Sacha wrote:
On 17/1/08 23:49, in article ,
"The Old OakTree" wrote:
It's been growing on the wall of my garage (south-facing) for
about 10-12 years, and has never flowered, though it produces
plenty of leaves.
Any suggestions?
If grown from seed they can take many years to flower - most grown
commercially are grafted. The graft should be visible about 12" above
ground level.
Somewhat OT, but do you have any experience of graft failure with wisteria?
We had (have? - read on) "Amethyst" for several years. It grew very well
and flowered brilliantly (without any pruning) for 5 years. Then, suddenly,
in May 2006 its flowers started to curl up before opening properly. When
the leaves appeared, they too started to curl up and appear dry.
Not wanting to lose the plant, I tried a general fungicide, but to no avail.
Just in case it was a root problem (eg vine weevil), I used imidocloprid,
but that too had no effect. Other plants growing in close proximity remained
healthy.
I cut away all the wood down to the soil surface (intending to dig out the
large root at a later date), but do not remember seeing the graft point. In
the autumn, a shoot appeared from below ground, grew quickly to a 2 metres
in length, but then as the upper leaves opened they seemed to repeat the
"curl up and die" problem. This spring, the same thing occurred.
Can anyone shed light on this? I would love to replace the plant with
another wisteria, but do not want to waste money if it the new plant is
likely to suffer from the same problem.
I wondered if a build-up of shed leaves around the base of the plant, and
eventually around the graft, caused some sort of rot to appear. If so, I
can understand the original grafted plant dying above the graft, but why
does the roostock appear to be affected as well?
--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)