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Leaf pruning Chinese wisteria

June 19, 2020 by Jonas Dupuich

Last summer I took a conservative approach to pruning a Chinese wisteria. I shortened long runners down to five or six inches and leaf-pruned to four-to-six leaflets (see “Cutback on Chinese wisteria” for details).

This year, I want to cut back to two or three buds per shoot and leaf prune to two leaflets. The idea is to keep the internodes short as I try to improve the branch ramification.

Here’s the tree before I started pruning.

Chinese wisteria

Chinese wisteria – June 2020

And here’s the tree after cutting back to two or three buds per branch.

After cutback

After cutback

It’s hard to see what the branches look like, so here are close-ups showing new shoots with two buds and three buds.

Three buds

New shoot cut to three buds

Two buds

New shoot cut to two buds

I’ll be curious to see how many of these buds produce new shoots as this will guide future cutback efforts.

The next step was to reduce each leaf down to two leaflets. After making the cuts, it was easy to see the branches again.

After leaf pruning

After leaf pruning – 31″

Depending on how the tree responds to the work, I’ll decide whether or not to prune again in late summer. In the meantime, I’ll continue to fertilize the tree and keep it well watered.

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Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: Pruning, Wisteria

Previous Post: « Starting the refinement process on a field-grown Japanese black pine
Next Post: Cutback and leaf pruning a dwarf wisteria »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alessandro says

    June 19, 2020 at 4:17 am

    Ciao Jonas! I’m not a wisteria fan as I like them only when they’re in bloom… do you think that with this approach will be possible a second blooming or there is no time for the tree to develop new blooming buds?
    Thank you, Alessandro

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      June 19, 2020 at 4:46 pm

      Ciao, Alessandro! Last year the tree bloomed after spring cutback, but I don’t know if it will bloom again this year. From what I’ve seen, if a wisteria blooms a second time, there typically aren’t as many flowers as there are in early spring.

  2. James says

    June 20, 2020 at 5:34 am

    I started a Chinese wisteria from seed when is the right time to prune them

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      June 20, 2020 at 7:06 am

      Hi James! I haven’t gone through the process, but at some point you’ll have to cut where you want branches to emerge from the trunk. Left on their own, wisteria can grow a long way without any branches spreading out.

      Here’s what I’d try. I’d want to wire the trunk when the tree is young so it has shape. When it is one or two years old (when the trunk is at least 1/4″ – 1/2″ in diameter) I’d cut where I want the trunk to divide into two. Based on how that goes I’d follow a similar process for subsequent trunk or branch divisions up to the top of the tree.

      If you give this a try, let us know how it goes: https://ask.bonsaitonight.com

  3. Maryann. Plante says

    June 20, 2020 at 5:41 am

    Where can I buy a wisteria

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      June 20, 2020 at 7:07 am

      Hi Maryann – I don’t know where to find wisteria already trained as bonsai, but I’d suggest checking with a local nursery or garden center as wisteria are relatively common garden vines. Hope this helps!

  4. Paolo says

    June 20, 2020 at 10:19 am

    Hi Jonas, can Wisteria be fully defoliated? Where do the tendrils grow from, flower buds or leave bud? Do you or should wisteria deadwood be treated?
    Thank you.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      June 23, 2020 at 12:40 pm

      Hi Paolo! I haven’t tried fully defoliating wisteria so I don’t know how they’d respond. I’d expect healthy trees to recover but it may lead to dieback on smaller branches. The tendrils grow from both leaf buds and flower buds. And as for deadwood, treating could make sense as it is soft and can rot quickly.

  5. Philippe St-Jacques says

    June 23, 2020 at 7:36 pm

    Hello Jonas,

    I partially defoliated my Wisteria floribunda, cutting each shoot to two or three buds and reducing the leaves to two leaflets. The tree responded in two weeks with heavy growth at each latent bud. I put pictures on my site and I think it shows that you can obtain good ramification (and increase the number of buds) quickly using this technique. Even if my journal is in french, the pictures are self-explanatory !

    http://philstjacques.com/bonsai/defoliation-wisteria-2020.html

    Best regards,

    Philippe

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      June 25, 2020 at 10:40 am

      What a great example Philippe – thanks for sharing the link!

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