AusBonsai

Hi

Does wisteria back bud easily on old wood?
The flowers are opening and I am thinking of cutting it back to the main trunk so stimulate some new buds to create some new branches.

Thanks,
Dennis

Hi longd_au mate as far as I'm aware they are very reluctant to back bud . If your lucky 1 might sprout but don't count on it . You would probably be better off trying to inarch or approach graft a young vigorous shoot into the desired positions insuring they takes before chopping it back ..

Cheers Alpineart

I have had several dug and trunk chopped.
Never had any issues here with gettign them to shoot on old wood, One i got a few month s ago has just shot out everywhere after being bare for months

Biggest issue I have is stopping them from rotting and then dying back.

Ken

This could be a contentious subject. I have had no problems with wisteria budding back after pruning ( including severe pruning).

Roger

Hi Guys is there a particular species that back buds . I visiting knowledgeable individual that demo's at our club assures us they don't back bud very well at all ??. Worthy of a few question when the come back again .

I have been known to be wrong but some swear they know what they are talking about . I have a Pink Japanese wisteria that wont , however it throws roots and suckers galore at the base of the plant . An old blue specimen wont back bud either , maybe its the climate or some other factor ?? Be keen to know as I would like to remove 80% -90% of the top without killing it .

Cheers Alpine

I have both white and deep pink. Both are treated the same way without problems.

Roger

My experience has been that they only bud on bare wood if the whole plant is pruned at the same time.
When I just pruned one branch to get new shoots but left the rest alone the pruned branch just died back to the fork below without even trying to bud. In desperation, after several failed attempts, I just cut it all back and got lots of buds all over the remaining branches.

Note KC's comment about wisteria rotting. Pruning cuts don't heal very well and the soft wood rots easily so seal any cuts larger than about 6mm.

Hi Dennis, I have a couple that were in my garden for years and in orchid pots about 5 years
My older 2 refuse to shoot from the trunk
I'll try find a pic for reference. Not sure if its age or what but no luck so far for me.

Interesting reading.

I wonder why the different results?
Is it..

Time of year.
Tree vigour.
Location.
Species.
Tree age.

Ive always suspected time of year to be important..
I like to hard prune when trees are active and vigorous.

Hi

Thanks for all your replies.
I saw an older post here suggesting they back bud without problem so I hacked off a bit from every branches.
Then I saw the replies here and now I am panicking. Lol.

I will take a photo tomorrow of what I've done and post again in a few weeks with the result.
Hope I didn't just killed my Wisteria. It was air layered a few years ago. I was hoping not re-potting this year will give the plant plenty of energy to back bud.
Hope I am right or I will have to go find another one to air layer.

This is the wisteria I was talking about and after pruning. Hopefully it will back bud.

Lots of liquid Power feed every two weeks should see you right.
Cheers
Kirky

You will definitely get growth. Maybe not where you wanted it but wisteria is hard to kill.

Awesome. Thanks Neil and Kirky

Quick update on the Wisteria.
It back budded everywhere including some at the base and gave me a lot of options to continue thickening and styling it.
Unlike the parent in the ground, it is not thickening fast and seems to root bound the pot every year despite giving it a large pot.