AusBonsai

Hi all
Ive scanned the forum and cant find any furhter info so appologies if this is already available somewhere.

Í have a couple of wisteria that are pre-flowering age and i want to correctly care for them for the best result. I have had a read of Ray Macaway's guide but a couple of things jump out at me as odd. then again, it's more than likely me that is is odd.

Link to Rays Guide: http://bimerbonsai.org.au/wisteria-by-r ... l-macaway/

1) I'm new to flowering trees so really have limited knowledge on the normal care for flowering species. I'm assuming the Wisteria guide could be used as a general guide for other flowing trees?

2) In the guide Ray suggests fertilizing in February and August. This seems odd to me as feb's the end of growing season, and August trees are still waking up from dormancy?

3) Ray also talks about repotting repotting in either January, March/April, or November/December? Again this is the opposite of what i know for deciduous trees. Normaly i would repot in August/September.

Any advice answer's from those in the know re fertilizing and repotting wisteria is appreciated. Also i have just acquired a couple crab apples and flowering apricots so any indication on if the all these flowering are generally managed the same would be great.

Once again, thanks in advance for everyone's experience, advice and comments.

There is going to be many differing views on what to do when. I usually take that to mean there is a wider range of possible times and techniques than most of us think.
Fert in Feb is because that's the time of year many spring flowering trees are actually initiating the buds for the following spring. Even though we can't see them yet they are forming on the shoots so fert that promotes flowers is used at that time. Not sure if Ray is specifying only one feed at those times but I suspect he means to start feeding in August when the leaves emerge and then switch to a flowering formula in Feb through to leaf drop. I start feeding just after the leaves come out and continue every 2-4 weeks then change to a 'flowers and fruit' fert from late Jan through to leaf drop.

I repotted wisterias late winter (Aug/Sept) and both mine did not flower that year. I think the aim of repotting after flowering is to allow the trees to recover in time for flowering. There are others who repot wisteria after they finish flowering - I guess that's probably close enough to November. It may seem counter to all you have been told about deciduous trees but we have been gradually discovering that much of what we are told is not the entire truth. There are now a number of experienced growers who routinely repot trees, including some deciduous species, from late summer through to early autumn with great results. Even more are finding that timing is also great for conifers. Wisteria are really resilient trees and can probably cope with root pruning any time of year.

For your immature trees it won't really matter when you do your repots as they are probably not flowering much yet anyway. I repotted mine in late winter and early spring for many years and they grew well.

The above fert timing is used for all flowering species but I think most growers probably repot flowering species when they are dormant. Maybe we should do some more trials to see if later repots after flowers makes any difference to other species?
Azaleas are flowering evergreens and are generally repotted soon after flowers finish but they can certainly also be repotted through summer if you need to.

Always love your info Shubui.

As mine are not flowering yet (i have 3 of them) i can repot at both times with different trees and see what happens. Saying that i dont think i 3 trees is a big enough trial....... "ok then, i'll go and get a couple more trees asap so trial is of more value"

Seriously though, I'll try and grab another 3 young wisteria so i can trial 3 dormant repots and 3 after flowering repots.

Thanks again Shibui

I guess you can say mine was repotted? Dug out from the ground and potted up just this winter - sept, and only now has it shown signs of life. With the signs of life, it’s also flowering. Lucky I guess? I don’t know much about them.


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