Wisteria care -planting, training and pruning

[@boldpicturesgardeners]

Lovely information ❤❤❤looking forward to replace wisteria

[@carolwilliams3224]

Thanks Ben this is just what I needed! I planted a wisteria last year so it’s only young and quite small.

[@the_gardenerben]

@@carolwilliams3224 enjoy it it will soon get it’s self away

[@carolwilliams3224]

@ hmmmm I’m not sure because I haven’t attached it to the wall yet cos I’ve planted it too far away and I need to drill the hook thingies in the wall and attach wire 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣

[@the_gardenerben]

@@carolwilliams3224 yeah, you don’t wanna skip that stage or before you know it you’ll have a huge plant with nothing to attach it to

[@carolwilliams3224]

@ I’ll do it soon!!!! ♥️

[@SlowKitties]

I am so happy to see you are making a video about wisteria! Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share. I actually have a few questions about my 3-year old wisteria plant. Question 1: Would it also be possible to prune it back completely to the top of the main vertical stem? It became quite ugly because I had not the proper knowledge on how to train it and I would like to start over again. Question 2: my Wisteria is three years old, would it survive being transplanted to another spot now it is winter? Question 3: my Wisteria gest black ants and black aphids every summer, is this harming the plant? If so what can I best do about it? Untill now I have just left them. Question 4: what to do about the lots of stems growing out of the main vertical stem? Do you usually prune those back completely or is it up to personal preference? Thank you so much!

[@the_gardenerben]

@@SlowKitties hi you are most welcome in answer to your questions Question one yes wisteria take hard pruning very well this is done now or the plant is sleeping and it has no leaves on it

[@the_gardenerben]

@@SlowKitties question two Yes you may transplant your wisteria as long as it is at this time of year anyone from the end of November through to the beginning of March would be the ideal time to move it. Make sure that you water it well especially during its first summer in the ground in its new location the wisteria I’m working on here has actually been moved three times in its life , I promised when I put it into the large whiskey barrel, it’s now that I wouldn’t move it again and so far I have kept my promise

[@the_gardenerben]

@@SlowKitties question three A lot of people are alarmed by the presence of ants. Usually these are farming aids so if you have white fly green fly or black fly on your plant they will be feasting on a wee which is called honeydew. This is an excretion full of sugar which they feed to ants in the nest don’t be alarmed. Ants themselves are incredibly clean and do no damage whatsoever.

[@the_gardenerben]

@@SlowKitties question four the cert difficult without actually seeing the plant itself. Many people choose to just grow the singular stem to the location where they want to then start creating their permanent framework other people like flowers all over the plant so therefore cut back any stems coming from the main stem to produce the small horn or spur like growth I talk about in this particular video, if you have access to any other social media platforms Instagram for instance please feel free to send me a direct message with a picture and more than happily take a look at it for you. I use the same username across multiple platforms.

[@SlowKitties]

@@the_gardenerben Hi Ben, thank you so much for all your answers, this is very helpful. I will sent you a private message through Instagram with a picture.

[@SteveReed-x6k]

Hi Ben, We planted Wisteria by our pergola and being new to gardening in general and this plant in particular, we didn't realize the need to thin this plant out. We get a lovely show of blooms each year. I am wondering if a hard prune could be done to this vine without stressing it out. We have dozens of vines that have completely covered the top of the structure. It would be hard work to remove them but if we did, could we safely reduce the overall size and make our twice yearly pruning more manageable. My husband has to use ladders and power trimmers and it can be quite strenuous and unsafe. What do you think? Can we reduce without harm??

[@the_gardenerben]

@@SteveReed-x6k yes you can very successfully hard prune and remove excess growth at this time of year. You need to be disciplined and organised with the way that you work tracing the stems back that you want to keep and removing the ones that you don’t tie the stems that remain into position, and and then then prune back your growth as per the video in January and again in late July or August

[@MrLandfree]

I think another good tip is to buy a wisteria that is already in bloom. This will mean you wont have to wait so long for the plant to produce flowers.

[@the_gardenerben]

@@MrLandfree mine was in flower when I purchased it so I knew what colour it was after planting I still waited around seven or eight years for it to produce a decent crop of flowers Even grafted Plants take some time to get themselves establish and obviously only flower on older wood 🌺

[@MrLandfree]

Thanks Ben. Love your videos! 👍