I've read that wisteria should be cut back after blooming to keep it in check and to increase next years bloom.

you sound like my wife, she is fussing because the one at our house is not blooming yet and all the ones around here are.

trim it back some, and give it time. make sure it is healthy, and maybe give it a shot of fertilizer and a good watering. although i hav enever heard of having to fertilze wisteria weed!

The wishing well that it climbs on is about to collapse under the weight of the thing so we were already planning on cutting it back quit a bit this year so we could do something else for it to climb on. Maybe that'll do the trick.

Lisa

I have heard here on Gardenweb that fertilizing wisteria only encourages foilage growth. If you search gardenweb for wisteria you may find the posting.

I don't have the plant growing on my property... but I am considering planting some if I can figure out how to control it.

The naturally wild variety of wisteria has rather puny blooms with little odor. They smell fairly good but nothing like the new improved varieties. I suspect that's what you have. We just cut through the trunk of an very old one that had engulfed three trees. The trunk measured over 9 inches in diameter. Lots of vines, few blossoms. Little odor. We like the trees better.

Lordy, Lordy. I read this post and it gives me the chills. I would never, ever plant another Wisteria. This year I had to dig up a bed of roses that had been here for 20 years because of the Wisteria roots that had invaded it. The roots were as big around as my wrist and I had been spraying them with Roundup for two year AFTER the Wisteria tree was dug up in order to kill the sprouts that still sprang up. To encourage such a plant in my opinion is the same as encouraging a teenager to smoke. If you don't have any problems with your yard eaten up with the roots, think of your neighbors.

I'm in the boonies, no neighbors really close. And the ones that are have dogs they let run loose and annoy the daylights out of me. Some wisteria roots might be good revenge.

Lisa

A new Wisteria plant started growing next to the only nice Oak tree in our front yard. It is only about 18 inches high now. I thought "how nice." Can I now assume its roots will in time, strangle the Oak roots or kill the tree some other way.
Thank You

You can count on the vine going around and around the truck or branches of the oak. This will prevent any expansion or growth of the tree at that point. It may not kill it, but in time, the tree would not be as healthy as it should be. Unhealthy trees fall down, blow over, or just plain die.

I found this which might help....

Wisterias are hardy in Zones 5-9 and need full sun. They do best in a moist, well-drained garden soil enriched with peat moss or leaf mold. Plant them in spring, placing each one 10 to 12 inches from its support. Plants should be tied to the support until the branches are thick enough to support the themselves. Feed the vines every spring with a balanced fertilizer. Gardeners in northern zones will need to provide a mulch for winter protection.

Pruning in late summer will help to contain the growth and encourage flowering. Remove the new growth to above the sixth leaf from the base of the branch. Wisteria can be trained to a tree form by staking and pruning severely for many years, until the trunk becomes thickened.

Propagate by layering or from stem cuttings. Take basal cuttings from side shoots in early to midsummer and root with bottom heat. Layer in autumn or graft in winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Guides.com

The naturally wild variety of wisteria has rather puny blooms with little odor. They smell fairly good but nothing like the new improved varieties.

The "wild" varieties are chinese and japanese wisteria. They take a long time to bloom and have little fragrance. They get huge and strangle trees. Really nothing to recommend them when you compare them to the "new improved varieties". Those new varieties are really cultivars of the native wisteria. One such cultivar is Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls'. The native wisteria blooms earlier (as in younger), has fragrance and is not aggressive.

If what you have is big and hasn't bloomed, you can bet it is the chinese wisteria, Wisteria sinensis, or the japanese one, Wisteria floribunda.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls'

The previous owner of my home had the brilliant idea to plant chinese wisteria next to the back door. I have to chop through it every week during the summer just to keep it from engulfing the doorway. The flowers are not especially attractive up close and mostly it just produces a lot of leaves.
If you want wisteria I would really suggest amythest falls. This grows at the arboretum near my office and the flowers are much prettier and more abundant.

How can you get rid of them for good? My sister in Asheville has one and cant stand it. The previous owner planted one up against the house by the door. It is a nuisance for her.

Thanks for your suggestions.
Tropicalfreak

To get rid of this or any woody plant, cut the plant off at the base and immediately apply liquid brush killer to the stump. Brush Be Gon is one product, there are others.

If it sprouts back, cut again and reapply. Sometimes it takes a couple applications.