AusBonsai

I learn't something about pot choice---been searching for appropriate pots for a couple of wisteria-had an idea that they needed more feminine style-light colour ,glazed , possibly patterned, round ,hex, or octagon semi cascade with feet ------until I saw this video---not sure if this makes my choice easier - but it certainly widens the search.The plants are excellent but look at the pot variation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sdvqemPVKs

Pot choice is very much determined by the tree and what you are trying to express, pots create an aesthetic in regards to design choices. Some of those trees are in rather tall pots rather than flat, these raise the tree and elevate it visually emphasising a felling of height and solidity and whimsicality. the flatter pots bring a tree down and ground the tree making a more sedate and less whimsical feeling than the deeper taller pots. The other part is defined by horticulture. Wisteria in most cases require quite a pot that is rather small for the size of the tree, much smaller than would be used with most species of trees.

I suppose that would apply to most other types as well...From now on I will have to try to let the 'plant' choose its own pot-- (if that makes any sense)

hugh grant wrote:Wisteria in most cases require quite a pot that is rather small for the size of the tree, much smaller than would be used with most species of trees.

Hi Hugh. Could you please elaborate on why this so?

dansai wrote:

hugh grant wrote:Wisteria in most cases require quite a pot that is rather small for the size of the tree, much smaller than would be used with most species of trees.

Hi Hugh. Could you please elaborate on why this so?

Wisteria require being root bound in order to encourage blooms. A smaller pot in this case both it turn after a repot keeps the tree root bound pretty soon after and then more and more so in the coming years. As a general rule id say only repot your wisterias at most once every 5 years. A root bond wisteria also discourages what we call foliar growth, this growth is what produces the long tendrils. the more long tendrils that are produces the greater chance your wisteria will have of switching over to foliar mode instead of flowering mode.

While we are on the subject of wisteria may as well throw a few other points out there tht relate to using smaller pots. To promote flowering there are 4 basic rules;
1. keep your wisterias root bound, small pots will help this along.
2. keep wisteria very wet, over the warmer months eg. October - April were i live, so if you are home 24/7 water at least 6 times per day! if not wisteria can be kept in shallow submersion, one of the very few species that i would say can tolerate this for prolonged periods of time without any decay to the roots.
3. Keep tendril growth at a minimum, if your tree produces long tendrils cut them back to the shortly spaced buds at the base of where the tendril originated. Do this after they have elongated some what, but dont leave too long as the tree can revert to foliar growth and this wont give you flowers. this is more common in younger specimens than older ones, which leads me to point 4.
4. To decrease foliar growth and promote flowering, fertilise monthly after the tree bloom until mid summer, then stop all together, dont fertilise! if you continue to fertilise after this point wisteria will continue to flush out with growth and hence revert to foliar mode again.

It is interesting looking at a you tube slide show of 50 or so wisterias where I have never seen any of them before except for the one I photographed myself. It makes me wonder how many times an internet image is shared and copied in a couple of years. It took some time to set up the photo but it is nice to know that people are enjoying it