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Wisteria knot

chat2elenachat2elena Posts: 25
in Plants
Hello, we’ve inherited a wisteria in our new home garden. I pruned it in July last year and it’s flowering beautifully. Should I be more ruthless in pruning so as to untangle the branches, it looks like it’s trying to strangle itself even though it doesn’t seem to affect the flowering. Thank you

Posts

  • Dave HumbyDave Humby Posts: 1,145
    Unless it’s new growth you’ll be unlikely to unwind it. Wisteria goes very hard. Normal pruning advice is to remove crossing limbs etc but Wisteria does this as part of its natural growth and doesn’t suffer adversely for it. Have a look on You Tube. There is lots of simple to follow advice on pruning. The key is the winter prune. I do mine in January to reduce the shoots off the laterals to 2-3 buds. This promotes flower growth over foliage. You’ll find you also get some excessive growth shoots though the summer which I normally reduce back to around 6 buds as I go. 
  • chat2elenachat2elena Posts: 25
    Thank you, that’s great I thought I might have to severely cut it back to get branches free but as long as it’s not doing any harm I’ll just do the summer & winter prune.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Wisterias naturally twine and the knotted stems quickly merge to become one so leave well alone unless you want to restrict its stems because they're heading the wrong way or too far.   Yours looks fine to me.  

    See here for pruning info - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=242 

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • AsarumAsarum Posts: 661
    I think old twisted stems are part of the charm of wisteria.  There are some very old, gnarled ones around. They will be fine.  Look for pictures online.
    East Anglia
  • chat2elenachat2elena Posts: 25
    Thank you all, I also think it looks lovely & glad it’s ok
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Mother in Laws house had a very old wisteria. It looked like the trunk was made up of multiple dripped candles. Wish I had a pic but it looked really gnarly and characterful.
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