New Wisteria, advice please.

Posts

• Sammywillars Posts: 3

  July 2021

  Oops sorry for the photos being the wrong way round!

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• sjb_c Posts: 41

  July 2021

  Yes, absolutely, as long as you have a strong leader which you can train to become the main trunk.  There's lots of advice on the web on how to do this.  You do have to be ruthless in cutting back all other growth other than that stem though, until it's reached the final height you want .  Here's my standard wisteria, flowering this year
  

  
  

  As you can see mine's in a very large planter, but if you can I'd eventually have them growing in the ground.  One thing I would stress is make sure you put in a VERY substantial support structure BEFORE they get to the final height as they are exceedingly heavy in full flower. 
  

  
  

  I love them and think they're fab grown this way.  Have fun and you'll be rewarded with a fantastic looking wisteria!
  

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• Sammywillars Posts: 3

  July 2021

  Oh wow, that is stunning!
  
  Sounds positive, it has a small trunk with 3 branches that have been trained around each other, would i need to get rid of all of those and just have the main trunk? 
  
  Also, what sort of structure do you mean? 
  
  I really appreciate your advice and if I can get mine anything like yours I'd be ecstatic! (Assuming yours is a long time in the making?)

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• sjb_c Posts: 41

  July 2021 edited July 2021

  See how they've grown into each other so far.  Is that central stem the straightest and would you be able to remove it from the trellis without cutting anything from the top of it?  If so then this would be the best one to become the leader (main trunk) and yes, you'd remove all others except this one and any subsequent side growth from it (but NOT the top)
  

  
  

  If it's bent over and really intertwined with the others, it will be harder as it's very important you don't cut growth off the top of the leader until it's reached the final height you want. (If this is the case, you may want to buy another wisteria which has a straight single stem and go from there.)
  

  
  

  Then, if you can, plant it into its final place in the ground as this saves a lot of faff later on, potting on a very large plant! Although it can be done, as I've found out !!  And it certainly doesn't need to be in the ground to be happy.
  

  
  

  Support wise, put in a very thick wooden post (bamboo just won't cut it!) or even better a metal post, at this early stage.  Most standards are about 5/6ft so you're looking at about this height for the post.  You can also (I didn't, but possibly would do next time) get metal supports which have a cartwheel structure attached at the top, which then provide good support for the branches and racemes when it's fully grown.  It does sound like overkill at this early stage, but it's much better to do it now, than trying to do it later!

  
  

  As for mine, just to give you an idea - it's probably about 15/20 years old, but it's been like that for at least 3/4 of that time (obviously not quite as full), so I'd say in a couple of years you'll have the makings of a good tree.  Good luck!  Standards take time and patience, but I think they're worth it!
  

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• PageZ Posts: 87

  July 2021

  sjb_c said:

  Yes, absolutely, as long as you have a strong leader which you can train to become the main trunk.  There's lots of advice on the web on how to do this.  You do have to be ruthless in cutting back all other growth other than that stem though, until it's reached the final height you want .  Here's my standard wisteria, flowering this year
  

  
  

  As you can see mine's in a very large planter, but if you can I'd eventually have them growing in the ground.  One thing I would stress is make sure you put in a VERY substantial support structure BEFORE they get to the final height as they are exceedingly heavy in full flower. 
  

  
  

  I love them and think they're fab grown this way.  Have fun and you'll be rewarded with a fantastic looking wisteria!
  

  Your wisteria is amazing!!!

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