New growing Wisteria

Hi Everyone,

I'm from York, PA, and have never grown Wisteria. I bought two Chinese wisteria two years ago, each about 1.5 feet tall. Was told to soak the roots in water about 12 hours (or 24, can't remember but I followed directions), then planted them.

They've both grown a lot, no problem there. However, last spring, they didn't start getting leaves on them until after all the wisteria in my area were blooming and about finished blooming, actually. Any ideas why? Again this year, my leaves are just starting to push through the little buds along the vine, where as everyone's wisteria around here look just beautiful with blooms which will probably be over by next week.

Last year I had a bad time with what I thought were aphids, which I sprayed for (spring to early summer). Then by the end of summer, I had a bad time with wasps all over the leaves, however I was told the wasps are good to keep aphids down. The leaves had started out so big in the spring but seemed to get very small as summer wore on, and got sort of discolored looking as well.

I just don't want to waste my time trying to grow these for years only to find out either I've done something wrong, or that they will just never flower no matter what I do. I'm 47, so I don't really have 15-20 years to find out if mine will flower.

Any suggestions or answers to my story? Thanks ahead of time!
Sherry

Assuming your plants were grown from cuttings they should bloom within a few years (although not necessarily right away). If you bought them from a local nursery then they're likely cutting grown, but if you got them off of Ebay or something like that they might be grown from seed instead. Seed grown ones from what I've heard can take 7-10 yrs before they bloom.

Some plants take a couple years to really get going, so there may be nothing to worry about. I do worry a little about what you saw with the leaves last year, it could just be damage caused by a severe aphid problem, but it might be some sort of cultural issue too. Hard to say without a picture, but if it happens again this year take some pics and post them here so someone can figure out what's going on. And if the plant was severely stressed from the aphids, that could have taken enough of its energy just to stay alive that it's not going to bloom this year. I'd say though keep an eye on what the leaves look like when they do leaf out, and if the plant looks at all unhealthy post a pic here and hopefully someone can figure it out for you.

I have seen a number of threads around here this spring from people who had trouble getting their wisteria to bloom, so here are some other things to investigate:
--don't prune too late in the year, or before they bloom in the spring. They bloom on old wood, so if you prune them too much at the wrong time of year, you'll lose the blooms
--they typically need full sun in order to bloom the best
--too much love (in the form of lots of water and fertilizer) can also cause them not to bloom. There were lots of posts here in the last few weeks from people whose own wisterias wouldn't bloom, but they saw the ones growing wild in the woods and fields blooming their heads off

Also, the parasitic wasps that can help manage aphids are not the same as regular wasps--they're very tiny and you probably wouldn't even see them. I could be wrong, but I don't think regular wasps do anything for you, so you can probably feel free to get rid of them if they come around again this year.

Thanks for the advice ecrane3, I appreciate it. I'll be watching and will post as things progress here. I'm not a real "green thumb" gardner, so any advice I get is greatly appreciated!

I have a big thing for wisteria--it's a childhood memory from my enjoying the scent of it growing at my grandparents home, so I would love nothing more than to be able to walk outside my own kitchen door and do the same.

Mine receive southern sun, so hopefully that's a good thing.

Thanks again,
Sherry

How many hours of sun does it get? If it doesn't get enough hours of sun then it doesn't really matter what direction it's coming from. (Because of how the house and some of my larger trees are situated, things on the southern side of my yard actually get considerably less sun than the northern side.) Getting direct sun for 6 hrs or more is generally considered full sun.

I estimate about mid morning 10-11am to about 3-4pm is full sun in my backyard...

well it may be different strands do things differently chinese wisteria usually blooms with no leaves and then the leaves will grow since they are so small it may take many years to get blooms and then when your other trees are leafing they will bloom in stead and then get leaves or it maybe that they need more heat longer before they wake up

Sherry - - I am in western PA -- a little cooler than you. I have two wisteria -- one I bought on clearance a couple years ago -- but that died back to the roots so didn't bloom. I have a newer one that I bought in Texas - but that said it was hardy in my zone. It was in a gallon pot -- so a good sized plant. It bloomed for me last year after I got it home and planted, and it has buds on it now. However -- the other wisteria are in full bloom here -- and mine is "just" tiny little buds. I don't know if mine is later because of the cultivar -- or because it just gets morning sun.
T
Theresa