Non-Flowering Wisteria - Advice to change?

Hi Everyone.

I recently started reading more in this Gardening Forum and it reminded me of a little issue i have been having over the years with my Wisteria tree. Perhaps some helpful readers here can give me some tips or advice.

I have a Wistebria 'tree' that i purchased and planted myself back in 1997. I did a through job when it was planted, making sure the hole was big enough and well lined with good quality soil and all the specs that came on the plants' labeling tag.

It grows terrific...very lively and active ( always reaching out wanting to climb..) but it is a standalone as it was marketed as a freestanding 'tree' of sorts.

So here is the problem - In the 13 years i have had it going...it has only produced blooms ONCE..and ONLY one bloom! So i am wondering..what am i doing wrong?

I fertilize in the spring...cut it back in the late summer/early autumn...and it seems very healthy and energetic. Fast growth, nice green leaves....etc. So why no blooms in the Spring?

What drives me crazy is i see other Wisteria plants in the neighborhood as i walk from place to place being completely ignored and left alone by their owners and they ALWAYS produce mulitple blooms..twice a year! The other day i discovered a HUGE wild one growing in the woods behind a elementary school..and it was loaded with lots of blooms and no one ever tends it.

My only guess at this point is maybe it is not getting enough sunlight now? When i originally planted it the tree recieved more direct light. Now the surroundings have changed a little, and it gets direct light only in the later half of the afternoon.

Any advice and insights into what i can do to help get my Wisteria to bloom?

Thanks for any tips you may be able to offer

 

try trimming it some? i know when i trim my wisteria it blooms very nicely!

 

I used to "shock" mine into blooming- You take a spade and cut around the bottom severing the roots completely and leaving about 1 third to 1 fourth left.

Another thing could be you are overfertilizing it.

 

I had a wisteria that did that, too, a few years back at our old house. Somebody told me to cut the roots, but I never did it. I also read that wisteria that's taken care of TOO WELL, has all it needs, etc., has no incentive to bloom. Funny! ... you're taking care of it too well! (maybe). Anyway, from what you're saying, that wisteria is SPOILED.

Here at our new house, there's a wisteria in the front yard that blooms every year. Beautiful, for a few weeks. It was here when we moved in, I've never done anything for it, except mow around it every year, to keep it from spreading.

 

Wisteria needs to mature to produce flowering spurs. I am wondering if you haven't cut them off before they had a chance to bloom.

Wisteria grown from seed can take up to eight years to flower. But you bought a tree, which I would imagine was grafted with mature spurring stock. I would recommend that if you prune your tree every year stop at anything over pencil size. It may be that you are cutting off the flowers before they have a chance to produce.

Sunlight is also a factor. But wisteria can usually find the sun. Can you move it?

Also wisteria needs a diet high in the last two numbers especially k. So try a fertilizer that is high in p and k and low in nitrogen.

 

Some great advice here...many thanks !!

Gardner, that could well be the case..although i am careful when pruning to insure i am not clipping away anything important. I usually trim in August, which i read some time ago in a old gardning book was the time to do it. It just really puzzles me that it bloomed ONE bloom ONCE a couple of years after planting....and never again for years.

Perhaps what i REALLY need to start doing is just ignore the thing....and then it will want attention, and then perhaps feel motivated to actually DO something to get that attention ( like BLOOM..dang it! Ha ha!)

 

i trim our wisteria back once every season and it almost always blooms shortly after. it does have to mature, but this one was well established when i got to it. Hope yours starts blooming more for you, the aroma is absolutely fab!

 

The reason maybe too much nitrogen. When a wisteria plant has too much nitrogen, it will have a plenty of foliage growth, but very little and maybe no blooms. For this you can add phosphorus to the soil, this is done by applying phosphate fertilizer. Phosphorous encourages wisteria blossoms and helps to balance out the nitrogen. Another reason is the environment they are growing in. Wisteria vines that lack full sun or proper drainage may be stressed and while they will grow leaves they will not bloom. Fertilizing in the spring can encourages leaf growth and discourage blooms. Last but not least over pruning will remove the flower buds and it wont bloom.