Jim,
I am probably off base with this, however .... I agree with you about the
advice, it all can't be done at the same time and is mostly mutually
exclusive. So, I will only share my experiences. First all of my wisteria
are collected from abandoned home sites or as escapes, all during or at the
tail end of the bloom. I have had all 5 of them survive and some bloomed
the following spring. BTW, I think that all are Japanese wisteria (Wisteria
floribunda).

I keep my two best "trees" in saucers with water above the bottom of the pot
year round (I live south of New Orleans). Fertilizing is similar to all of
my other trees during the spring and summer. However, beginning in late
August through December I supplement with monthly sprinkles of Muriate of
Potash(0-0-60)and Triple Superphosphate(0-46-0, mixed 2:1 in that order. A
"sprinkle" is a tablespoon per gal. with the fraction of a gallon for most
of my trees being an eyeball guess. My repotting routine is highly
variable, but never every year. I just don't have that kind of time.

All of that said, I think that the real problem may be the source of your
plants, and you should be expecting them to begin blooming at any time
(spring) now. According to the Plant Propagation book that I use (Hartmann,
Kester and Davies, 1990), wisteria grown from seed can be expected to take
8 - 12 years to bloom. I know that yours came from root shoots, but isn't
that still very juvenile plant tissue. Combine that with (is assume) pot
culture their whole lives, which I think slows down the transition to a
mature state.

FWIW,
Wayne Greenleaf
South of New Orleans (Zone 9)

-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ]On Behalf
Of Jim Lewis
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 8:57 AM
To:
Subject: [IBC] Wisteria on gallery


I've posted a couple of pics of wisteria I've been training since
the early 90s. They're on the gallery. I post them mostly to
launch a discussion of blooming. Neither of these has ever
bloomed. Both are root sprouts from a large wisteria I keep in
tree form in my yard and that booms prolifically every year.

Both are new to these pots (last year for the larger one and this
spring for the smaller) so I have not expected blooms this year.

I've read that to get wisteria to bloom the roots must be:

1. Rootbound, or
2. Cooler than the leaves (i.e. kept in the shade while leaves
have sun), or
3. Very wet, or
4. Fed with a low-nitrogen fertilizer, or
5. Fed with a high-nitrogen fertilizer, or
6. Nearly all of the above (4-5 excepted)

Over the years, various combos have been tried, to no avail.
Both of these were sizeable plants when removed from the ground.

So, add your suggestions to the list -- please.

You potters might take a look at the modern pot the smaller
wisteria is in. Info on the potter (who is in the N.C.
mountains) is on the gallery. I really like the pot. It is
6-sided, in case that's not clear in the photo. There are 3
feet.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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