Clematis wilting

Matt_

Morning all,

My group 3 Clematis Pernille has wilted badly over the last 48 hours. Any thoughts on what's going on?

I deadheaded on Friday (I think, might have even been Saturday) and all seemed fine. Then last night I noticed basically the whole plant was drooping to some degree. Gave it a full watering can and I've done the same this morning. I hadn't been watering frequently as we've had a lot of drizzle and heavy showers over the last week or two. Checked for damage on the bottom stem and can't really see anything. 



This was a couple of weeks ago:

Obelixx

Keep up the daily watering.  10 litres at a time poured slowly so it sinks in deep.   April and May were incredibly dry and the drizzle you've had since won't have penetrated far enough down.  Clematis are very thirsty plants.

Fairygirl

I'd agree. It looks bone dry.
Drizzle and some showers isn't really enough. If you'd had persistent rain every other day for hours, it would be fine. 

Matt_

Yeah I was watering daily during the hot dry spell and it's only the very top bit of loose soil that's dried out at all (and only in the pic from a couple of weeks ago). Below that its quite wet. Hopefully you're right though, I'll keep up with the watering and keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks.

Dovefromabove

The wind we've had over the past 48 hours has been very drying ... it speeds up the rate of transpiration of the leaves ... lots more water is the answer. 

Matt_

Ah ok I hadn't really thought about the drying effect of the wind, rookie mistake. Lesson learned. I'll keep going with the watering and hopefully it recovers. Thanks all.