how to train climbers

[toffee]

I have had some plants put in to cover a large expense of wooden fencing which is seven feet high.
The plants that have been put in are clematis, jasmine, honeysuckle, flamenco, chinese lace and dropmore scarlet.
Please could someone advise me of how I should be training these plants to cover as much of the fencing as possible?
The honeysuckle and dropmore scarlet seem to be growing the quickest sending out long tendrils. Should I be trying to get these to spread horizontally and low down? will they then sprout shoots upwards? the chinese lace isnt doing much and the jasmine seems to be growing in a bit of a tight knot.

Help please?
ps the fencing is a vertical wooden one with horizontal boards at about 3 ft and 6ft.

thanks in advance.

 

[breezer]

You haven't showed them the instructions have you?

from my experiance train is the wrong word, we have russian vine (not as much as we had) all i did was cut off the bits i dont want and the bits i do want leave them, or if they were going "the wrong way" un hook or untwist them and put them where i wanted it to grow.

 

[toffee]

thankyou breezer, I wasnt sure if I should be clipping stuff to make it thicker or just letting it do its stuff.
lovely to see that people here are are still on hand to reassure and help out!
thanks

 

[Lorena]

Plants like clematis, honeysuckle and jasmine are twining plants, so on a fence, people usually put some horizontal and vertical wires on them to offer support and encourage such twining. Clematis in particular need this kind of support to see them at their best especially in the early years otherwise they've little to cling to.

 

[Symptoms]

toffee - get some vine eyes (galvanised screws with a loop at one end) - these you screw into the timbers (posts if you can). You also need some galvanised wire (comes in rolls of different lenghts) which you thread through the vine eyes to create a support structure onto which you tie the plant stems/runners etc. with string. Tip - plastic cable ties are brilliant for this type of work but get them from your local electrical factor (black colour in bags of 100 - get some different lengths) 'cos they are a fraction of the cost of garden centre ties.

The thickish stems need to be tied for support, the runners can be trained in the direction you want, but keep an eye on growing progress ... a little and often is better than attemping to unravel knotted runners.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

lovely to see that people here are are still on hand to reassure and help out!
thanks

You OK?

 

[rich22]

Please do not use plastic cable ties .
They will not expand when the plants grow i work as a gardener .
The amount of times we have see cable ties or wire strangling the plants.
Not a good idea.

 

[LeadFarmer]

You could also fix a trellis to the fence panels, then tie the plants to the trellis as they grow.

 

[jewel1]

Clematis will always tend to shoot from its last growth, leaving a bare base. So plant a low-growing shrub at its base to cover its legs, or allow your clematis to ramble over the top of something very vigorous.