what have you been using as feed and how often?

The same thing has happened to a couple of mine. I was advised to give a weekly feed of tomato food which I did. They haven't done as well as in previous years when I only gave them some chicken pellets in the spring. Is it the weather as everything has gone over far too quickly?

certainly all the rain will help encourage soft whippy growth. don't feed anymore this year. I don't feed mine as they are all in the ground apart from one in a pot.

they may still flower later this year.

Clematis should be fed weekly in the spring. Any feeding after that will reduce flowering.

Arbuthnot, who on earth advised tomato feed weekly? That's absolutely not a good regime for clematis, in the ground or in pots. In the ground, they don't need much at all, just a bit of Growmore or similar raked into the soil around them in spring, and that's it.

I did, Bamboo, as tomato feed is one of the feeds advised in my specialist Clematis book (and in the advisory leaflet that arrived with an order from Taylors Clematis last year).

It was Taylor's who advised it as did, Rosierose.

Ah - the phrase 'in the spring' was critical and missing, of course! I always wonder how one decides its actually spring anyway - I guess when growth begins is how I'd define it. Frankly, a single top dressing of sulphate of potash in early spring should do the same job if you've one that's reluctant to flower, though you'd still need the Growmore... I've never given them anything other than Growmore down the years though, when I'm applying it to the whole garden generally, and they've all flowered fine (in the ground).

Taylor's advised me to give a high potash (or nitrogen?) feed throughout flowering, as did Monty Don on GW. Or was it Alan Titchmarsh in a gardening mag? One of them said to feed through the summer too. Next year I shall revert back to my usual feeding. All of mine are in the ground with one exception - a spring flowering viticella. That one didn't get much feed at all but it will in Jan/Feb.

I've just checked one of my horticultural encyclopaedias, and that says "the large flowered hybrids should be given a handful of artificial high potash feed in spring, and fed with liquid high potash feed during the growing season, with an additional handful of artificial high potash feed in summer". For all other varieties, it says to work manure and garden compost into the soil around the clematis, and 'top dress with bonemeal'. Bonkers - if I topdressed anything with bonemeal, every cat, dog and fox from miles around would be rootling around in the soil... It is a book that must now be 30 years old... and in all that 30 years, I have never, ever followed that regime, in fact, I think its probably the first time I've read it properly, lol! I suppose I might have looked if I'd experienced major problems with clematis, but I must have planted easily a hundred or so down the years, and never had a problem apart from the odd bit of wilt some years on the large flowered hybrids. Its a good job plants can't read books, isn't it....

Taylors don't advise feeding when flowering, so I think you misunderstood, Arbuthnot. Here's the link to their aftercare advice:

http://www.taylorsclematis.co.uk/plant-care.html

I think it's a good job that most plants, even if left alone, will still continue to flourish. Not all, of course. So, no more summer feeding for me as my most prolific blue (President I think) clem has now finished flowering but has put on an awful lot of growth since I fed it once a week. Too much growth obviously.

I laid down some slow release feed and of course there has been plenty of rain to keep dissolving the feed into the ground. Nelly has some buds on now so maybe the flowers are just going to come late - although so much energy has been taken up with the great leafy mass of growth there may be littlle left for a good show of blooms. So will go back to previous regime of 3 or 4 feeds in May/June next year and leave it at that.

Rosierose, I actually had Taylor's advice in writing in an email so I didn't misunderstand at all.

"Hi, yes we feed all clematis weekly, whilst ever they are actively growing."
And ".....please make sure you weekly feed it,
as we do here on the nursery and im sure you will start to see an improvement. thank you"