Whisteria pruning advice.

Susan.crabtree3

Hello.

I have two whisteria planted in very large pots. They seem to be growing well since planted in April of last year. I pruned in Aug as advised but not in Feb for the plant's winter pruning as there was no growth to prune then!  Went on holiday in mid May and returned to find lots of bushy leaf growth.  As of yet I do not know if these plants can flower, something I didn't think of when I bought them.  It maybe that all of the plant's energies have gone into this summer bushy growth and therefore there will be no flowers this year.  My question is, should I carry out the late winter pruning now or just leave things until Aug once again?  

Also, there nothing to prune in Feb, is this because the plant's are young?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Kind regards.

Drew.

Obelixx

There are usually no leaves at winter pruning time but you do still need to cut back to encourage flower buds to form.

This link to infor from the RHS should help - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=242

Susan.crabtree3

Thank you for replying Obleixx.

The no leaves bit did throw me!

Any view/advice as to me carrying out 'the winter pruning' now or should I just wait till Aug to prune again?

Regards.

Drew.

Obelixx

I'd wait now and do a proper summer pruning as indicated on the RHS page but maybe just tidy up any very long stray stems going where you don't want them and give them some tomato feed, either liquid or slow release granules.  It will help encourage flower buds to form as will the formative pruning in summer and winter.  I'm doing this with a new, white wisteria I'm currently growing in a pot while it waits for a new home.  It didn't flower this year but was in flower when I bought it last spring.

I have two large wisteria inherited when we moved in 18 months ago.   They were looking a bit tatty so I pruned off untidy bits that October and removed stems going up behind guttering and so on.  They got a generous handful of pelleted chicken manure, a good drink and a mulch of compost.   Then, in February, I tidied up some more while it was easy to see what was what.  We had a stunning display of flowers and then very enthusiastic growth so I shortened the flowered stems once they flowers faded and kept an eye on long whippy stems growing in the wrong direction.  They flowered again in August and were dead-headed afterwards.

Didn't get around to doing the proper winter prune as I had all sorts of pots sheltering beneath them this winter for protection against cold winds but I have done some more dead-heading and cutting back now that flowering is over.   This is the sort of effect  you're aiming for when they do start to flower.   Some varieties have foliage and flowers at the same time and some flowers before foliage.

Susan.crabtree3

Thanks Obelixx, your advice is much appreciated.

Regards.

Drew.

fidgetbones

Amazingly, the bit I pruned as per RHS schedule had a few flowers. The bit that escaped into the beech hedge and had a rampage is covered in flowers, even though they are on the neighbours side ,not ours. The beech hedge didn't get pruned last year.

The best year the wisteria had was when it grew up into the apricot tree, totally unpruned and looked like a waterfall of purple when it flowered.

Obelixx

I think that once they get the idea and are mature plants they just get on and flower, judging by some of the unloved looking specimens I see that are just covered on blooms.  It's the younger ones that benefit form the pruning nudging them towards flower bud production.