wisteria

Is is ok to let my wisteria grow up my roof?
It looks good

No it will lift your roof and deposit it in your neighbors yard. They grow dramaticly in diameter after getting under anything. A good rule of thumb nothing touches you roof or wall.

Soferdig, you are a hoot!

Just keep its branches/twiners physically away from shingles, facia, cracks, etc.
In short: not really.
Perhaps you can clarify for us: Is it on a trellis, what is it wrapping around to get there?

JamesCO
when does the wisteria bloom and how long does it take it before it blooms.i have one planted far the second year and no flowers yet just leaves
and how often you feed it

Three to five years maybe. Seed grown sometimes never bloom. Needs sun and looks like you have it. I would build an outhouse at least to support it. HeeHee. Think about this site for a building. http://www.cordwoodmasonry.com/ Some attractive garden buildings or arbors.

Don't fertilize it. This can decrease the blooms, which it does in mid spring, and maybe more depending on the variety. Did you buy it as big potted nursery plant?
It seems, Starylfy, you have yours in an open position (very good) trained to a stake. What it will do ins just climb to the top of it and pop open like a firework, lookinglike a very atractive small tree. To help it bloom, you must prune it properly (this is so hard to explain in written words....). Do you know how to tell what part of a stem is the last season's growth? If so, trim all but four inches off, so that the long dangly branch is but a stub with a half dozen buds on it. Some you can leave longer if you want that shape extending farther.
Hope this helps and isn't confusing.
K. James

When do you Prune it Kenton? I want to do the same thing with mine. It is climbing up a 8" diameter concrete/plastic Phallic like thing.

...And I'm sure you want to hide that, we all do. Let me check up on the best date. I prune when convenient, but that's not always the best bet.

JamesCO
yes it was large when i bought it,and it haden,t really grown much,but when i got it it had these little long things sticking out all over it, there as long as my finger with little things that looks like buds, but there real hard, and there still on there.that was my last year picture of it, here,s this years

JamesCO
here,s another maybe you can tell something about it

Wow, it has some new leaves, but the higher branches have not leafed yet?
Those short stems with buds are good- that is where you get flowers from mature plants. Places where you get little leaf-bunches but not long, lanky branches, Yours may still be too young. I would try to trim any branches that try to grow below, like making a trunk on a tree. Hopefully, you will get a bunch of those long bits growing from the top like a pom-pon. Let them be, perhaps just keep them from twining around eachother over the summer. The plant can use some more bulk. Then, next winter or early spring, cut the lanky bits back to their sixth bud.

This is where I say that a demonstration is fifteen billion times more helpful than written words.

our local wisteria is blooming as i type. started last week.

some are a little slower
from seed it takes anywhere from 7-20 years for it to bloom.

imzadi
wow thats a long time to wait far a bloom, don,t think i can wait that long lol, wished i new how old this was

i know it is a long time. thats why i bought one today from our nursery that was blooming in a one gallon pot. i had one but i think the weather got it.

alot of people take grafts and cuttings and rootings for them to bloom faster.

imzadi
thats what im going to go and do,go buy me one with blooms.

Cutting or grafted plants bloom earlier for a number of scintific but time-consuming reasons. Seed-grown plants sometimes do not bloom much at all, just a freak of genetics. I think that grafts are a bad idea, as the root stock is always rearing its ugly head and goofing up the prettier scion top-growth.

Ok, folks who need to know about Wisteria pruning: Call your local Barnes & Noble or Borders or what-have-you and ask if they have (in the building) Guide to Pruning by Cass Turnbull. If they have it, go to the store and read the mini chapter starting on page 196 on Wisteria. It is the best, hands down. It describes the structure in plain English better than I could.
Other sources gave the ideal time to prune: Mid winter and Mid summer. Mid winter to make the nice "3-6 inch" sections out of the wild "whips" as they are called, (so that they can make blooming spurs for next year) and one to do the same in midsummer to check their growth before they have hardened off, hopefully making spurs before the fall so that they bloom next year.
That's all,
K. James

Hey, Kenton!

Organic Gardening Encyclopedia says if your wisteria isn't flowering, prune it in summer (...*blink* at least, I think that's where I read it....) Ya think?!

I planted my lil Chinese Wisteria this weekend. I've mulched with straw and covered the straw with wood chips and I talk to it every day..... *s*

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1246.html - growing wisteria

edited to add one more link http://www.bonsai-bci.com/species/wisteria.html

This message was edited Mar 21, 2006 7:39 AM

My wisteria is at least 10 years old and it finally this year but on blooms that
were worth writing home about. It was bought at a local nursery and is in
full sun and I don't fertilize it and it has just now begun to bloom. The shrub/
bush is nearly 6' wide and 10' tall and is beautiful when all leafed out. I keep
it because it is pretty where it is and the greenery is great!!! Good luck with
yours.

Angela

Thank you, Angela!
And hello and thank you for the links, to my neighbor, MaVieRose!