How To Recognize Clematis Diseases?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

In the warm season, magnificent clematis never ceases to delight our eyes. However, from time to time, these amazingly beautiful flowers can be affected by a wide variety of ailments: viral, fungal, physiological and bacterial. In order to learn to distinguish them from each other, it is important to know which symptoms are inherent in each disease. Only in this case it is possible to give your favorite flowers the correct "diagnosis" and even save them from a devastating disease

Powdery mildew

This ill-fated attack begins to manifest itself closer to the middle of summer - an extremely unpleasant mealy bloom forms on almost all parts of clematis located above the ground. Young shoots with leaves, as well as buds with flowers that have just begun to develop, are especially strongly affected. The tissues located under the fungal bloom turn brown and dry out, as a result of which the plant organs begin to gradually deform, and the plants themselves stop growing and flowering.

Gray rot

Most often, this ailment attacks beautiful clematis in rainy seasons. And it manifests itself in the form of rapidly growing brownish specks on the shoots and leaves. If the air humidity is increased, then the brownish necrotic areas will begin to be covered with fluffy grayish mycelium and harmful spores. Spores are carried by the wind, contributing to the re-infection of flower bushes growing in the neighborhood, and it is not at all necessary that these will also be clematis. The spread of this infection is largely facilitated by the abundance of nitrogen, thickening of the plantings and stagnant air.

Ascochitosis

When this disease is affected, dark brown spots (or necrosis) begin to appear on the leaves of clematis. In most cases, they are characterized by an irregular shape and pronounced zoning, and a little less often specks can merge with each other. Closer to autumn, pycnidia (black fruit bodies of the fungus) begin to ripen on necrotic tissues, in which the pathogen remains to winter.

Rust

Orange sporulation pads begin to appear on clematis shoots attacked by rust, as well as on petioles with leaves. In the case of a particularly strong spread of infection, the shoots begin to deform, and the leaves turn brown and dry out. The fungus causative agent of this misfortune can overwinter both on the shoots and on the wheatgrass, and with the onset of spring, it will again begin to attack the growing shoots. As a result of rust damage, the vegetative parts of the plants dry out prematurely, which in turn significantly weakens the vegetation and negatively affects its ability to winter safely.

Septoriasis

The main manifestation of this ailment is the formation of light gray spots on the leaves of clematis, framed with thin reddish edges. And closer to autumn, on the dying plant tissues, the ripening of black point pycnidia begins. In addition, necrotic tissue on the leaves almost always falls out.

Verticillary wilting

The wood affected by verticillary wilting first turns brown, and after some time it darkens and dies off. As a result, beautiful clematis almost always die. By the way, compared to many other ailments, verticillosis progresses at a much slower rate.

Green or colorless flowers

This is a typical physiological disease. Sometimes it happens that the sepals of spectacular plants are colored only partially or completely remain colorless. This phenomenon can be observed almost everywhere, and completely different varieties of clematis can suffer from such a misfortune.