AusBonsai

Hi all, I have a wisteria, that in 12 yrs has never flowered.. I'm going to repot it this year, into a smaller pot, and plan to fertilise it with superphosphate.. after which it better bloddy flower... so, onto the question... when do I give the superphosphate?? do I give more than one dose? I usually fert with dynamic lifter, sometimes something like osmocote (pellets) and liquid fert once a weekish... from what I have read, I am most likely giveing the wisteria too much nitrogen, which is discouraging flowering... thus I intend to cut out all other ferts, but for the superphosphate.. so when and how much?? this is the pot I plan to put it in, and this is the plant

Hi Paddles , i just purchased a wisteria yesterday. The label say to fert' regularly to build a canopy then "stop" not reduce fertilizing to promote flowering . Hope this helps .

Cheers Alpine

Yes Paddles, I agree with Alpine I have been told by a lot of people that wisteria`s will not flower if you fertilize them,but don`t have one so it is only on hearsay.

Wisteria is one of those subjects that people have a million different secrets to make them flower. Firstly, they need to be a certain maturity to flower and i do not know if yours is in that category. you should not repot to frequently otherwise the tree just puts on growth. It is good to keep them a little pot bound. They should just about live in fertiliser and should be watered more than your other trees. You should be feeding it through Autumn up until middle of April with a low nitrogen fertiliser. No secrets just observations, good luck. Oh, and prune off your flowers at 60% flowering.

It sounds like you have opened a can of worms here Paddles ,Bodhi is a good grower and has a lot more experience than me but I agree with Paul W and practice that on my wisteria, it flowers it head off and all I do is soak it in Charlie Carp once a year if it is lucky, it has been in the same pot for about 5 year and I should imagine very pot bound so I agree with Bodhi on that one.

ok, I think i need to put a spot of history to this tree...

Many years ago, when I was first looking at bonsai (so 13 odd years ago) I walked into collectors corner, and in the entry way, they had this massive white flowering wisteria bonsai... surrounded by little starters and pots of course.... so I bought my little starter, and pot and potted it up and waited for it to develop into a decent bonsai...

Time passed and I grew wisdom of some sort, and it was eventually potted up into a half wine barrel and trained over an arch for 3-4 yrs... then one day, I decided to remove the arch and barrel, so the wisteria again became a bonsai. potted into the pot it's currently in... that would be 3 yrs ago.. it's been ignored ever since...

It's definately pot bound, I have no idea how i"m going to get it out of that pot, I don't have a sharp saw like some people

Paddles, always buy wisteria in flower, their ability to flower depends on the wood the nurseryman has used for cuttings, if wood which has never flowered has been used then you can wait for as long as 20 years for that to happen and no amount of ferts will change that. If the nurseryman has used good flowering wood then they will flower from day one.
Craigw

ah, but there is the trick, craig, it obviously was not in flower... and may never flower, but I shall try, cause if I give it away, and then it flowers the next year for whomever I give it to... I'd probably kill them, and bury the body with the wisteria...

Hi Paddles

I have had a wisteria for about 20+ year's it was given to my wife by the Late Jack Tripovich, it has been in the same pot for 30 year's & since i've had it it has only been repotted once & with a bit of luck maybe a little DL everynow & then BUT it dose flower every year twice yep twice, along time ago I was told that if you feed them they just grow but if you give them no love they will flower like mad so that's what I do & it work's every year, good luck

Regard's The Hacker

Come and see me Paddles, i have heaps that flower.

bodhidharma wrote:Come and see me Paddles, i have heaps that flower.

but isn't that being unfaithful to my wisteria?? going and seeing other wisteria behind it's back?? won't it be jealous?? and ARN"T I SUPPOSED TO BE CULLING????

A question if I may, bodhidharma maybe.. can you take photo's showing where the flower bud is on the wisteria?? ie, if I cut mine back hard, I presumably would be removing any flower buds??? or do they grow/come later/spring???

paddles wrote:A question if I may, bodhidharma maybe.. can you take photo's showing where the flower bud is on the wisteria?? ie, if I cut mine back hard, I presumably would be removing any flower buds??? or do they grow/come later/spring???

Hi ya Paddles. The flower buds form on last years wood and are already there at this time of year. Mine are already there and easy to see. Just dont prune it until you become a little more familiar with it.

paddles wrote:A question if I may, bodhidharma maybe.. can you take photo's showing where the flower bud is on the wisteria?? ie, if I cut mine back hard, I presumably would be removing any flower buds??? or do they grow/come later/spring???

I would like to see this as well...it may just help those that are un familiar with these trees learn a thing or two....i did say MAY...LOL

ok, detailed inspection and a lot of googling... mine has no flower buds... again, only growth buds... so ok to prunee it?