Hi Anyone have advice on how to control a Wisteria plant from sending out many, many runners from the root area of the plant? Koko
Yes, all you can do is prune them off. One large old plant I have worked on a few times over the years had as sheet of them growing across the top of the bed, like cable-thickness piano wires. Eek!
Koko, How old is your wisteria? Is the amount of shooting excessive compared to previous year? Excessive shooting can be due to one of two reasons. Firstly, either it may have come across a good supply of nitrogenous fertiliser or feed - possibly from a recently fertilised flower bed or lawn. The fertiliser application need not be nearby - those roots do travel long distances. Secondly, the plant has had a recent hard prune. In any case, you need to keep pruning off those new shoots right down to the main trunk. Wisterias will become rampant octopuses if you let them. You ignore regular pruning at your peril. As soon as the new vines appear, prune them hard to the remaining 3-5 leaf nodes, or right flush with the main vine. In the peak of the growing season, you need to do this every 4-6 weeks. Allowing the vine to over grow, and then hard pruning it will only stimulate the wisteria to send out even more shoots. Neglected pruning is the main reason why wisteria has such a bad reputation for being "invasive".
