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Re: Monster Wisteria

In a message dated 98-06-18 18:14:30 EDT, Mary wrote:
<< About pruning the wisteria - cutting off the branches of a broad-leaved
 woody plant removes the controlling hormone produced by the growing tip.
 When this hormone is gone, new growth begins from the buds in the axils
 of the leaves on this branch, with more than one new branch usually
 forming. This would, over time, defeat the object of controlling the
 vine. The best approach is to prune each branch to be removed at the
 point where it grew out of the branch below. This way no new growth is
 stimulated. If the owners will carefully choose which branches to remove
 in this way, they can remove whatever is needed. >>

Mary--
Right you are!  However  a "monster" wisteria  is very difficult to properly
prune as there is a massive jungle of branches.  It is just impossible to find
a branch's point of origin.  Perhaps Jose has the time and patience to sort
through that tangle of branches and do it right.  I sure didn't.   The best
thing to do is to prune as you advised and to never let it get to be a
"monster" in the first place.  I do prune my younger wisteria back to laterals
and that is how I keep it under control.  Another thing that helps is to NOT
give it nitrogen fertilizer.  I find that  phospohorus in March and NO other
fertilizer is best.   --Janis

P.S.  Jose, If you are successful, please let us know how you did it!  And do
be careful.  Michael Dirr says in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants:
"[Wisteria] can be found strangling everything it its grasp" and "if left to
its own devices, the plant can consume fences, trellises, arbors and people". 




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