How late into the summer do you prune? If you prune too late you will lose spring blooms. Have you had this problem? What color is the wisteria?

Good questions. I did have blossoms last spring (well, the late frost killed them before they had a chance to completely open). I pruned a bit more aggressively this year right through September, leaving some newer-growth vines twisted around the older ones. I'll have to keep you posted as to whether it blooms this spring or not. We'll know in another month or two. Regarding the variety/color, it's just your standard purple wisteria vine. I think I picked it up at WalMart or Home Depot.

I am in need of advice from anyone who has or has grown a wisteria tree. I have recently discovered a small wisteria on my property after 4 years of living here. To say the least the area was badly overgrown and the wisteria vines were/are out of control. I am still in the process of taming the vines but need advice on some of the tree like shoots that I have found 2-3 feet away from the main tree. Do I keep those or get rid of them as I do the vines? They do have buds on them so I'm afraid to 'chop' the poor things.
Any advice would be great.

I hope someone can help me with my young wisteria. I want it to remain under control, and all this spring and now summer, I've been overwhelmed with new green shoots all over it.
There is a nice double pink rose of sharon close by, and if I'm not watching, it wraps tendrils around it and runs like crazy.

This is about 3 years old now. It will have white blooms on it, but none so far until it gets 5 years old. I'd like to move it, but don't want to start over waiting for blooms.

Am I doing something wrong? Do you have to constantly prune the new growth back? Does it bloom on old growth from the previous year, or only on new growth?

I know my mother kept one nicely under control as a bush in her back yard, and I never realized it would be such a pain.
I'm now thinking about abandoning the wisteria in favor of passion vines and kiwi vines.

If no one notices this post to an old thread, I will repost under a new topic.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Nope.

"Do you have to constantly prune the new growth back?" Yep.

Was your Mom's wisteria in Alabama or up north? They may not be as rambunctious up there.

Wisteria is a rampant grower and there's NO way to tame it. Unless you're willing to prune constantly and can mow for half a block around it, then you should just cut it all the way down, paint the stump with undiluted Roundup, and keep a spray bottle of prepared Roundup within reach to hit every new shoot that peeks up till all the roots are dead.

My mother had a wisteria vine growing on a big oak tree in B'ham when I was little. My brother and I loved to climb up the main vine, which was about 5" in diameter, and swing on the smaller vines hanging down from the tree. It smelled wonderful when it bloomed and was beautiful -- till it killed the tree. I could tell other horror stories about the stuff, but guess I've made my point.

I've recently decided to train/prune three smaller wisterias
into a standard form. So far, so good as long as I keep watch
on the new shoots. The blooms are so pretty,..that..I don't
really mind unless I run into a bigger problem. I'm still
removing runners from one that I had too close to my other
plants.

One of my smarter moves was to get rid of the wisteria tree that I thought I had to have. I had it 10 years.

I became a slave to it. The work to keep it tree form never ended as it grew bigger, bigger, bigger, faster than I could stay ahead of it it.

I plan to enjoy the wisteria growing in other people's yards and trees.

I have bad news for you. That wisteria that you think you are keeping as "a small tree" is puttin g out monstrous roots underground. And they may be well more thn 12 feet long. Thay go in all directions, even crisscroosing over themselves. Even the smallest diameter of these roots holds on with unbelievable tenacity when you try to pull it out...you may be able to get the tinier "toothpick sized" ones with a lot of pulling, but forget the larger ones.

I, too, thought I was keeping my wisteria as a tree. I decided it was too much work for such a short blooming display, but in the four years I had it, it had encroached everywhere - underground.

I will be fighting the roots for years. It is not fun.
kay

You know what, I am seeing the writing on the wall.
And I have decided to remove the white wisteria in favor of the Confederate Jasmine.

So wish me luck this late in the year trying to dig it out. I'll see about the undiluted Roundup for it, and some of the yew plants which are so thick they seem like monkey grass. By next spring, I hope we have our back yard under control.

Thanks for the advice, and the horror stories. Oh yes, I saw what an old wisteria did to an arbor at the Audubon Park Zoo. Squeezed it apart, it did. An awesome exhibition of strength. And in Japan, they have big gardens of wisterias that are held up by telephone pole sized supports. If you visit Webshots.com and search under the terms wisteria and Japan, I think you'll find those images.

WOW. Those pictures of the wisteria in Japan are beautiful, but can you imagine the structures it takes to hold those things up? Thanks for telling us about them. Alice

moccasinlanding

I had thought I had rid myself of the wisteria roots. I planted the nicest bed of iris and daylilies. I went out a couple of weeks later, and to my horror, there were wisteria sprouting in several places.

The sprouts were very thick!!! There must have been 30 or more very close together. I had to dig up the plants I had recently planted, and attack the wisteria with roundup and anything else I could find to kill vines. So far so good.

I wish you the very best of luck.
kay