Non-blooming Wisteria
- Carol Wallace
- Cottage_Garden
- Jojo
- Dubh_Sidhe
- Carol Wallace
- Mary_Bess
- bindweed
- hewson
- Carol Wallace
- sheriann
This archived discussion is "read only".
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» Carol Wallace - Actually, I have heard some people swear that simply threatening
Actually, I have heard some people swear that simply threatening to shovel prune the wisteria in its hearing is enough to make some of them bloom. I threatened my own and it did nothing. So I did a severe root pruning. We'll see what happens this spring.However, it's true that some wisteria simply never bloom --- those grown from seed may not, for instance. The advice I was given is to never buy a wisteria unless you have actually seen it bloom. Otherwise you may be buying a dud. Personally, I think I bought one of those duds. Carol virtually gardening
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Cottage_Garden - I really hate to say this but sometimes they just get frozen out
I really hate to say this but sometimes they just get frozen out in the spring -- those freak frosts can zap a whole year's bloom in one shot. So it may or may not be anything you did or didn't do -- are other wisterias in your neighborhood blooming?Barbara Martin
Eco-Gardens Editor
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Jojo - I got an old wisteria to bloom once by wrapping a peice of wire
I got an old wisteria to bloom once by wrapping a peice of wire around the base of the plant and tightening. It seemed rather cruel, but it worked. The next year I took the wire off and it continued to bloom. By the way, the wire went on in the early spring; I think it was Feb. but I live in USDA zone 8b.Wisterias are like grapes -- they bloom on old wood. It is advisable to remove all of those long vines each and every spring, or like how Barbara noted above, although one major pruning per year will usually do the trick.
Josephine - Urban Gardening Editor
-- posted by Jojo
» Dubh_Sidhe - Well, at the end of the wrap-around porch on my grandmother's ho
Well, at the end of the wrap-around porch on my grandmother's home is her wisteria. She planted it as a new bride, at the turn of the century. It has never had a teaspoon of fertilizer, was never pruned, and had the most magnificent flowers imagined.She did start cutting back in the 50's, well actually, pinching, she called it, as she did this with her fingers! After her death, the wisteria died!
Dubh_Sidhe at Folklore
-- posted by Dubh_Sidhe
» Carol Wallace - Some plants are people plants, don't you think, Virginia? They
Some plants are people plants, don't you think, Virginia? They respond to one person for some reason, and no one else will quite satisfy them.<img src="http://www.suite101.com/userfiles/79/rhubarb.gif" alt="rheum" align=left>
Carol
virtually gardening
Enter the Tacky Yard Art contest.
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» Mary_Bess - Old dug up wisteria
When my mother-in-law died, my husband and I moved into his boyhood home. We planted a few rose bushes and there was this hideous, invasive shrub that had taken over almost the entire flower bed, so we dug it up. I just found out from the cousin-in-law that this shrub used to be a beautiful wistera - something I've always wanted. Well, it's back this year, 4-5 new vines coming up about 1 foot long. Should I attempt to save it? Can it ever bloom? How can I save my roses which are now planted next to it?-- posted by Mary_Bess
» bindweed - On Wisteria
Mary Bess, it may be worth nurturing the plant --it may also not be. Try pruning out three of the five shoots and encourage growth in the two remaining ones. After that as LadyB suggested it is a matter of pruning.(this may however, be not the full answer!)Here in the Northwest we prune in Feb. As MaryB suggested, cut back all growths to three buds (like a grape in some ways -- though they are even more severe) from the base of the previous years old wood. If large wisterias need to be pruned, cut them back in early summer to five or six buds during say July ... then prune again to the three in Feb. (Use a low nitrogen fertilizer -- say a 5-10-10 formula-- make sure sulfur and trace minerals are included!)
Pruning may not always be the answer. Why I say this, is that for many years Nurseries sold Wisteria seedlings ... these may take up to 10 or fifteen years to bloom. The reason you buy the more expensive grafted cultivars is because they bloom, bloom and bloom. No Nursery would wish to sit on stock that takes 10 years to bloom. We want a plant blooming in a five gallon container! Most grafted cultivars will do this! Also, the bloom will be larger, more fragrant or the foliage more beautiful; there is always a good reason for a cultivar to be propagated.
For folks waiting patiently for their wisteria to bloom -- it may be worth the time, then again, purchasing a more vigorous named cultivar might well prove the wiser investment.
Last: With all the other brutal suggestions suggested (whipping the trunk for one), I do think early summer root pruning does sometimes work. In addition to the top pruning, summer root pruning does sometimes have a blossom inducing effect.
Herb Senft <img src="http://www.fritech.com/skyline/images/whipman.jpg">
Visit the friendly Pacific Northwest
-- posted by bindweed
» hewson - Tenting and Wistera
What will happen to my wistera when my house is tented for termites? Will it die of completly or will it return the next year? The gases being used are Chloropicrin which is a tear gas, and Vikane the active in that being suflurylfloride. If anyone knows or knows where I can find out I would be very thankful.-- posted by hewson
» Carol Wallace - Re: Tenting and Wistera
In response to message posted by hewson:I would check either with the company doing the tenting (they often have that information right on hand) or with the state agricultural extemsion agency, which tends to keep up to date with pesticide/herbicide treatments such as this. Wisterias are extremely tough plants though - and we're talking pesticides rather than herbicides so my money would be on the wisteria surviving - even if it suffers a bit of a setback.
-- posted by Carol Wallace
» sheriann - Getting A Wistera To Bloom
In response to message posted by CarolWallace:Ok, here is the 'trick' so to speak. Put fruit tree fertilizer spikes beside the root system of the Wisteria.
I would personally prune it if it needed it. As with Lilacs the more you prune the more blooms you get.
Sheri
Tropicals And Exotics
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/trop...
-- posted by sheriann
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