I found one at Michaels for about $9.00. I just overheard a lady standing in line saying she'd found one so I took a look. I'll send a picture as soon as I can. It's been standing for a year now and seems just fine. Can't beat the price, anyway.

I missed the part about digging up the wisteria and taking it with you -- you've got to be kidding! And I'd make sure your landlord doesn't have any problems with your wisteria.

Unless you plan to move within a couple of years, I'd be leery of a cheap trellis...I've seen Wisteria that actually twisted & bent HEAVY wrought iron cemetery bridge made shortly after the Civil War.

Suzi

Hi Karen,
The wisteria will grow amazingly fast, just keep it well away from the house and other structures. The vine is very aggressive and will grow between the boards and seperate them. Why not just use the clothesline idea? Place the posts closer together and string steel wire between them. It is reasonably priced as dog chain. You could buy short lengths and get really creative with them. If you use wood you will have to trim it back from the joints twice a year to keep it from destroying the structure.

Terry

i trained my wisteria into tree form, no need for trellis. tuanh

You are have such great suggestions.

I'm pleased to hear it will get massive soon. I heard they can take like 8 years to bloom on GW but it can get massive anytime.

I'm a great shovel jumper. 118# and determination and sharpened shovels! I can even dig up a division of ravenna grass! If I can't do it I'm sure the farm equipment can.

I like the idea about making it a self supporting tree.
Tuanh, can you send a photo or some info on how to do that?

Thx Karen- cheerpeople

Hi Cheerpeople, i stakea a 2" PVC next to the wisteria then use plant tape (or electrical tape) taped the wisteria vine along the PVC. let it grow up about five foot then alow it to grow out on it own, remove all side shoots on the trunk. eventually, the trunk fatening to support on it own. this is a two years old tree, and it bloom prety good this pring.
{{gwi:2620}}

Thx for the instruction and pic , tuanh :) So it looks like it still is on the PVC for a while yet. I wonder if it will be able support itself when you pull it out?

Well I like the idea and I'm going to give it a try using that clothes pole that's there. Even if I don't pull the pole years from now it'll look nice like that.

Thxa bunch

Karen

Hi Karen, yes my wisteria still on the PVC. it only two year old so it still need support, if you have a chance to look at the Nursery tree wisteria, which are for sale at Lowe's, Home Depot. you will see they are doing exact method to train their wisteria tree, i seen they do the same for honeysuckle, bougaivillea ect. Prun off each year to keep the plant proportion, that also stimulate more growth, and fattening the trunk which enable it to stand on it own. best regard, tuanh

Ok, Thx !
karen

We made an arch out of old hog pannel, then I spray painted it black.

Wisteria Have been known to pull down a garden shed.

Hi. I have had 2 wisterias in large (20 inch) pots for 3 1/2 years. I was told to do this to contain the size of the plant (an Armstrong Nursery person advised me to do this). The plants reach about five feet into the top of my patio arbor, but have not become massive or uncontrollable. My guess is that if you grow yours in a pot, you could just lop off the top part of the plant when you are ready to move, and transport the plant in it's pot to your next home.

I Planted a wisteria 20 years ago on a wooden privacy fence with lattice above and it developed the most beautiful ancient looking trunk over the years, (I would grow it for the trunk alone) ...I never found it to be destructive in any way at all and it had plenty of opportunity, sure, it got out of hand when I neglected to prune it for a year or 2 but all I had to do is trim it 2 or 3 times a year (if that)..It isn't nearly as bad as people make it out. I guess If you didn't care for it in the first place, it could be a pain, but I rather like it myself.
It's pretty much self supporting after several years.

Wisteria is fantastic plant.

mmmm Wisteria and Azalea...heaven

wisterias are rotten candidates for transplanting- I'd get a 10+ gallon bucket to grow it in if you're planning on moving it- ever.

they have a tap root that defies imagination- and there really is only so far down you can dig, trying to get it up.

the big 'standards' at Longwood gardens have rebar supports that are a good inch thick...but they're also close to 100 years old. they will never support their own weight, there isn't any 'wood' in their makeup.

I've got normal (3/8) rebar tied into a 'tree' shaped support for mine, and it seems happy enough.

still trying to work out the pruning schedule, though- mine's kinda mad at me for letting my neighbor 'trim' it when she first moved in (she didn't realize that the pretty purple flowers came from THAT vine...?)

I agree, these things can be massive and very top heavy. When we bought our place a few years ago, the 100+ yr old wisteria was overhanging the sidewalk. It consisted of 2 plants on either side of a gate. The 30 yrs of neglect had left it out of control. there had been a cedar tree planted on each side of the gate. Over the years the wisteria took over these trees and started killing them. 2 years ago one of the cedars fell over in an ice/ wind storm. We had to severely prune the wisteria on that side. It didn't take long for the plant to recover. This year the other cedar came down in a similar storm.( ever try to find someone to take care of these things BEFORE the damage is down?) Anyway, now our gorgeous tho overgrown wisteria is reduced to 2 stumps about knee high.
We are looking for a new archway to support it. I am glad I came here since I was planning on building a wooden archway. After seeing the post about the joints, I think I will look into a metal one. Unless someone has an idea how to protect the joints??? Can they be encased with metal or something?

Oh yeah, Whatever you do,,, DO NOT FERTILIZE these beasts unless you enjoy watching something grow up to 6 inches in a day! I made that mistake with ours after we moved in.
I DO plan to fertilize it this year though, as soon as my arch is in place.

I grew several wisteria plants from seed (obtained from my original wisteria). I planted them around a 5' high tree stump and wound the branches around the trunk. All was going well and this year after 3 years of patient waiting I got beautiful blooms. The only trouble is the plant got so heavy the tree stump fell over and I am now trying to figure out how to remove the stump and replace it with something that will support the plant. Any ideas?

Mine is growing up against a white galvanized steel fence,and has been there for at least 7-8 years,and has done no damage to it,whatsoever.

Kathi

Don't use thin wood lattice. Looks pretty, but not strong enough.

thank you very much, i really want to have wisteria in my small backyard, but i am very scared of it...

Our Wisteria is 9 years old. It is judge! My dear husband is not good about pruning. It is growing on a large wooden arbor , attached to our house; that he and my dad (who has passed now) built. I'm am so worried it will destroy the structure. Should we cut it down? Friends have advised us to cut it down.

Not judge! Huge I meant, aggressive ...

My wisteria vine completely took over! It collapsed the wooden lattice arbor so that people had to duck while approaching my house. It sent runners up the front of the house and crawled under the roof shingles. I finally had to have it chain-sawed (yes) and I only left one or two main arterial branches untouched. the rest went away along with the collapsed lattice. It has been 1 year and now growing back fast! I will keep it cut way back now.

ithere was a gorgeous wisteria atop a 7 foot privacy fence when we moved in. I tried training it across the fence (even though it wasn't good for the fence) but it grew so unruly in our neighbor's yard, I was embarrassed at not being able to manage the prolific growth. So we cut it down. Year after year, after year, it would peek through, it's leaves vining up the fence posts. and. How it grew back from the depth of a severed root - dug over 1 foot deep and cut with a hand saw - is warrior like! Yes, It came back. So yesterday, we decided that such resilience should be rewarded! And we moved it. It would be great to train it as a tree but will likely buy a heavy steel trellis. It is only inches from the fence so we'll have to deal with keeping it off the picket fence and on tbe trellis ( but at least we on both sides of the fence). Thanks for the ideas and good luck everyone!

I recently visited a garden where they used strong timber as arches,