I have acquired a white wisteria which has been allowed to overgrow for
several years. Does anyone have a good method of pruning?I have been told
that twice a year, serious pruning in December and March is good but which
bits should one cut back. I have made a start on the thin suckers growing
from the main stem and the tangles.

Thanks
Richard

Richard wrote in message ...
I have acquired a white wisteria which has been allowed to overgrow for
several years. Does anyone have a good method of pruning?I have been told
that twice a year, serious pruning in December and March is good but which
bits should one cut back. I have made a start on the thin suckers growing
from the main stem and the tangles.


I presume you already have a framework of sturdy wires on whatever it's
growing on to be able to tie it to.
Your first job is to prune to produce a framework for the future over or
across whatever the plant is growing. Choose the strongest shoots and use
these, tying them into your wires or whatever. Mind you, don't tie them too
tight as they will get thick as time passes and you don't want them being
cut by the tie. Then cut all side shoots off these back to two buds to
encourage flowering buds to form.

I prune in December, just after leaf fall, (but I'm in a mild part of the UK
leave it later if you aren't) and again at various times during the growing
season to keep the new shoots within bounds.

Once you have your framework...
Keep the trunk clear of new growth, cut all shoots off as soon as they
appear.
As for your framework, as the new shoots appear during the summer cut them
back to 3 or 4 buds (leaves) to keep the plant tidy.
When the leaves are off, firstly tidy up the plant cutting out any dead or
badly placed bits. Then cut all that seasons side growths back to two buds
to form flowering spurs which look not unlike Stags antlers after a few
years.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
359 data units completed.

"anubis2" wrote in message
...
I have acquired a white wisteria which has been allowed to overgrow for
several years. Does anyone have a good method of pruning?I have been told
that twice a year, serious pruning in December and March is good but which
bits should one cut back. I have made a start on the thin suckers growing
from the main stem and the tangles.

If you want to reduce the size, now is the time when you can remove all
unwanted growth.
From now on, make sure that *all* new growth not specifically wanted for
extension is pruned to about five buds in the autumn. In spring, shorten
further to leave no more than two viable buds on each pruned shoot.

Franz

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 22:07:43 -0000, "anubis2"
wrote:

I have acquired a white wisteria which has been allowed to overgrow for
several years. Does anyone have a good method of pruning?I have been told
that twice a year, serious pruning in December and March is good but which
bits should one cut back. I have made a start on the thin suckers growing
from the main stem and the tangles.

Thanks
Richard

Mine was grown from a cutting taken eighteen months ago. Last year was
it's first flowering, and it was profuse. Subsequent growth was
considerable, but I didn't prune it at all, but this year there are
far fewer buds. It'll get hard pruning later!


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 22:07:43 -0000, "anubis2"
wrote:

I have acquired a white wisteria which has been allowed to overgrow for
several years. Does anyone have a good method of pruning?I have been told
that twice a year, serious pruning in December and March is good but
which
bits should one cut back. I have made a start on the thin suckers growing
from the main stem and the tangles.

Thanks
Richard

I too have a white wisteria it is a venusta, which is very vigerous. I
have just pruned it back to one or two buds. This looks very drastic but it
works well. The long whiplike stems should be pruned back to 3-4 buds in
October and then back to one bud in February.
hope this helps