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I have a couple of clematis which I had been neglecting for a few years; they haven't had any support so were trailing on the ground.

This year, as they came up and the stems had grown out to a foot or two long, I trained them onto trellises. Within about a week, I found that all the stems had been neatly cut, looking almost like knife cuts about 4 to 6 inches above the soil level. There was no evidence of chewing or any other damage, no sign that anything had been eaten, just neat cuts, which basically killed off all the foliage.

What did this? Rabbits? Why were they merely cut and not eaten?

Anthony X
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  • Are they exposed to heavy wind? – Gyrfalcon Jul 18 '22 at 14:55
  • @Gyrfalcon They are sheltered from wind. The foliage was all perfectly in-place on the trellis; you could match up the cut ends; the stems near the ground appear cut as if with a very sharp knife. – Anthony X Jul 18 '22 at 21:50
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    Sheltering and attaching to trellis should do it. However, I have experienced this phenomenon myself several times when training too late when the new stems was not soft anymore. After a windy day the stems was like cut by a knife. – Gyrfalcon Jul 19 '22 at 00:46
  • Regardless, keep the remaining parts of the plants watered as necessary - the roots should still be alive and you will get new growth, either this year or next. – Bamboo Jul 19 '22 at 11:18

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