Clematis is a very beautiful plant. Its curly branches and delicate flowers can beautify any garden plot. You can often hear the opinion that this is a very capricious and demanding flower to care for, because it can hardly endure cold and frost. How well clematis overwinters depends on its proper preparation for the cold. Today I will tell you how to take care of clematis in the fall to ensure an easy winter for a beautiful plant.
Basic autumn procedures
In general, clematis is considered a fairly frost-resistant plant. In preparation for hibernation, the flower needs high-quality pruning, feeding, processing and shelter.
Pruning a young seedling
In the first year of life, when clematis has not yet grown into a beautiful liana on its support, the flower should be cut as follows: leave shoots 30-40 cm high, remove the rest of the plant. Pruning this way will allow the flower to branch out and form side shoots.
Pruning a varietal flower
An adult plant is also pruned annually before the onset of cold weather. The optimal time for this is late October - early November. Pruning rules depend on the type of flower. All varieties of clematis varieties can be roughly divided into two types: blooming on last year's shoots and blooming only on young shoots.
- Cropping flowers of the first kind
First of all, it is necessary to remove all diseased and dry branches, dried flowers, as well as bushes that thicken the plant abundantly, that is, to carry out sanitary pruning. Then, with a sharp sector, we cut off the main shoots to a height of 150-160 cm.
- Pruning clematis of the second type
When pruning flowers of this group, it is necessary to remove old shoots to a height of 20-30 cm, since they take additional strength from the plant. Young shoots with flower buds do not need to be touched.
- General rules for pruning
If you find it difficult to determine the type of your clematis, then you can use the combined pruning method: cut half of the bush to a height of 150-160 cm, and the other half to 3-5 flower buds. Bushes should be alternated with each other.
Top dressing and watering
Before the onset of cold weather in a dry autumn, the roots of clematis need to be saturated with water and abundant watering should be carried out in October. If the autumn turned out to be rainy, then you should not additionally water the flower. It is also important to feed with phosphorus and potash fertilizers. To deoxidize the soil, I recommend adding a mixture of peat, river sand and wood ash to the soil at the base of the clematis roots.
Treatment
In the fall, it is very important to cultivate the flower and the soil around it. Clematis is very often affected by various fungi, therefore, without visible errors in care, it can dry out or rot quickly. To avoid this, in late autumn, the soil around the plant is sprayed with ready-made antifungal drugs.
Shelter from the cold
With the first light frosts, it is necessary to prepare the flower for wintering. To do this, we mulch the root neck with a sufficient amount of humus. This will save her from freezing. The shoots must be removed from the support, wrapped with a special covering material and bent down on pre-prepared boards or polystyrene, in order to exclude direct contact of the plant with the frozen ground. Press the bent branches from above with spruce branches and insulate with plywood or thick cardboard.
Additional care
With the onset of winter, the flowers can be additionally covered with a layer of snow. It is also important to protect the shelters created for the plant from small rodents. In the spring, we gradually unwrap the clematis and place the vines on the usual supports.
Preparing clematis for wintering can seem daunting and time-consuming. However, if everything is done correctly, then next spring the plant will surprise you with an abundance of luxurious flowers and its active growth.
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