Planting 12 ft Wisteria

Good morning all,

I am planning to plant two wistera (Kapitan Fuji) this weekend. I have a large Pergola I am planning to train them on. The plants have arrived and are around 12 ft, they are already trained around a thick bamboo cane. I was planning to plant them next to the vertical pillars of the pergola. With regards to the bamboo cane is it best to just to leave this and maybe attach this to the pergola structure as support? I assumed I would be bracing the plant myself against the pergola and didn't expect it to come already trained around a bamboo cane.

Many thanks

 

Wisteria twine naturally so I'm assuming they are twined around the canes and removing them wouldn't be easy.

 

It wouldn't be easy, no, but I'd do it anyway. The trunks of wisterias become so thick and woody that eventually the cane will be absorbed into the wood, but there's no guarantee that it will dissolve. I've got a similar situation with a W. macrobotrys Floribunda that wound itself round a metal upright. I left it too late to get the pole out and I can't help but feel that it won't be doing the Wisteria much good! I've known people with a similar problem when the initial stem was tucked behind a downpipe! The only solution was to chop the Wisteria down and start again, which is a pity!

 

Having wisteria'd before, they're pretty bendy so they should be happy enough moving to a new support. The main thing is going to be not leaving them unsupported, because they're not that strong and if they fall under their own weight then the woody parts could snap.

Just had a think about this. How about if you lie the plant on the ground, slide out the bamboo it's twined around, then tie the bamboo to the outside of the stems to support it temporarily? Then you're in a position to stand it up and plant it next to the pergola, secure it properly to the pergola, and finally remove the bamboo.

 

I think I would try to unwind it from the cane, as long it’s practical to do so (without doing damage). Trying to remove the cane later on would imo be more troublesome.

 

Sounds like a good idea.

 

You can probably get the cane out by cutting it into small pieces.

 

The risk is that bamboo is relatively tough and wisteria stems are relatively weak. That could go very wrong, very quickly!

 

Not if you are careful and use secateurs.
Unwinding it could go wrong, which is why I suggested leaving it there in the first instance, it is afterall just a bamboo cane which will rot away in a few years anyway.

Lets face it we cant see it to tell how thick the bamboo is or how tightly its in there.

 

Aarrghhhh! Cruelty to plants! Like tree-ties that are carefully applied to new plants but never subsequently checked. I feel their pain..

 

I once cut a tree tie in the local park that had cut deeply into a tree.

Went back a couple of weeks later and the wind had snapped it off at the point where I removed the tie.

 

I'm not surprised! Imagine leaving a tight tourniquet on someone's arm or leg for months.....