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Growing and training a Wisteria.
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This is an example of a well pruned wisteria, It has been pruned in summer and winter and over a few year it has become this amazing plant.
Wisteria is best known for covering house walls with elegant flowers, but this climber is versatile. It can be trained over pergolas, up tree trunks or even as a standard with a lollipop-head. However, to encourage a fine display of flowers and to keep plants neat, wisterias need regular pruning.While the basic principles are the same, they need adapting to get the right results.
On walls and trellises.
Where space allows, wisterias can be left to ramble unchecked, but they usually flower more freely and regularly if you prune to create stumpy spurs. It is on these shortened shoots, at the base of the previous year’s growth, that the larger, plumper flower buds will be produced.To create spurs, pruning is carried out twice a year. Late winter and summer.
Always think about your safety when you have to prune stems that cannot be reached from the ground. Make sure ladders are securely fastened and have someone help you and watch you. Or hire some dispensable and insured.
Don't forget to feed the plant at he beginning of the year with a general purpose fertilizer such as Growmore, Osmocote or Fish, Blood and Bone at a typical rate of 50g/ m¾ It will also help if you feed it when flowering begins with tomato food.
This simple pruning guide will advise you on how to winter and summer prune a wisteria. Just take your time and you will get quick then this job is only a 10 or 20 minute chore that will result in a display that will scare people.
February: Shorten the summer-pruned shoots to within 2.5-5cm (1-2in) of older wood or to two or three buds (left). It should be possible now to distinguish the plumper flower buds from the slimmer growth buds.
Long, whippy shoots that grew after the summer pruning (right) should also be pruned. Cut these back to five or six buds from the main branch, making the cut just above a bud.
Older plants may need severe pruning to remove old, worn-out branches growing over windows or protruding outwards from the face of a building. Any such pruning should be done between leaf fall and early February.
Wisterias, are beautiful and mush sought-after, they have been known for being tricky to prune, difficult to get into bloom plus they can take over a bit when established. However they can do wonders for a sunny, sheltered spot and a bit of careful pruning twice a year, will result in a terrific display.
Summer-pruning a wisteria should be carried out about two months after flowering has faded, so any time from mid July until mid-August. It is not complicated contrary to popular belief, but take your time at first.
Your wisteria will have produced tots of long, whippy soft stems over the past few months and it's these that need your attention if you are to keep your plant vigorous and under control. Left to its own devices it can run amok.
Trace each whippy new stem back to the main branch. Count five or six leaves - about 6in (15cm) - along the young stem and snip just above the leaf, take time and be careful not to damage the growth buds in the leaf axils.
Remove any unwanted stems that may cause overcrowding or that look untidy next year, cutting them out completely to a main branch same for dead or diseased stems. Then, tie in the new growth at the end of the main stems, trimming it back if it has grown further than its allotted space.
Cut all whippy stems back to five or six buds from the main Make your cut just above the leafstalk, taking care not to bud in the leaf axii Pruning correctly in summer an will help make sure you end up with a breathtaking display.
Wisteria sinensis, which produces its flowers before the leaves appear, has stems that twine anticlockwise. The stems of Wisteria floribunda, which bears leaves and flowers at the same time, twine clockwise. So twine the stem around the support in the right direction for best results.
Allow the plant’s leader to grow unchecked until it reaches the top of the support and then remove the tip in the following February to encourage the formation of side shoots.
Prune these the following winter, shortening them to 15-30cm (6-12in) and repeat this process each winter to gradually build up a head (left). Weak or misplaced growth can be cut out entirely, as can older branches if the head becomes too dense in later years.
As the head develops, prune in August as well. Cut off above the seventh leaf any shoots that are not needed to extend the head. The following February cut back all these shoots to within a few centimeters (an inch or so) of their bases, just as you would a wall-trained plant.