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Young wisteria broken leader stem?

Poppies08Poppies08 Posts: 41
in Problem solving
hello! As the title suggests I bought a young wisteria plant about 5”4 tall and it has a leader stem and a secondary branch net the base, however when planting it snapped :( the main leader stem snapped near the base and has no more leaves beyond break point! I wasn’t sure to cut it and lose all the height and have only one branch of leaves or glue it. I have glued it but not sure thus was correct any help? :(
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  • Poppies08Poppies08 Posts: 41
    Please help ! Advise appreciated ! :)
  • AlchemistAlchemist Posts: 273
    edited August 2018
    I wouldn’t worry about the broken leader. Once they get their roots established, they will throw loads of side shoot and will soon have a new leader. With these, if at all anything, they are a real pain to contain.  

    Regarding the glue, your success will be determined by  whether you had any cambium  attached between the two parts. If it was a clean break, you will most likely not succeed. But if a partial, you’ll be okay. However I will select a new leader and keep the glued stem trained short as it may be a weak point depending on the extent of break.  FYI it’s common practice in the novice bonsai-world to use super-glue when branches get snapped by extreme wiring. In my case they almost always recovered. If possible please do support the branch in whichever way possible for at least an year. Good luck.  
  • Poppies08Poppies08 Posts: 41
    Alchemist said:
    I wouldn’t worry about the broken leader. Once they get their roots established, they will throw loads of side shoot and will soon have a new leader. With these, if at all anything, they are a real pain to contain.  

    Regarding the glue, your success will be determined by  whether you had any cambium  attached between the two parts. If it was a clean break, you will most likely not succeed. But if a partial, you’ll be okay. However I will select a new leader and keep the glued stem trained short as it may be a weak point depending on the extent of break.  FYI it’s common practice in the novice bonsai-world to use super-glue when branches get snapped by extreme wiring. In my case they almost always recovered. If possible please do support the branch in whichever way possible for at least an year. Good luck.  
    Thank you so much for the reply! It never snapped of completely it was kind of just more split and I could see the green inside of the woody branch! So I thought since it wasn’t completely of! It is holding up okay at the moment?i have it supported with trellis too! It’s very young and the break of the leader stem was only a few millimetres wide! But quite low down, but as I just got it I never wanted to cut it all of as I’d have no top growth whatsoever just another branch at the bottom separate but not sure how long that would take to get to the height of the main branch  that I had glued as that’s only about 1 feet if that :)
  • IamweedyIamweedy Posts: 1,364
    I have splinted such torn side shoots with sellotape and sticks to support it (or with smaller plants cocktail sticks.) If you try taping it up where it has torn and try to get the broken join fitted together as close as possible. They do fuse together. like a broken leg. It works better than  I ever thought it would. 



    'You must have some bread with it me duck!'

  • Poppies08Poppies08 Posts: 41
    Iamweedy said:
    I have splinted such torn side shoots with sellotape and sticks to support it (or with smaller plants cocktail sticks.) If you try taping it up where it has torn and try to get the broken join fitted together as close as possible. They do fuse together. like a broken leg. It works better than  I ever thought it would. 
     Oh really that’s interesting!Do you think I did the wrong thing by using glue? :/
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Bump

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Poppies08Poppies08 Posts: 41
    UPDATE unfortunately I have had to cut about 2 feet of my wisteria that was about 5 altogether :( does anyone know how quickly they grow? 
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    My young alba (white) one was planted in March it has doubled in size this summer, but am about to cut back by half as to get flowers the experts say you must summer prune, so six foot whippy growth will go back to three. Hope this helps.
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Mine was planted in March alba( white one) a 7 foot whip, as told cut 2 foot off and then just water and fed. Now have 5 whips all 6 foot long and have been told to give them a summer cut to encourage flowers so 2 foot will come off them now. As the spring cut encouraged flowers, very unexpected in first year, not sure if whips need a second spring cut again next year, but if this years growth is anything to go by it will soon regain its size.
  • Poppies08Poppies08 Posts: 41
    Poppies08 said:
    UPDATE unfortunately I have had to cut about 2 feet of my wisteria that was about 5 altogether :( does anyone know how quickly they grow? 
    *as it has wilted and wasn’t healthy 
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