Wisteria

Discussion in 'Vines and Climbers' started by retired, Oct 10, 2006.

  1. retired

    retired Member

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    I planted wisteria in my yard approximately 25 years ago. About 5 years ago I dug it up and planted a flower garden where it was. Wisteria keeps coming up in the flower bed and just pulling the shoots up does't work. In a few days it is right back. Any ideas on how I can get rid of the wisteria?
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    If not willing/able to keep cutting frequently until starved out, then probably have to spray or paint regrowth with appropriate herbicide. Ask at nursery for suitable product.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2006
  3. retired

    retired Member

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    Thanks I will try that
     
  4. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Hi Retired,

    The roots of wisteria are similar to the Campsis radicans I had to deal with. When I moved into this house 18 years ago as a renter, I inherited a trumpet vine - campsis radicans. Here's my horror story and what I've learned about this vine. Over time the vine began to bloom and pop up everywhere in the yard. I would pull the sprouts only to find more year after year. After 13 years we purchased the house and had to cut down 5 trees and regrade the land due to overplanting and flooding. When we dug up the stumps from the trees and regraded we discovered roots of the vine 3' to 4' deep in the soil, up to 30' from the parent plant and as large around as my wrist! We dug and dug and, well you get the point. A year later we still had sprouts coming up from bits of roots that we'd missed.

    Here is how I've learned you can get rid of it. Now, up until this point I had NEVER used herbicides or pesticides in the garden. Here's what I did and you can do to get rid of it. Put about an inch of Round Up Weed and Grass Killer Super Concentrate (you could also use Brush B Gone) in a clear plastic container with a tight fitting lid like you might get at the deli with potato salad. Cut a slit in the lid and insert the tips of the vine in the solution when in active growth (has leaves on it and the leaves need to be in the solution). Leave the vines in the solution for 48 hours and then cut the vines near the lid. To remove the vine from the lid, be sure and take the container to a safe place so that no solution splashes on anything precious. You can reuse the solution until it is all absorbed. Everytime I find a new sprout I do this same procedure. So far there have been no sprouts from areas that were treated this way.

    Good luck!
    Newt
     
  5. petauridae

    petauridae Active Member

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    WoW....that's brutal! Sounds like it is very effective, though!
     
  6. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Brutal is having it pop up in all your flower beds year after year after year, grow up the garden wall with those holdfasts and pop up in your neighbors' gardens too. That's brutal.

    Newt
     
  7. petauridae

    petauridae Active Member

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    Wisteria doesn't have holdfasts...its a twiner. You must be talking about Trumpet creeper. Trumpet flyer would be a better name!
     
  8. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Petauridae, yes I was referring to the trumpet vine when I mentioned the holdfasts, since the comment was made about my technique of dealing with trumpet vine being brutal. Thankfully, I haven't had to personally deal with wisteria.

    Newt
     
  9. petauridae

    petauridae Active Member

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    I've got my three wisterias in containers. One (very deep) container has the bottom cut out and is buried, but that wisteria is a floribunda not sinensis. I've heard floribunda is less vigourous.
     
  10. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Petauridae, you said, "One (very deep) container has the bottom cut out and is buried, but that wisteria is a floribunda not sinensis. I've heard floribunda is less vigourous." Any idea where you heard that?
    http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/wist1.htm

    From this site:
    http://www.invasive.org/eastern/eppc/japwisteria.html

    "Grubbing: This method is appropriate for small initial populations or environmentally sensitive areas where herbicides cannot be used. Using a pulaski or similar digging tool, remove the entire plant, including all roots and runners. Juvenile plants can be hand pulled depending on soil conditions and root development. Any portions of the root system not removed may resprout. All plant parts, including mature fruit, should be bagged and disposed of in a trash dumpster to prevent reestablishment."

    From this site:
    http://www.se-eppc.org/manual/japwisteria.html

    "Mechanical Control

    Cutting: Cut climbing or trailing vines as close to the root collar as possible. This technique is feasible on small populations, as a pretreatment on large impenetrable sites, in areas where a herbicide cannot be used, or if labor resources are not sufficient to adequately implement herbicidal control. This treatment will prevent seed production and strangulation of surrounding woody vegetation. Wisteria will resprout unless cut so frequently that its root stores are exhausted. Treatment should begin early in the growing season and be repeated at two-week intervals until autumn."

    Note: All bold print is my notation.

    Newt
     
  11. petauridae

    petauridae Active Member

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    Hmm....not sure where I heard/read that. I'll have a look around. Maybe it is the American wisteria that was being referred to (but not stated as such or maybe I was confused at the time).

    All my containers are large, but the deep pot is the largest. I'm really bad at judging distances, but I would say that it is at least 18" deep if not more.

    One other thing to remember, I live in the rain shadow in Washington. It doesn't rain between May and Sept. so some plants that are rampant elsewhere are a bit more controlled here. It also gets down to 0 degrees F frequently during the winter.

    Having said all that I have seen both a trumpet vine infestation and a chinese wisteria infestation in my area and I have seen several non-infestations (with wisteria being quite favoured in the latter).
     
  12. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Petauridae, as I stated I have never personally dealt with wisteria, but I do know that the roots of the trumpet vine were 3' deep in the soil and as big around as my wrist after all those years. I have heard that the root system is similar. I think it was on a Victory Garden program on PBS.

    I think you are correct that the American wisteria is the one that isn't invasive.

    Newt
     
  13. petauridae

    petauridae Active Member

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    Newt--

    I know from my friend's yard that your observations about trumpet vine are absolutely correct. His neighbour's vine comes up everywhere in his yard too. That's one of the reasons why I didn't go with those.

    I think I have 'located' where I read that about floribunda vs. sinensis. I think it was in an Ortho book or something like that that I saw in a bookstore, but did not buy.
     
  14. liabean

    liabean Member

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    **Sorry, put the post on wrong thread the first time. Now it's in the correct spot***
    -----------
    Newt,

    Thank you very much for this tip on killing Chinese Wisteria. If I can't find a good organic solution, I'm going to try yours. My situation is slightly different.

    Three years ago we moved into a house with a beautiful but old deck & arbor. It looks like many years ago, one of the previous owners planted Chinese Wisteria on each post of the arbor to have the vine grow on top. The trunk of one of the vines is approx. 8in diameter. Yes, it's huge. Since I've been trying to follow an organic regimen for my garden for the last 3 years, I've learned to become one with the Wisteria and to have patience.

    The replacing of the deck has been a sudden change, since it was becoming a death trap and has not given me enough time to react to treating the wisteria problem. The deck man has already leveled the wisteria trunks to the ground so I do not have any vines to leave soaking for 48 hours, yet I have a drill and some rope and will try a similar wicking mechanism to allow the roots to fully absorb the solution with minimal contamination of the surrounding soil and plant life.

    If you have any more helpful tips for my situation, it would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks again for the good tip,

    Lia
     
  15. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  16. liabean

    liabean Member

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    Newt,

    I have heard of this method, yet word through the vine (no pun intended) is that Wisteria is a bit more tricky than a tree stump, and since one of the stumps, will be covered by the decking, I need to make sure that is taken care of. I think I'll try the organic way with Howard Garrett's solution but add a strong Vinegar solution to the "food stuffings". If it doesn't work, I can always have that part of the deck pryed up for a more toxic solution. (Don't worry, it's just a step, I won't have to rip up a large part.)

    I write back and let you know how it goes.

    Thanks again,
    Lia
     
  17. liabean

    liabean Member

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    Well, it's a year later and the vinegar solution did not work. It's sprouting everywhere. I'm now going to try a herbicide.

    -Lia
     
  18. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Lia, try the method I posted on October 14, 2006. That works for just about anything!

    Newt
     
  19. AlsKat

    AlsKat Member

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    oh my retired!

    you sound exactly like our situation! we have azaleas that stretch across the front of our acre yard. when i purchased the property in 1985 it was gorgeous. the previous owner had a brother who owned a plant nursery and there was 1-3 of everything you can imagine! well, he thought a wisteria "tree" would be lovely and planted it right in front of the azaleas and camellias. my husband, father and i have worked for 25 yrs to control and eradicate the stinkin' stuff. along with the wisteria is the brush mixed in. you can not even tell there ARE camellias!

    we are in the process of cutting the azaleas to about 2' and removing all of the brush and as much of the wisteria that we can. we are considering totally eradicating everything in the area....azaleas, wisteria etc....with brush b gone and planting a red bush (the name escapes me) that will top out at about 4' and has light pink blooms in the spring. it will be low maintenance.

    my concern is how long should we wait to go back in with new plants after using the brush b gone and will the soil be ok for new plants.

    thanks for any advice,
    kat
     
  20. Weekend Gardener

    Weekend Gardener Active Member 10 Years

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    You can't get rid of your wisteria, and here I am, feeling sad having lost one of my five. The culprit seems to be poor drainage. So, I wonder if that might be a possible solution - drowning it!

    All Asian wisterias will be "invasive" if not pruned regularly. There is no place for an untrained, unpruned wisteria. My observation from the wisterias on my property is that the sprouts are not actually from the roots. They arise from wayward canes, some of which can run under foliage, even under loose soil for a distance before re-emerging. These canes eventually will root and become independent of the parent plant. In this way, a single wisteria can spread by hopscotching along, creating new individuals along the way wherever canes touch the ground.

    If you see a sprout emerging, it won't do you any good to just pull it off - you have to follow it underground, to the (likely) buried woody cane, and remove the old wood. Otherwise, it will just send out more shoots. Once it gets into a situation where you have "escapees" all over the place, you are no longer dealing with just one plant - you are actually then trying to get rid of mulitple independently surviving clones of the parents.
     
  21. Phia

    Phia Member

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    I have two wisteria in my backyard. One is always a little under watered and finally bloomed this year (year five planted) But, to my utter surprise, after the mildest of winter's for us (Spokane, WA) the one I had had planted for 10 years died. I had JUST started getting a bloom or two. Well, 'died' isn't quite right. Everything above the stump died, but now I have shoots coming from the stump. Are these shoots okay, or are they like roses and unlikely to ever produce flowers. My wisteria don't seem wildly crazy about where they are planted... so I haven't had to beat it back like the rest of you. Any of you know if flowers will come from something so low on the knotty bottom of the plant? I'll try adding a picture.
     

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