On 27/08/17 08:31, Charlie Pridham wrote:
On 25/08/2017 10:17, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Derek wrote:

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria.

Yes, in the strict sense. But the way that frost kills many plants
in the UK is by damaging the tissues It's really our wet, dark but
not frozen winters
that are the problem.

'Wet cold Kills', we have all be told that plants don't like sitting
in wet conditions.

Yes. Wisteria are pretty fungus-resistant (using fungus to mean any
unicellular endoparasite), but there aren't many other things that
will kill a rootstock. And, if I understand it correctly, wisteria
will sucker from its roots if its trunk etc. are killed - Charlie
may know more.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Traditionally Wisteria used to be "Nurse Grafted" that is a piece of
seedling root is grafted onto a section of budded stem from the variety,
in theory this should mean no unwanted suckers. However all the plants I
have seen recently that are grafted have had normal stem grafts and
these will sucker from the rootstock if cut back, poor practice in my
opinion but the gardening public have been misled to believe Wisteria
must be grafted to insure a good plant.

If you know someone with a nice Wisteria then do hardwood cuttings in
January, the take is not great but you will end up with a nice Wisteria
on its own roots and it will flower from year one.

When we moved here 5 years ago there was a decent-sized "Black Dragon"
over the front pergola. I keep it pruned and it's still growing and
flowers well. The main trunk is now around 10 cm in diameter. Yesterday
I found several suckers had appeared near the trunk. The top looks very
healthy (and I can't see a graft - but that doesn't mean there isn't
one!), but I am wondering why it has started to sucker.

--

Jeff