Anyone got a secret cure for non-flowering wisteria?
I've tried strict pruning for 4 years.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

"Timothy Murphy" wrote

Anyone got a secret cure for non-flowering wisteria?
I've tried strict pruning for 4 years.


They like, indeed require, full sun for at least a good part of the day to
flower well. Then they do require time to get big enough to flower, I forget
how many years it took ours to flower but it took it 5 years to start to
growing well and it was some years later before it flowered. That was after
I'd pruned it so it made flowering spurs. In the wild it grows up large
trees and only starts to flower once it's reached the top and is in full
sun.

Neighbours are having a similar problem to you and from what I can see it's
down to pruning, first they didn't prune hard enough for years and then they
went over the top and cut back to old wood removing any flowering buds/spurs
that might have grown.
Once the plant has covered what you want it to and it's making side growths
then prune all this years growths back to 5 leaves during the growing
season. Then in the winter when the leaves have gone prune them further back
to two buds, I do this just before Christmas. Only cut back to old wood out
of necessity.

--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

Bob Hobden wrote:

Anyone got a secret cure for non-flowering wisteria?
I've tried strict pruning for 4 years.

They like, indeed require, full sun for at least a good part of the day to
flower well. Then they do require time to get big enough to flower, I
forget how many years it took ours to flower but it took it 5 years to
start to growing well and it was some years later before it flowered. That
was after I'd pruned it so it made flowering spurs.

Thanks very much for all the advice.
I ought to confess that the garden is in Italy (Tuscany)
which perhaps means I should not have asked here?
The two wisteria get more than enough sun,
and grow like wildfire, in fact have almost taken over our small garden.
One of the wisteria had climbed up a drain-pipe to the second floor,
but my wife pulled it down from that
as she was worried it would get to the roof and damage it.

So I guess the problem is due to bad pruning.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

"Timothy Murphy" wrote in message
...
Bob Hobden wrote:

Anyone got a secret cure for non-flowering wisteria?
I've tried strict pruning for 4 years.

They like, indeed require, full sun for at least a good part of the day
to
flower well. Then they do require time to get big enough to flower, I
forget how many years it took ours to flower but it took it 5 years to
start to growing well and it was some years later before it flowered.
That
was after I'd pruned it so it made flowering spurs.

Thanks very much for all the advice.
I ought to confess that the garden is in Italy (Tuscany)
which perhaps means I should not have asked here?
The two wisteria get more than enough sun,
and grow like wildfire, in fact have almost taken over our small garden.
One of the wisteria had climbed up a drain-pipe to the second floor,
but my wife pulled it down from that
as she was worried it would get to the roof and damage it.

So I guess the problem is due to bad pruning.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

If they are growing well you can rule out lack of water which is a common
reason for them to be slow to get away here in the UK.

Were they clones i.e. cuttings or grafts? or seedlings? both will flower but
seedlings generally take a lot longer, but in both cases they need a good
woody framework before they settle down to flower well.
Summer pruning can help certainly. but I have never pruned my 30 year old
plant which flowers prolifically ever year, but I do let it go horizontal
and hang down, both of which does the same as summer pruning and makes the
Wisteria think it has reached the top of its tall tree!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Charlie Pridham wrote:

Anyone got a secret cure for non-flowering wisteria?
I've tried strict pruning for 4 years.

I ought to confess that the garden is in Italy (Tuscany)

If they are growing well you can rule out lack of water which is a common
reason for them to be slow to get away here in the UK.

Thanks for your response.
I have a Hozelock daily watering system,
so if anything they would be getting too much water -
but I don't think they are.

Were they clones i.e. cuttings or grafts? or seedlings? both will flower
but seedlings generally take a lot longer, but in both cases they need a
good woody framework before they settle down to flower well.

They were bought from a very good local garden centre as 5ft high plants.
I looked to see if they are grafts, and I think they probably are
as there is a slight bump near the soil.
They now have thick wooden stems, and are in fact exceptionally healthy
except that they don't have flowers.
Somebody suggested superphosphate, which I shall try if I can find it.

Summer pruning can help certainly. but I have never pruned my 30 year old
plant which flowers prolifically ever year, but I do let it go horizontal
and hang down, both of which does the same as summer pruning and makes the
Wisteria think it has reached the top of its tall tree!

The wisteria plants are largely horizontal,
going over a couple of pergola/arches.


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

"Timothy Murphy" wrote in message
...
Charlie Pridham wrote:

Anyone got a secret cure for non-flowering wisteria?
I've tried strict pruning for 4 years.

I ought to confess that the garden is in Italy (Tuscany)

If they are growing well you can rule out lack of water which is a common
reason for them to be slow to get away here in the UK.

Thanks for your response.
I have a Hozelock daily watering system,
so if anything they would be getting too much water -
but I don't think they are.

Were they clones i.e. cuttings or grafts? or seedlings? both will flower
but seedlings generally take a lot longer, but in both cases they need a
good woody framework before they settle down to flower well.

They were bought from a very good local garden centre as 5ft high plants.
I looked to see if they are grafts, and I think they probably are
as there is a slight bump near the soil.
They now have thick wooden stems, and are in fact exceptionally healthy
except that they don't have flowers.
Somebody suggested superphosphate, which I shall try if I can find it.

Summer pruning can help certainly. but I have never pruned my 30 year old
plant which flowers prolifically ever year, but I do let it go horizontal
and hang down, both of which does the same as summer pruning and makes
the
Wisteria think it has reached the top of its tall tree!

The wisteria plants are largely horizontal,
going over a couple of pergola/arches.


--
Timothy Murphy

The only thing left to try is patience!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk