Wisteria flowers dropped! help please!

[pbx]

Hi folks,
New user here, also long interest in bonsai, but finally got around to starting my collection just over a month ago..
I need some help, I'm a little confused about wisteria pruning in bonsai, and when and what to trim back, and when though out the year... I basically left it as I got it so it could get established in the new bonsai pot.
I bought a nursery chinese wisteria about 3 to 4 weeks ago... It had some flowers on it, but seemed to drop off (we did have some high wind days a few weeks back)
Im just wondering, is there a way i can trim this back to force flowering again? here's some info;

Put in the bonsai pot about 4 weeks ago, trimmed roots back to fit, still plenty of healthy roots in there.
I live in Mildura, Australia.. Its spring now (sep-nov) .. a fairly hot place.. between 26 and 36 degrees celsius at the moment.
I have moved the bonsai around a few spots, to start with it wasn't getting as much sun as I've been reading it should, if this was the problem, will it re-flower now its in about 8 to 10 hours sun a day?

The main question i have is, Should i prune back the flower stems where there was flowers? (as you can see in the photos).. Or could anyone please recommend what I should do? getting towards end of spring start of summer... we will be getting some 40+ degree days come december/jan..

Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks in advanced..

[Rintar]

Sometimes pruning will force a second flowering other times it will spot flower on its own. WIth those temps from my limited experience you will want a water tray for a wisteria they get thirsty and like to be kept moist.

Good luck with it

[shibui]

PBX,
It is normal for wisteria flowers, indeed most flowers, to only last a few days - a week at the most.
You can cut the old flower stalks off or leave them it won't make much difference to the plant unless some of the flowers were pollinated and seed starts to develop. Best not to waste the plant's energy on making seed so do not allow seed pods to grow.
Nothing you can do to force more flowers this season, nor should you - takes lots of energy to make flowers and second flowering could weaken a plant too much.

Re how to look after it over summer: wisteria are pretty hardy and should cope with your climate. They do not seem to suffer with wet roots and some growers keep the pot in a shallow tray of water all summer to make sure they don't get too dry.
It will send out long twiners from the tips - remember wisteria is a climbing plant. Let them grow 50 - 100 cm long then cut back leaving just 2-3 leaves at the base. trim any other shoots back to 2-3 leaves as well. You may have to trim 3 or 4 times over summer. Give it plenty of sun but maybe shaded from really strong afternoon summer sun. Everybody needs to find the correct balance between plenty of sun and preventing it from drying out too much - depends on your pot, potting mix, the plant, how well you water, etc.
feed it every 2-3 weeks with a FLOWERING fertiliser. Note that you will not be able to find a wisteria fertiliser but look for a packet that says FLOWERS AND FRUIT or maybe tomato fertiliser, citrus, rose, even azalea fertiliser. You will note that all those are plants we grow for flowers and the fertilisers are specifically formulated to help produce more and better flowers so it will help your wisteria as well.

[kcpoole]

After flowering I always cut back the flower stems then later in summer cut back to the second or third leaves.

Check the wiki too
https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index. ... e=Wisteria

Ken

[pbx]

Excellent, thank you very much for your help.. certainly cleared a few things up!