Help! Plocket? Anyone?

[Juliet]

I had one of those days today - you know, not disastrous, but when every little thing that can go wrong will go wrong and you end up spending all your time sorting it out & not getting anything done ...

... anyway, last thing this afternoon I went out in the garden to check my pots and found one of my precious new plants, a little alpine Clematis marmoraria, which I bought from RHS Hyde Hall on my birthday, has powdery mildew

How on earth can this have happened?! We've had one really hot sunny day since then and that night I watered my pots. It's been blimmin' well pouring down ever since! I tipped out the inch of alpine gravel on top of the pot so I could check the soil properly and it's damp. Not soggy, but certainly not dry (put the gravel back, btw).

And there's the other thing - isn't it supposed to like it dry?! - the peeps at RHS Hyde Hall planted it in a 3" tall pot, the top 1" of which is gravel, and you'd think they would know what they were doing, wouldn't you?! So why has it bleeping well got powdery mildew?!!!

If it were a big established plant, I'd wipe or spray its leaves with a solution of bicarb, but I'm worried that if I do this it will scorch it - would rather try something that's has less of a kill or cure feel to it. I tried just wiping the leaves with a damp paper towel, to try to get rid of the worst of the mildew, but not convinced this has made any difference, & it was very fiddly as the leaves are tiny & rather brittle - couldn't do it without breaking some. Any other (organic) ideas? I've heard that a solution of milk is good ... anyone tried it? Milk to water ratio? Does that scorch too? Would I have to wipe it on or could I spray? - does it matter if it gets into the soil or do I have to just get it on the leaves?

The last time I asked the HDRA there wasn't such a thing as an organic fungicide - anyone got any updates (I can't use non-organic because of being allergic to chemicals)?

And do I water it, despite the fact that the soil is already damp & it's been raining all week?

HEEELLPP!!

[Tig]

Think the milk solution is 1 part milk to nine parts water Juliet. Had a quick google to see if I could find any common problems with them, nothing much came up tho' I did find one bit of advice, don't prune it back, they don't like it - according to the British Clematis Society anyway!

Plocket may be more helpful.
x Tig

[Juliet]

Thanks Tig. There wouldn't be much to prune anyway - it's tiny & very ground-cover-y. There does seem to be a bit of newer foliage which doesn't have the mildew, so I hope it may recover. Still trying to work out whether to water it though

Anyone seen Plocket?

[Ruthie]

Can't help with the treatment for powdery mildew but, if it's damp, don't water it. You may give it other problems, like root rot, by overwatering!

[Juliet]

Thanks Suparuthie. I left it yesterday, but I may give it a drink tonight as it's now the second hot dry day we've had & it's only in a tiny pot. Have brought it inside so I can keep a closer eye on it.

[Plocket]

I'm so sorry Juliet - I've only just found this, and that was because Blodau told me of your woes. It is such a dinky little clematis it would be a shame to lose it, although I've never had a problem with powdery mildew on mine.

It's moist, which is good, and the grit will help retain the moisture. Make sure you put it in an airy spot too - I'm not convinced that having it indoors will help I'm afraid. The other thing is that you should avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers until you've resolved the problem - fertilizer will encourage new growth which can then also be infected. Oh and it wants lots of sunshine.

I've never tried the milk thing but I would have thought anything would be worth a go.

The other thing would be to contact Hyde Hall, explain that you bought an infected plant, and ask what they would suggest you do about it - they are the plant experts after all. Their organic advice is to prune out infected area, but as it's such a tiny clematis you'll probably end up with no plant if you do that.

Good luck, and I hope you get rid of the powdery mildew.

[Juliet]

Thanks Plocket - & thanks to Blodau too! I've got the Clem in the (sunny) porch at the moment, but I'll have a second go with the milk today and put it back out again if you think it would be better outside - I brought it in mainly because I don't get out every day so might not notice if it got worse out there. At the moment it doesn't seem to be getting better or worse - the old foliage still looks mildewy and the new foliage doesn't .

I was wondering whether to repot it as it's in such a tiny pot it'll be difficult to keep it watered, but if it's better unfed then its presumably better where it is for now ... also I suppose if it dies I could take it back to Hyde Hall. Hadn't thought of contacting them about it though - had only thought of going all the way back with it <doh> - that's a good idea - will see if I can find an email address.

[Plocket]

It will no doubt be happy in the porch but one of the recommendations is that plants need to be airy to help prevent powdery mildew so it's just a thought. It might be worth potting it up because although it's small it will want root space. Add grit to the compost to ensure that it's well draining too! It will probably want to be in your porch over winter though - I kept mine out and although it's doing ok it did suffer some frost damage.

I'm sure you'll find an e-mail address for Hyde Hall - here's their phone number if that helps 01245 400256, and hopefully they can help you out. Let me know what they say will you?

[Juliet]

Thanks again, Plocket! I can't use the phone so would need email - can't find one specifically for Hyde Hall, but if the Clematis starts to look worse I'll try the gardening advice one - though as I'm not actually an RHS member I don't know whether they'll be willing to reply. Otherwise I'll ask my parents if they would ring for me - they're members!

However, I may not need to get in touch with them at all - have just been doing the milk & water treatment again & I think the leaves are looking a bit healthier today I'll leave it in the porch tonight & if it still looks as though it's improving tomorrow I'll put it back outside again to get some more air. Mind you, there's not much air anywhere today <toohotsmiley>

I'll keep you updated

[fozzie]

Juliet. The milk mixture will work on most fungal infections, so when you get blackspot on your roses you know what to apply. It would appear that the "full" milk as apposed to semi or skimmed works better, something to do with the fat contents .
Fxx

[Juliet]

Thanks Fozzie, that's really useful to know - all my roses have always got terrible blackspot here - I think it must be in the soil - and usually all I can do is pick off as many affected leaves as possible. I've used bicarb & water successfully when one of my roses got powdery mildew but not tried the milk thing before & didn't realise it worked for anything else. R only has semi-skimmed milk though (I can't stand the stuff ) so that'll have to do!

[Plocket]

Juliet some of the bigger supermarkets sell individual portions of milk, for lunch boxes and stuff - see if you can get something tiny.

That's a good tip to know Fozzie thank you - I'll try and remember it!

[fozzie]

Even worse here, we only have skimmed! So milkman always knows when blackspot treatment is in progress!

Foz

[Plocket]

OH has skimmed and LP has full-fat so we're ok for the time being! I hope Juliet manages to find a small carton of the full-fat stuff because it's the fat that does the job. I know I'm going to have to spray Buckland Beauty at some point because it always seems to get powdery mildew.

[Juliet]

I'll look for one, P, but we don't go to big supermarkets more often than we can help, so it'll have to wait until Monday week

I put the Clem back outside yesterday - there's a breeze out there but the house has got very stuffy in this heat <horribleswelteringweathersmiley>

[Plocket]

How's your clem doing Juliet?

[Juliet]

I'm not sure, to be honest, which is why I haven't reported back! The milk seemed to be working & I put it back outside and then I repotted it. Roots were very wet - I thought maybe I'd been overcompensating for the powdery mildew & watering too much - it was very hard to tell when to water it when it was in such a tiny pot with such a large amount of gravel on the top of it. Soon after repotting it I noticed some of the lower leaves had gone really brown & manky, so I removed them. Then of course we had all that heavy rain & I don't think that is likely to have helped it. It's still hanging on at the moment but not looking entirely healthy - so I think we'll just have to wait & see!

[Plocket]

Mmm well as you say you might be over-compensating. Although they like to be moist they don't want to be soggy or the roots will rot. I hope it continues to recover. Don't worry too much about the dead brown bits - mine does that. As long as you've got fresh new growth, without mildew if possible, then your plant is hanging on. Would you like me to take a photograph of mine so you can see? Mine is a few years old now but is still tiny. But I've got about 50% dead looking leaves, and 50% new.

[Juliet]

Thanks P - that might be helpful if you wouldn't mind - at least I could see if I get any more brown bits if they look normal or not. My climbing evergreen clem doesn't really do that - at least, it is quite brown & bare at the bottom, but in the normal dry clem-ish sort of way - these leaves were really manky-looking & I was worried it was rotting. I put gravel at the bottom of the pot, and plenty of sand & perlite in with the compost, when I repotted it, & haven't watered it again since, but of course the weather has

I meant to post this before - this is mine when I bought it:



- it doesn't look anything like as happy now

[Plocket]

Well at least it has flowered, mine never has!!!

I've just taken these - they are a bit out of focus because it's starting to get dark and I didn't use the flash, but I hope they help!

[Juliet]

Thanks P! - goodness, I didn't expect you to go out & take photos straight away! I'll keep an eye on mine, but don't think I'll be quite so worried if it starts going brown again now - that does look quite similar, though I think the brown bits on mine looked rather soggier.

How long have you had yours?

[Plocket]

About three years I think. Perhaps two and a half I'm not sure. It's never flowered though

Do keep me posted about yours and I hope it gets better soon

[Juliet]

Thank you! I hope yours flowers next spring.

[Plocket]

I'll try and remember to let you know! ;D