies and gazebos. For getting lush flowering proper care is required throughout the growing season. Spring events are of particular importance. First of all, feeding, which lays the foundations for future flowering.
- When the mercury column stops falling below 0 °C during the daytime, protection is done ventilation holes, providing access fresh air and light to the shoots of the plant.
- Winter shelters are removed completely only when the threat of night frosts has disappeared.
- For varieties that bloom twice a year, all old and dried shoots are removed, and healthy shoots are shortened to 1 m.
- Clematis that bloom on the current year's shoots are cut to a length of 30 cm, leaving 2-3 buds.
- In spring, remove all broken and deformed branches.
- fertilizers are applied after watering or into moist soil;
- to prevent “overfeeding”, solutions of medium concentration are used, dry additives are scattered in small portions;
- deposit mineral supplements alternate with the use of organic matter.
- enriches the soil with potassium and calcium, without which it is impossible to obtain bright flowering;
- allows you to correct the acidity of the soil: clematis do not tolerate an acidic environment.
- when shoots grow, during the 1st feeding, young shoots are irrigated with a weak (1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water) urea solution;
- at the end of spring, during the formation of buds - using the preparations “Master”, “Avkarin”, “Floral Solution”.
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Care after winter
They begin to care for clematis literally immediately after the snow melts, freeing the awakened plants from their winter shelters and performing a number of other simple but important activities.
Removing covers
After wintering, the protection is removed from clematis. Do this gradually:
Trimming
Clematis are pruned in the fall. If for some reason this could not be done, then pruning is carried out in early spring:
Support and garter
Spring growth of clematis shoots begins in May, reaching its maximum by the middle of this month. At daytime temperatures above 10 °C, the vine stretches 7-10 cm per day and needs support, natural or artificially erected. It is worth taking care of its presence and staking of the vine in early spring.
The first garter is carried out on minimum distance from the earth. As they grow, the clematis shoots are fan-shapedly distributed over the surface of the support, carefully ensuring that they do not intertwine, and fixed. This will ensure good illumination of the shoots and protect the plant from mechanical damage and their consequences, and will also give the bush a decorative appearance.
Scheme for fixing clematis shoots
Watering
In spring, clematis experience an increased need for moisture. After the snow melts, the soil is sufficiently saturated with water, but its reserves are quickly used up. Clematis react painfully to moisture deficiency, so in the spring, especially with little rainfall, the soil is moistened.
Watering is carried out infrequently (once a week), but abundantly, trying to moisten the soil to a depth of up to half a meter, which is explained by the taproot type of plant root system. From 10 to 20 liters of water is poured under young bushes, 1.5-2 times more for adults. The older the plant, the more moisture it needs.
Loosening the soil
After each watering, the soil is loosened. This will avoid excessive evaporation of water and prevent the growth of unwanted vegetation.
The first time the soil is loosened in early spring, still wet from the melted snow, in order to destroy the soil crust and weeds. Loosening is carried out to a depth of 2-5 cm.
Mulching
Covering the soil with mulch partially replaces watering and loosening. It helps retain moisture in the soil, saturate it with oxygen and protects the roots from overheating.
Used as mulch various materials: peat, half-rotted manure, sawdust, straw, compost, humus. The use of organic matter helps plants receive additional nutrition during rain.
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Mulch is placed around the bushes, being careful not to touch the shoots. This will protect them from damage by rodents.
Planting annual flowering plants at the base of clematis shoots works similarly to mulch. These could be marigolds, which not only protect the roots, but also repel some insect pests with the help of their smell.
Prevention of diseases and pests
The roots of clematis, especially in waterlogged soil conditions, are susceptible to fungal diseases (fusarium, wilt, gray rot), which can lead to the loss of the plant. To prevent the occurrence of diseases in the spring, apply copper sulfate(50 g per 10 l), foundationol (20 g per 10 l) or any other fungicide, 3-4 l per bush. The treatment is repeated 3-4 times.
Dangerous pests of clematis are root-knot nematodes, which penetrate root tissues and form thickenings (galls). To prevent their appearance, spring mulching of the soil is carried out using mint or wormwood, the smell of which repels them.
Spring feeding
The growing season of most varieties of clematis is characterized by the annual renewal of almost the entire above-ground mass and long and abundant flowering. To carry out these processes, the plant needs a large number of nutrients. Therefore, after winter, clematis need to be fertilized.
For normal development, the plant needs 16 micro- and macroelements. It receives three of them (oxygen, carbon and hydrogen) mainly from the air. The remaining 13 are from the soil.
Rules for applying fertilizers
Fertilizing clematis in the spring is carried out in compliance with several rules:
Clematis do not tolerate chlorine-containing fertilizers.
Spring feeding scheme
During the season, adult clematis bushes are fed 5 times. Most of the fertilizing occurs in the spring.
Subsequence | Dates | Fertilizers used | Important information |
1 | First half of May | Urea solution (30 g per 10 l of water) or solution ammonium nitrate(2 g per 10 liters of water for a bush from 5 to 10 years) or sprinkle fertilizer over the soil surface | Nitrogen is necessary for the growth of green mass. It activates cell division processes, preventing their aging. With a deficiency of this element, the growth of shoots slows down, the leaves become smaller and acquire a yellowish or reddish tint, and few buds are formed |
2 | A week after the first feeding | Infusion of mullein (1:10) or chicken manure (1:15). | - |
2/3 | Additionally, between 2 and 3 feedings (mid - end of May) | Liming the soil: dissolve 150-200 g of chalk (lime) in 10 liters of water dolomite flour. This solution is used to treat 1 sq. m. soil. | Adding lime milk accomplishes 2 tasks: After liming, the soil is mulched |
3 | 1.5-2 weeks after the second feeding | Any complex fertilizer, for example, Kemira station wagon, 1 tbsp. l. for 10 liters of water | - |
4 | During the budding period | Superphosphate, potassium nitrate 1 tbsp. l. for 10 liters of water | Phosphorus and potassium are necessary for the formation of buds. With their deficiency, few flowers are formed. The pedicels of some of them darken, the buds droop down and do not always open. |
In summer, clematis are not fed. This reduces flowering time!
Foliar spring feeding
Clematis responds well to holding foliar feeding.In the spring they are carried out twice:
Clematis will definitely respond to spring troubles and will delight you with its blooms all season long.
Clematis is one of the most noble and beautiful perennial vines. She is able to cover the entire area with her chic flowering vines, changing it beyond recognition. Clematis is good for decorating gazebos, arches, house walls, and fences. Clematis is also called: "vineyard", "warthog", "grandfather's curls" and "clematis". There are about 300 species of clematis in nature. Clematis are easy to care for and respond very gratefully to good care after them. Subject to proper agricultural technology they are colorful and long flowering, high resistance to diseases. Today we will tell you how to feed clematis in the summer.
When to start fertilizing clematis
If the land was well fertilized before planting, then additional feeding begins only after two or even three years. But when the soil is poor, it is necessary to add manure humus or well-rotted compost mixed with wood ash to the base of the bushes in the first spring or autumn - 1-2 handfuls per bucket. This is especially true for young specimens, whose root system is not yet sufficiently developed. Over the summer, clematis grow a huge mass of shoots, leaves, and then flowers, so nutrition comes first for them. These vines need to be fed twice a month, in small portions. And the fertilizer must be in liquid form!
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How to determine if clematis lacks fertilizer
If you look closely at the flower, it is easy to independently identify the type of fertilizer that is necessary for the flower:
- Clematis' young shoots have decreased, the leaves have become yellowish in color, and the flowers have become much smaller - it requires fertilizing, which is based on nitrogen. To do this, you can use rotted poultry droppings diluted with water or cow manure;
- The plant has a peduncle that has become dark, and the color of the flowers has become much lighter - the plantings need potassium fertilizers. With the onset of spring, such feeding may consist of potassium nitrate, and at the end of summer it is recommended to feed clematis with potassium sulfate. To obtain the nutritional composition, you need to use 10-12 liters of settled water and 25-30 grams of fertilizer;
- With the onset of autumn, experts recommend introducing fertilizer based on bone meal into the top layer of soil under each clematis bush. One square meter will require 200-250 grams of flour. This fertilizer will provide the plants with phosphorus, the lack of which leads to poor growth young shoots and changing foliage color.
Types of summer fertilizers for clematis
Abundant and prolonged flowering of clematis leads to active absorption of nutrients from the soil. The plant needs minerals and organic fertilizers, which alternate.
If the soil was well fertilized when planting a young vine, this year it is better not to overload the bush with additional fertilizing. To ensure uniform consumption of nutrients, the plant is fed up to 4 times per season. Necessary feeding for clematis:
- Bone flour. The source of phosphorus is added at the beginning of autumn at the rate of 200 grams. per 1 sq. meter.
- Humus. Used when planting a bush, 20-23 kg of humus per plant.
- Nitrogen. Feeding the vine with nitrogen compounds is important for the uniform development of shoots and rich color of flowers. For 10 liters of water, 1 liter of slurry and 15 grams are used. nitroammophoska or ammonium nitrate.
- Potash fertilizers. Apply at the beginning of spring (potassium nitrate) and at the end of summer (potassium sulfate) 25 g. fertilizers per 10 liters of water.
Pest Control Articles
To protect clematis from pests and fungal diseases, especially during the period of active shoot development, the soil is treated with fungicidal agents. You can feed the plant through the leaves with “Floral Solution” or “Aquarin”. In summer, at the end of August, clematis needs potassium and phosphorus. It is best to use potassium sulfate, which is diluted in water and fed to the vine. Ten liters of water require thirty grams of the substance. In the warm season, clematis love to be sprayed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate and boric acid. The liana is sprayed once a month in the evening.
Fertilizing clematis in summer for lush flowering
Clematis are quite unpretentious. They adapt to different climatic conditions, can tolerate severe frosts and heat. But the root system of clematis does not like high humidity and overheating, so the soil around the roots needs to be mulched. For spectacular flowering clematis needs regular feeding. When the first buds begin to form, the vine simply needs additional nutrients. During this period, the plant simply needs phosphorus and potassium. It is best to use complex mineral fertilizers that do not contain chlorine. Also, during the budding period, the soil is additionally nourished with a tincture of cow dung. Lush development of clematis can be achieved by increasing the power of the root system: in a 2-3-year-old bush that has been dug up and washed from the ground, all the white tips of the roots are pinched off by 0.5 cm. Thanks to this operation, the volume of the root system more than doubles. The next year the plant blooms two weeks earlier and has larger flowers.
What other care does clematis need in the summer?
Clematis do not tolerate overheating and drying out of the soil. It should always be slightly damp and loose. Therefore, after each watering and rain, the soil around the plants is loosened. Near new plantings - shallow (2-5 cm) to destroy the soil crust and the first weeds.
Good results are obtained by mulching the soil, which partially replaces watering and loosening. For clematis, it is best to use semi-rotted manure as mulch, sprinkled with peat. When watering or raining, such mulch retains moisture longer and gives the plant additional nutrition. In winter, it protects the root system from freezing, especially during icy conditions. Thanks to mulch, many worms appear, which, by making passages in the soil, help improve its structure.
After flowering ends, at the end of August - September, it is useful to fertilize with monopotassium phosphate, complex autumn fertilizer or wood ash. On well-aerated cultivated lands, the root system of clematis extends up to 1 m wide from the base of the bush and up to 80 cm deep, which allows the plant to select from the soil the minerals and trace elements that are missing for life. Properly planted clematis, which is fertilized correctly and in full, always blooms profusely and tolerates winter well.
Clematis, like any other flower, must be fed for good and lush flowering. Then it will fully develop and give you its own, amazingly beautiful flowers that will decorate your fence, wall or gazebo. It all depends on what you planted this amazing plant next to. After all, this is precisely why clematis is grown, so that it can further decorate the structure that serves as its support. Now, let's directly figure out what types of fertilizer are suitable for clematis. What you can feed him and what he doesn’t like. We feed clematis. What and how should this be done? During its entire growing season, clematis is usually fed 4 times. In the spring, when your clematis just wakes up, you already need to think about feeding. This is not done immediately, but only at the end of spring. You need to feed it with urea (here is a good article about this fertilizer). You will only need to take a tablespoon of this fertilizer, and add mullein to it (it should already be in liquid form, 1 liter). Both of these components are diluted in an ordinary 10-liter bucket of water. The second time you will need to fertilize when the clematis has not yet bloomed, but is already about to do so. We calculate again using a bucket of water. “Agricola-7” (a tablespoon of this drug) is already diluted in it, plus potassium sulfate (taken in the same quantity). When your clematis has successfully flowered, you need to start feeding it again. The same 10 liters of water, but we already dilute any of these 2 fertilizers in them: again, “Agricola-7”, or it can be replaced with “Flower”. And the final feeding, number 4, will be necessary for clematis when its growth comes to an end. The same amount of water is taken, the preparations will be slightly different. Let’s take “Agricola for flowering plants"(here the quantity is 2 tablespoons), plus potassium sulfate and superphosphate (both of them in a tablespoon). As for fertilizer consumption. At all stages of feeding this is no more than 10 liters. This is how much you need to pour on each clematis bush. Preparing clematis for winter. How to do it? In order for clematis to successfully overwinter, it must be properly prepared for this. You need to start with pruning; when doing it, you will need to seriously shorten the shoots and leave them only 20 centimeters in length. The roots must be covered. This can be done with humus or dry peat. The plant itself is covered with a box on top. And then they add additional sawdust on top. A film is laid on top of the sawdust, but it is necessary to make a hole in it so that the clematis simply does not suffocate and suffocate there. In severe frosts, clematis may suffer even under such cover. It happens that clematis gets a little bit cold. In this case, it is restored quite quickly, but the flowering will no longer be so lush.
How to properly feed and how to fertilize clematis Notes for summer residents From this article you will learn how to properly feed and how to fertilize clematis. To make your clematis “pleasant to the eye,” you should follow simple rules for caring for this flower. As we already know, the agricultural technology for growing clematis is quite simple: clematis needs watering, tying up shoots, pruning, loosening and mulching the soil, and fertilizing. However, the right place for planting clematis plays one of the main roles when growing this flower. As you know, for planting clematis you should choose sunny or slightly shaded places. Clematis does not like drafts or blowing winds, so when choosing a place to grow this plant, take this feature into account. If we talk about the soil, then clematis needs well-fertilized, loose, light, well-permeable, non-acidic, fertile soil. However, no matter what fertile soil was not, clematis will need feeding. Because clematis blooms profusely and for a long time and annually renews almost all its shoots and leaves, then, naturally, it needs strength and energy - nutrients. This is why it is so important to know what fertilizers clematis needs and when is the best time to fertilize. Feeding clematis Already from the end of May - beginning of June (during the period of active growth of clematis), clematis needs not only weeding, loosening and tying up the vines, but also feeding. Most often during this period, gardeners use urea, lime mortar, or liquid manure to feed clematis. When clematis has not yet bloomed, but is just planning to do so, it is worth taking care of the second feeding of the plant. During this period, clematis can be fed with a fertilizer such as “Agricola-7” (1 tablespoon of this drug + potassium sulfate is diluted in a 10-liter bucket of water). During the period of lush flowering, clematis needs not only abundant watering, but also in feeding. During the flowering period, it is better to feed clematis mineral fertilizers or liquid manure. In August, clematis most often begin to get sick, which is why during this period you should closely monitor their health. For better “well-being”, clematis can be fed with mineral fertilizers and ash. Ash not only promotes the ripening of vines, but also improves the winter hardiness of flowers. When clematis fades, it needs the following feeding: the same preparation “Agricola-7” or “Flower” can be diluted in 10 liters of water. And when the growth of clematis comes to an end, it can be fed with Agricola for flowering plants + superphosphate and potassium sulfate (two tablespoons of Agricola + one tablespoon each of superphosphate and sulfate). Next, clematis needs to be prepared for wintering. Preparing clematis for winter At the end of September, fertilizing clematis stops and preparing the plant for winter begins. It is during this period that clematis can be transplanted to a “safer” place if you initially made a mistake. In September, caring for clematis consists of loosening the soil and weeding. In mid-autumn, clematis requires pruning. Pruning should be done very carefully and carefully. Make sure that root collar plants ended up underground. If it is on the surface, sprinkle it with humus. When the air temperature begins to drop, clematis will need to be covered. This can be done using dry peat or humus. As for wintering clematis, it is still better to cover the clematis rather than leave it under a layer of snow. An excellent “insulation” for clematis will be crushed polystyrene foam, brushwood or dry leaves. So that your “blanket” for clematis does not “pack” under a layer of snow, it is worth building a sort of rigid frame. A regular wooden box is perfect for this purpose. So, clematis are covered with a layer of drainage, covered wooden box and waterproof material (polyethylene or the like, but with holes for air), sprinkle with earth (a layer of at least 30 cm). In spring, the cover from clematis is removed gradually, in several stages. First, the layer of snow is removed, later holes are made for ventilation, and the polyethylene is finally removed only when the threat of frost has passed. The drainage layer (dry leaves) is also removed gradually so that the plant gets used to the coolness and sun. Healthy clematis to you!