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Home Ask MG Wisteria hasn’t bloomed

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
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Wisteria hasn’t bloomed

September 11, 2010   •   

I have a wisteria vine that is healthy, and over 20 feet tall. This plant is three years old and has never bloomed. What can I do to get it to bloom?

Congratulations! You are well on your way to a blooming wisteria. A little basic biology may help you understand why it has not yet bloomed and what you can watch for to insure it does bloom. Wisteria seems to be a vine that thinks it is a tree; they can be so heavy that they need heavy duty support. That being said, your 3-year-old is just a baby and is not ready to bloom and set fruit (what plants do when they mature). The wisteria is a member of the pea family and the blooms are the precursor to pods (fruit). Be patient and do not start fertilizing; being members of the pea family, they are nitrogen fixers and form nitrogen-containing nodules on their roots. Overfertilization can stimulate foliar growth, but will not encourage blooming. Feeding it once a year with super phosphate to encourage root growth is about all it needs.

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