Wisteria Tree (Wisteria Sinesis (sp) )

[tyjbad5]

Hey,
I am debating some things about a recently planted wisteria tree in my back yard. We planted the 5ft tree by a post that is part of an arbor that is about 8 to 9 feet tall. I was wondering if I should cut the non major branches off so I have one major trunk that reaches the top of the arbor or if i should wait a bit and then cut them. I planted the tree two days ago and so far it has been doing very well. I would like to just have the trunk of the wisteria tree around that post and have no/little foilage until it reaches the top of the arbor which is where i would let it grow out. Does anybody have any tips or helpful advice for this? Thanks! Great site as well.:)

[Chris]

I'm guessing what you have is a wisteria (vine) trained in a standard form. Which means it was trained to look like a tree, but is not actually a tree.

If you want to continue to make it a tree, but taller, you can train it straight up to the point where you want the fake "trunk" to stop and then let it grow normally.

Understand though that this is a vine, not a tree, and you'll really have to train it to get it to hold that form.

[tyjbad5]

so should i cut all of the minor stems/branches off and just have one growing to the top?

[Pandion_Haliaetus]

Hey, I wouldn't cut off too many branches. Just train them to go straight up where you want them to.

[Chris]

When training a vine to a standard form it is more about staking & wiring a central leader to act as a trunk than cutting off any one part.