Something is eating my Clematis?

I planted a new Clematis montana recently and it had several strong new shoots growing away happily until one of them seems to be continuously eaten by something (while the others have not) There doesn't seem to be any sign of slug trails and I cannot find any caterpillars (which was my first thought as I found some on another Clematis in early spring) The shoot tip and all the new leaves have been munched completely off! Most annoying. Does anyone have any idea what might be doing this.

I have 9 other Clematis and its only this one and another new montana actually planted at the same time that seem to be suffering.

 

I had the same problem and it did turn out to be very small snails that appeared and night and then vanished in the day time (I can only assume into cracks or into the compost). It took me months before I actually saw one but it was definitely them.

 

I did think that was maybe what it was even though my clematis are planted in gravel which I thought would put them off! Might go out now with a torch and see if I can catch the little b**gers. They are obviously partial to montana types.

 

I planted a new montana back in April and it ate my only flower :-(. They just love all those new shoots too. My garden seems to be full of snails and slugs. They are eating everything. :-(. They also love my freshly planted lupins. Grrrr!!. Hope you managed to sort the problem.

 

The beer traps are helping, although I get most by hand at dusk after it has rained - you can get hundreds at times like those, and it's worth doing. However I have also been using copper tape to protect some specific young plants. I cutout a ring of about 3 inches from an old coke bottle, stick the copper tape around one edge of this and then jam the untapped end into the earth. This seems to largely work until they're big enough for leaves to touch other plants, walls, the ground etc. Helps get them going though and to reduce damage, and could work with any size round plastic object.


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Oooh, sounds like a good plan. Think I may start to do this. Anything to stop the little blighters munching on everything. Thanks for the tip.

 

Nope they still seem to be eating the same shoot and I never found them (well not yet) The other shoot is twice as long now and with leaves lol

 

Think the nematodes are wearing off in my garden. Spotted three slugs tonight when it's only been snails recently.


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I have never tried nematodes but I think I will. I am growing more plants this year that don't seem to be affected by slugs/snails but, it would be nice to grow certain others too!