wisteria tree

what are your thoughts on the wisteria tree also how do I train my new wistera vine to be tree form

I will be following this too. I saw a picture of one and had a chance at a few small plants (6"), and thought I could attempt to train them. I have one I kept track of and will post a picture of it tomorrow. I don't know if I pruned it right or ruined it.

The other plants vined out. I am going to attempt wrapping them around two small pecan trees that are about 10' tall, but grew in very bad spots. Instead of cutting them down, I am going to top them, and let the vines take them over and see what happens.

At the JC Raulston Arboretum they have a little Wisteria garden and all of theirs are trained onto metal flag poles. I've always heard that this was the best method because it was one of the few things the Wisteria wouldn't crush as it grows. While the vine is small, I would attach it to it's supporting structure using a stretchable material like strips of cloth or pantyhose. (Because it won't cling by itself). If you ultimately want a straight trunk you will have to do your best to keep it from twining around it's support.
Or, if in the long haul you don't want a support at all, you can use a fairly sturdy piece of wood as a temporary support that you can remove later. Once the wisteria's "trunk" reaches a certain thickness it will be able to support itself.

This is my trainee

This is the neighbor's wisteria wandering over the fence.

whozzat08, I would choose one of those branches as the "leader" and snip the others if you want it to be a single-trunk specimen.

Be prepared to prune the thing every week during the growing season or it will take over the neighborhood! Mine died after about 10 years but I HAD to prune it every 5-6 days. Grows like a weed on crack!

Whiteflower Farm suggests that it's not a very easy task to get a wisteria standard going...or maybe they're just trying to justify their $149 price tag! http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/68957-product.html

Ecrane is right about the standard method, it is not hard to do, but to get a standard, you are talking about 10/15years growing, hence the price tag, one of my friends grew her
Wisteria to a standard but, she selected 3 stems and pleated them around a pole till the woody stems hardened up a bit, she then planned to remove the pole when this stem was able to support it's self, faster stronger than one single stem, that was years ago and they moved over seas so dont know the outcome, standard wont flower while you train them by the way as you need to keep cutting off all the top growth or the stem will break even with support, over feeding causes lush new twining stems at the cost of flowers, you prune wisteria 2 times a year for wall shrubs, first late summer after flowering, right back to about 6/8 new buds, then early spring, you need to prune again back to about 3 buds, this causes the buds left to form flowers instead of the whippy twinning new branches, but on a wall, you dont need to prune till you have the growth covering the area you need it to cover, feed only spring time or you will loose control of the growth, I cant think of a better sight than a wall covered in drooping lilac flowers, some up to 8 inches long, but flowering size plants are years old, mine was about 12 years before it flowered, in that time it was all training to size and shape. good luck. WeeNel.

I bought a young wisteria plant on impulse and decided I want to try to train it into a tree. There are two finger-sized branches emerging separately from the soil, and one is only slightly thinner than the other. Should I lop one off, or try to wind them together? Thanks in advance for your help.