Standard Wisteria
 

Hi
Can anyone tell me how to make a wisteria into a standard tree,do I leave
the lower shoots on it until it has reached the required height or do I cut
them back as it's growing?

Any help would be much appreciated
TIA Chris

On 15/5/05 15:57, in article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Christine Rowe wrote:
Hi
Can anyone tell me how to make a wisteria into a standard tree,do I
leave the lower shoots on it until it has reached the required
height
or do I cut them back as it's growing?

Any help would be much appreciated
TIA Chris

I don't think a wistaria will stand up on its own: standards I've
seen aren't really standards in that way. They need a big, and very
durable, metal umbrella thing to support them. I suppose it would
need to be made of real wrought iron so it wouldn't rust away in the
first twenty years, and that's expensive, if you can even get it. I'd
take out side shoots till the plant reaches the level you want.

We have ours tied to a strong stake and take out the side shoots, yes. But
we're going to allow it to billow down onto the lawn, which is an effect I'm
particularly fond of, rather than to make it a tidy shape.
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds for email)

Christine Rowe wrote:
Hi
Can anyone tell me how to make a wisteria into a standard tree,do I
leave the lower shoots on it until it has reached the required
height
or do I cut them back as it's growing?

Any help would be much appreciated
TIA Chris

I don't think a wistaria will stand up on its own: standards I've
seen aren't really standards in that way. They need a big, and very
durable, metal umbrella thing to support them. I suppose it would
need to be made of real wrought iron so it wouldn't rust away in the
first twenty years, and that's expensive, if you can even get it. I'd
take out side shoots till the plant reaches the level you want.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote after...
Christine Rowe wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to make a wisteria into a standard tree,do I
leave the lower shoots on it until it has reached the required
height
or do I cut them back as it's growing?

Any help would be much appreciated
TIA Chris

I don't think a wistaria will stand up on its own: standards I've
seen aren't really standards in that way. They need a big, and very
durable, metal umbrella thing to support them. I suppose it would
need to be made of real wrought iron so it wouldn't rust away in the
first twenty years, and that's expensive, if you can even get it. I'd
take out side shoots till the plant reaches the level you want.

That is true at first, but once the stem has thickened and become tree like,
which does take quite a few years, then it will stand up on it's own, seen
it.
Personally I would treat like any standard and leave some leaf up the stem
until it is tall enough to be stopped, the extra leaf = extra growth. Just
keep the side shoots within bounds with pruning.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

what i would do is this....it will definately need to be staked throughout it's life...if you have more than one leading shoot reduce the number so you have only one....any lower side shoots cut them back to just 2 buds this year...remove completely the following year...once the thing is at the required hight allow 3 or 5 or more of those side shoots to become permanant side shoots...or laterals...prune these quite short...the growths that come from these will be your flowering wood and should be given the shorten through the growing season cut back to 2 buds in january regime...come back in 5 years and let me know how it went .

Many thanx to all for your help and advice much appreciated
Chris
"Christine Rowe" wrote in message
...
Hi
Can anyone tell me how to make a wisteria into a standard tree,do I leave
the lower shoots on it until it has reached the required height or do I
cut them back as it's growing?

Any help would be much appreciated
TIA Chris

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote after...
Christine Rowe wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to make a wisteria into a standard tree,do
I
leave the lower shoots on it until it has reached the required
height
or do I cut them back as it's growing?

Any help would be much appreciated
TIA Chris

I don't think a wistaria will stand up on its own: standards I've
seen aren't really standards in that way. They need a big, and
very
durable, metal umbrella thing to support them. I suppose it would
need to be made of real wrought iron so it wouldn't rust away in
the
first twenty years, and that's expensive, if you can even get it.
I'd
take out side shoots till the plant reaches the level you want.

That is true at first, but once the stem has thickened and become
tree like, which does take quite a few years, then it will stand up
on it's own, seen it.
Personally I would treat like any standard and leave some leaf up
the
stem until it is tall enough to be stopped, the extra leaf = extra
growth. Just keep the side shoots within bounds with pruning.

Interesting: must be a wonderful sight. How old does it have to be to
support itself? Do the branches on a mature specimen hold themselves
up too?

I wonder if a compromise solution might be to grow it through a
suitable small tree, which I suppose it might eventually kill,
leaving the wistaria on its own, like the tropical strangling fig.

--
Mike.

On 16/5/05 11:33, in article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:
snip

Interesting: must be a wonderful sight. How old does it have to be to
support itself? Do the branches on a mature specimen hold themselves
up too?

I wonder if a compromise solution might be to grow it through a
suitable small tree, which I suppose it might eventually kill,
leaving the wistaria on its own, like the tropical strangling fig.

We have one going up a conifer (the name of which I forget) and it's
flowering beautifully, defying the laws of pruning! I don't know if all
Wisterias would behave so well, perhaps it needs to be an especially
vigorous one. But this one is never pruned because it's impossible to get
at - that might be the only reason for NOT growing one up a tree, though a
deciduous one would make it a lot easier!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article , Sacha
writes
On 16/5/05 11:33, in article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:
snip

Interesting: must be a wonderful sight. How old does it have to be to
support itself? Do the branches on a mature specimen hold themselves
up too?

I wonder if a compromise solution might be to grow it through a
suitable small tree, which I suppose it might eventually kill,
leaving the wistaria on its own, like the tropical strangling fig.

We have one going up a conifer (the name of which I forget) and it's
flowering beautifully, defying the laws of pruning! I don't know if all
Wisterias would behave so well, perhaps it needs to be an especially
vigorous one. But this one is never pruned because it's impossible to get
at - that might be the only reason for NOT growing one up a tree, though a
deciduous one would make it a lot easier!

As I understand it, wisteria heads upwards to the top of the canopy, at
which point the stems can no longer climb but bend and sag downwards,
which encourages them to flower. The pruning is designed to kid them
into thinking they've reached the top when they haven't. And so a
wisteria which manages to scramble into the top of a tree should have no
problem in producing masses of flowers despite not being pruned.

It may be that pruning the bits you can reach encourages flowers lower
down.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In message , Christine Rowe
writes
Can anyone tell me how to make a wisteria into a standard tree,do I
leave the lower shoots on it until it has reached the required height
or do I cut them back as it's growing?

We have one that turned itself into a standard all on its own without
climbing up on anything. Not sure how it did it: I took my eyes off the
runners for a minute - well, more like a couple of months - and lo and
behold, a standard. Must have been stems twining around each other and
staying vertical somehow.... This was last summer, and it's flowering
its socks off this year. Mind you, its parent is a pretty old, with what
must be big roots. But I never would have thought it would flower so
soon.

--
Klara, Gatwick basin