Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Pruning Wisteria

VoyagerxpVoyagerxp Posts: 651
in Plants
I've been growing this wisteria on the side of my shed for over 5 years but its never flowered.  I've never pruned it as i was scared i would kill it but this year i've watched some videos on youtube on pruning so the beginning of July i pruned all the whippy growth 5 leaves. After just 2 months there is loads more  whippy growth, do i need to prune it again or leave it till spring. What do you guys think?


Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited September 2020
    The general rule is to cut those whippy stems back to 7 nodes in July and than agian to 2 in February but our wisterias haven't read the manual.

    I have two, a bit bigger and older than yours.  The larger of the two produces whippy bits from June to September and some wave about and ambush me as I walk past so I prune all the whippy bits as they appear, not just in July.

    I prune the other in July too but after that it tends to send whippy bits upwards, out of reach, so for those I wait till leaf fall when I can see what's what and get up a ladder to stop them diving under gutters and roof tiles.  It also gets cut back frequently where it grows around a doorway that is our main entrance with shopping and dogs.

    In February/March I check both to make sure they have no broken or dead bits and cut back any stem I can see is going to head in the wrong direction.   I don't do the cutting back to two buds cos there are just too many to do all that counting now.

    Mine flower abundantly in late April/early May and then have a second flush in late June/July and this year there's a wee burst of flowers again now so they seem happy. 


    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
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I do the same as Obelixx and just cut the whippy bits off whenever I see them get out of hand. In Jan/Feb, I prune more to shape as you can see better when the leaves have fallen.  
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • VoyagerxpVoyagerxp Posts: 651
    Hi back again and still no flowers, I  pruned the wisteria in August last year & then again in  February as shown on the RHS. I brought this plant over 10 years ago as a very small plant from Morrison's supermarket. Are there wisteria that don't flower. Ive seen Wisteria flowering at garden centers that are very young plants.



  • WallflowerBryWallflowerBry Posts: 81
    Wisteria like a lot of sun. So if that side of your shed doesn't get a lot of rays that could be the reason. On a north facing wall it will be unlikely to flower much if at all.
Sign In or Register to comment.