Wisteria question

serpentsgarden

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I have managed to collect a rather larger wisteria trunk. At the base it is about 8 to 9 inches across or better. I left a bit of length to all the branches acesending to preserve them for later planning. My main question is what can i do to stimulate back budding to the main trunk alone. It needs some recovery time this year as well. I am already planning a light nitrogen fertilizer this spring to help develope the buds this year for new avenues of growth as well.

My thoughts on this were maybe eliminate all branches i did not want to keep and this will help but i also fear that there wont be enough vegetation on the plant to keep it healthy.
Your thoughts guys??
PS this plant is in a 5 gallon pot and it fills it up mostly. Due to the fact the tap roots were huge and i am looking widdle them away to help porduce a strong nebari. Can i wire roots or is this practice inviting issue into the plant ?? I will get pics posted for some thoughts as soon as i ge them scanned in off the digital camera
Thanks Every ONE
Serpents Garden
 

jk_lewis

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I would do nothing to this tree for at least a year. Wisteria are weed, so you'd think they are easy transplanters, but that is NOT always so. And, rather than a weak fertilizer, I'd give it label strength at least once a week all growing season. Water copiously. Let it grow rampantly if it will. Wisteria wood is very rot prone. Be careful about whittling away roots or bases that are in contact with the soil.

Cut it back Next year.
 

rockm

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My thoughts would be let it alone. There is nothing you can do now, other than planting it in a container and keeping it moist (not wet) and waiting until it shows signs of life. Even then you should just let it be. The more you try to "do something" to make it grow, the less chance it has. It will most likely produce shoots directly off of the main trunk with no help from you--and could abandon the branching you've left.

I wouldn't prune it, "design" it, "whittle away" the roots, or otherwise futz around with it this year, or even the next two years. LEAVE IT ALONE.

I would not become too attached to it either. The first TWO years are when it is most likely to fail.

I would also expect to lose at least part of the trunk, heavy root pruning can lead to that. That also happens in nature with larger wisteria vines, which leads to their gnarled looking trunks.

Simply leaving well enough alone is one of the hardest lessons to learn in collecting trees. It is also one of the most valuable.
 

serpentsgarden

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Well i did manage to head all branches with living buds to about 3 to 5 on each branch. The trunk has about 8 branches from various directions. I used a wound sealer on the tap roots as well. As well as a bit of rootone mostly for antifungal properties. I hope this is turns out it is a very intersting trunk and has a lot of potential. I have it in a huge pot wich it fills well. I plan to plan it into the ground to overwinter as well.
Full strength fertilizer?? I was worried i would staunch out vigourous root growth with full strength. But if it can handle it and thrive then i will.
It is set to sit on the grow bench for a few years. Something to come back to at a later day. It will all work out I looking at some older stock of chinese juniper. Sergent's juniper. A few of the ones i have found are very over grown and have decent trunks. So i think some work on them would keep me busy. Plus all the maples I already have.
Thanks guys. The advice is great. I will get some pics posted today hopefully.
 

rockm

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Do not use rootone on the roots. Doesn't need it and it could actualy suppress root growth if you apply too much. Wisteria are quite capable of generation all by themselves. Big drooping branches on wild wisteria in the woods here self-ground layer.

Fertilize at regular intervals, bull strength. Probably won't do much this year, as the truncated root mass won't be using much fertlizer. Don't go overboard with the Miracle Grow though.

I wouldn't keep the thing on your benches near anything. Once they get going they tend to overgrow everything around them. They can shade out other plants pretty quickly. They also send out tendrils all summer long,which are a pain in the butt.

Give the stump a lot of room. Stand back.

Revisit collecting the others in FIVE years after you've kept this one going. I have a feeling after dealing with the constant headache of controlling growth, you may lose some of your enthusaism...:D

Wisteria are not fussy, but tend to become obnoxious because they are unruly and mostly unsightly for four out of five months of growing season. It's a little payoff for a lot of work.
 

serpentsgarden

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Well had intended for having the wisteria for a spring show in the garden. I have done some research at the library. I already feel this pant is to big to ever manage in a pot. To have any reasonable results i will have to do another serious reduction in three years or so that we see what volunteered branches will form. After that it seems pruning is a chore in summer months. I have heard only prune in the spring but also the master gardners at the nursery i get my tools and such say to prune unitl mid summer then leave it alone and it will flower and be controlled. I never use miracle grow ever. I have a mix of native topsoil sand and pumice in about equal parts for a nice free draing loam. Some things i never fertilize because the soild is rich enough not to. I thin the topsoil back for more controlled growth but anything trunking or gwoing i keep in 4 by 4 boxes wood planters about 1.5 feet deep. I only kep the wisteria in a planter so i wont have evil spreading through my work garden I am building up. I have a few nice junipers and sangos i would not like to ruin. I would like to try to porve the plant wisteria as a nice winter interst tree as well. It could if forced have a very complex network of trained branches you would really have to work to maintain it though and i doubt you will ever really staunch this plants growth back even root bound and nitrogen poor soil it will thrive so I imagine it will recover fine. I live in the micro climate part of washington so I have had 40 ish winter it froze twice this year I worry more about it rotting away so i am looking at a cover for winter next year to prevent the wet winter from drowing it.
 
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