Clematis there are about 300 varieties. Not surprisingly, their care is different. So I want Clematis to bloom longer, have more flowers, their color was brighter. Make it easy. It is only necessary to consider some features of the plant. With the advent of spring, operations to look after these wonderful flowers are resumed.
Care
You need to start by removing the shelter that guarded the bush in the winter from frost. This is important to do on time. At first it is facilitated, and after the threat of severe frosts has passed, they are completely removed. Light night frosts of a flower are not terrible. The shade is shaded from the sun so that the bright rays of the sun do not burn clematis.
Spring Care:
- pruning
- watering;
- loosening the soil;
- mulching;
- tying up;
- protection of shoots from mechanical damage.
Pruning
A huge influence on the quality of the flower has pruning clematis in the spring. If it is done correctly, then the bush is beautifully shaped, not thickened with weak and excess lashes. The flowers on it are plentiful and large.
Basically, pruning is done in the fall, before hiding the bush. But if it was not produced on time, then this can be corrected. In order for the clematis pruning to be correct in the spring, you need to know which group it belongs to. There are only three of them.
The first group is clematis, in which flowers are formed on last year's shoots. They are much more beautiful than the colors of other groups. But the flower buds of plants of these varieties freeze if they are poorly covered.
The second group blooms on both old and new parts of the plant. At first, flowers appear only on old branches, there are not many of them, and they do not bloom for long. In late summer, young stems bloom profusely.
The third group consists of clematis, in which flowers form on young stems. They bloom from July to mid-September.
Spring pruning clematis of the first group
Cutting off last year's stems, you will deprive the plant of the opportunity to bloom. Therefore, usually such clematis does not cut much. If in the autumn non-lignified shoots were not cut off, then they die off during the winter. But the whole clematis does not disappear. Pruning in the spring in this case is reduced to shortening the stems to a height of 1-1.5 meters.
Young shoots sometimes grow very quickly and close the lashes with flowers. This may be the result of rainy weather and heavily fertilized soil. Young growth needs to be thinned out, having estimated quality of stalks on which there will be flowers next year. Excess, weaker shoots are removed completely. After all, if you pinch them for two or three kidneys to the base, then this will only strengthen the process of formation of new ones.
Pruning of shoots that have faded will be carried out in the fall.
Pruning Clematis of the second group
Trimming clematis in the spring is carried out in several stages. Plants of this group emerged from the winter after autumn circumcision about a meter high.
After the first flowering, in May-June, last year's stems that have faded are removed. In the spring, the bush begins to give new shoots. To form high-quality branches, young growth should be pinched. The first time this is done at a height of 30 cm, the second - 50 cm. And the last time - at a height of 1-1.5 meters.
If in the fall it is a mistake to cut off all the lashes of clematis of this group, then it will bloom not earlier than the end of summer. Or maybe not bloom at all. Therefore, they are shortened by a third.
Pruning Clematis of the Third Group
If the flowers will be formed on the shoots of this year, then you need a young stalk of the greatest length. Usually cut them in the fall above the second or third kidney. In this case, you don’t have to cut anything in the spring. If this was not done on time, then you need to urgently rectify the situation in order to get beautiful clematis in the summer. Pruning in the spring (photos of the process are presented in the article) consists in this case in removing parts of the vine above the third kidney. As you grow, you can remove weak shoots.
General pruning guidelines
The first pruning of clematis of all varieties is the same and very simple: cut the shoots above the first bud. This stimulates the development of the root and sleeping kidneys as early as next year. If after winter you again find a weak clematis, pruning in the spring can once again be cardinal.
The bush, which developed normally the first year, needs to be cut off in the second spring, given that it belongs to a particular group.
The more flowers, the smaller they are. A smaller number of flowers with a larger diameter can be achieved using the combined pruning method.
If clematis of the first two groups has all weak buds, it is advisable to cut the shoots at a height of 40 cm from the ground. Several long ones can be left for propagation by layering. Throughout the growing season, you can carry out decorative or sanitary pruning.
How to determine membership in a particular group?
When buying clematis, you do not always know not only its trim group, but often even the name of the variety. What to do, how to guess what type of procedure should be applied to it? Do not rush. Pinch the plant over the first bud for the first year. In autumn you can shorten the stems. In the spring it is worth waiting for flowering. It will tell you what to do next.
How and what to cut clematis?
Pruning in spring is done with a long knife or a sharp secateurs. The slice is made at a height of 5-7 mm from the kidney. Before pruning each bush, you need to disinfect the pruner or knife.
Combined Trimming
It is used on hybrid clematis obtained from varieties of various groups. Some shoots with this circumcision are shortened by one or two buds from the ground, while others leave ten buds. This method can be used if you do not know his group. At least on some stems, flowering will correspond to the variety. And so you decide on the subsequent pruning.
Often they use the combined method when they want clematis to bloom longer. Pruning in the spring by this method leads to the fact that first the buds appear on weakly trimmed branches, and then on young stems grown from buds.
It is also used to rejuvenate the bushes. A vine older than three years old is shortened by this principle immediately after it fades. As a result, the bush will not have old branches and will retain its beauty longer.
Tying
Without this procedure, your clematis will quickly turn into a ball, which will be very difficult to unravel. For garter clematis using various types of supports, but not a single pole. They will not be able to form a beautifully shaped plant. The lower wire, twine, rail is best placed closer to the ground. This will prevent wind breakage or other injuries through which the infection gets inside.
The plant, which is correctly indicated by the first tying and for which the support is installed, will climb higher itself. Only some adjustment will be required, which can be done once every couple of weeks.
Soil content under clematis
After removing the shelter in spring, the earth is loosened and watered with milk of lime. To prepare it, 100 grams of lime is bred in a bucket of water. Watering with such a composition reduces the acidity of the soil and eliminates the sources of various diseases. You can take chalk instead of lime. The earth must be constantly loosened, removing weeds, or mulched with bark, sawdust, moss, humus. At the same time, the root system of clematis does not overheat so much. And the soil under the mulch will be constantly moist.
It is good to plant low flowers around clematis or sow grass. They will shade the periostemal circle and prevent root overheating.
But excess moisture is also detrimental to clematis. Not without reason, after planting, gravel drainage is prepared under the root. If it rains for a long time, then it can rot. To prevent this from happening, the earth around the bush is sprinkled with ash from wood.
The older the bush becomes, the more moisture it needs. Annual seedlings are watered in the spring after three days and all summer once a week. In this case, the stream of water should not fall directly into the center of the bush.
Top dressing
A beautiful bush of clematis with large flowers cannot be grown without top dressing. In spring, clematis is fertilized every two weeks. Do this in small doses, in liquid form. The first time - ammonium nitrate (20 grams per bucket of water), mullein (one part per 10 parts of water). When using chicken manure, dilute it with water in a ratio of 1:15. For one or two bushes there is a bucket of such top dressing.
You can make humus once a year, starting from the second after planting. Clematis usually respond well to it. Trimming and caring for them will not take you much time and effort. Following these simple rules will help grow clematis bushes that will delight others all summer.