The thickest trunk on a wisteria I've seen!

malik

I just dug this out of the ground today. A friend was going to dig it up and throw it away so ofcourse, I jumped into gear and offered to take it off his hands. When it was all done I had removed a lot of the leafs and a good amount of the roots. Good thing Wisteria is like a weed and hard to kill.

I would love to know what you think and what you think I can do with it. I like the two branches on the right side. The trunk is a whopping 4 1/2 inches across! and the wisteria is 31 inches tall. It has a bit of dead wood in the lower trunk so I am thinking a hollow trunk.

Please give me your input!

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zen

They have some growing over a pergola at the botanical gardens in Athens (GA) and they are HUGE,...I'd say at least 10" to a ft. across at the base.
This one is very nice indeed. Thought of chopping it down to the first branch on the right, and using that as a new leader? You could then tilt the whole thing to the left, have a slanting trunk with the canopy coming back over the trunk, with some space in between for the flowers. Just thinking out loud, keep us posted,...WICKED THICK!

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bonsainotwar

There is one growing in front of a gateway at the UNM campus,that is at least 14" across at the base.I know of one trained as a bush,in a yard,that id almost 60 years old,and even fatter.

This is a nice one you have here.I have seen wisteria as big across as this,sell for $120 and up at nurseries.

CScott

Go back to your friend's house in two years and you can dig again. Wisteria are notoriously unwilling to die and will bud from roots for years. Six years ago I dug a wisteria that was covering the south side of my house. It had a 7 inch diameter trunk, and I finally sold it because the monster threw out tendrils that would get away and grow into nearby bonsai. Anyway, now I am digging out the roots that have been merrily sprouting all over the area, and some of them have interesting shapes. I like the base of yours, but it looks like the whole thing doesn't have any taper and needs to be cut down a little lower. You could wait to see if anything else buds in that long stretch without a branch.

I hope you know what you are getting in for and have room for this. Be sure to take a picture if and when it flowers. It makes all the effort worthwhile.

Carmen

conor

I have two similar wisteria stumps that were collected in spring '06. Unfortunately, I have more questions than advice (other than to be diligent with watering, as they do dry out quickly). I was wondering if you or anyone else interested in this thread can give me some guidance in terms of how to grow new branches and train a new leader. All of the shoots growing now have an unsightly bulge where they emerge from the trunk, making it especially difficult to continue the trunk line smoothly. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

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tachigi

Hi Malik, These are some very true words. If I remember correctly you live in an apt. and grow and display on a balcony. If this is the case this is not the ideal growing conditions. Not necessarily for the plant, but for you. Once it develops branching it will soon take over your entire area. You will need to let those leaders and branches grow in order to develop any substantial size. I want to give you a visual: Remember Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Harrison hacking his way through the jungle with a machete? Well that will most likely be you trying to get to the trunk when this tree takes off. I live on a farm and two mature trees are enough for me.

So if you decide to throw caution to the wind and forge a head with this. Here is what I have learned. Cut the trunk back from its 31 inches now to the size you want. This will help with branching placement. For some reason they will sucker from the bottom and shoot from the upper portion. Leaving the middle with just a few if any shoots. Soil mix should be a pine type mix. This actually threw me for a loop the first time I heard it. Seemed to go against what I had heard and read about water requirements. However a visit to the National Arboretum and some advise from one of the staff there convinced me differently. They were right, made a huge difference in speed of growth and flower production. When you chop the trunk the wood will rot very quickly so plan for a hollow or some thing like that in your design and use teak or linseed oil to help with the rot. The last and final thing I can suggest here is when you plan your design Keep the branching well separated and the branching going up and out at about a 45 degree angle to accommodate the racemes. I included a pic of one of mine from a few years ago during development to give you a general idea. Good luck Indy

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