Can I trim my Wistera now in the fall?

I went searching on the web to find an answer to your question. I was surprised to learn that the 'experts' suggest pruning Wisteria twice a year. This is one of the articles I read and I think it gives you a lot of information that you might not know. Here's the link to the articles;

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=242

This article is from the UK, but I imagine that the basics would be the same. I wish you the best of luck on your project. If you can, take pictures as you go then share it with use under "Post Project" - at the top right of the page. I'd love to see how it turned out.

thank you I will check out the website to see what the advice is . Thans

Fall is a perfect time to prune back wisteria. The blossoms will leave bean pods hanging and you really want to remove all of those... they mature with a winter freeze, then *pop* open sending beans everywhere once summer heat builds. They look like coffee beans. If they land in water anywhere... like birdbaths, planter saucers, ponds, they create an extremely toxic brew for critters.

Wisteria is a force to reckon with as far as strength and invasive properties. If you have branches intertwining thru your arbor, cut those now... or you'll be chainsawing your arbor down in a few years. New growth should be trained around itself and let the top branches just lay across the top of the arbor like ribbons on a table. The weight of the stems alone will keep them in place.

Once the plant is mature enough to bloom, it literally takes over and you really need to keep on top of training it's growth and limiting it's spread once it gets to where you want it. I have two wisteria growing 'on standard' (as a tree trunk kind of thing) and it covers a 12 ft X 16 ft pergola. If you want it to travel to a 2nd arbor/location, just put down a guide wire at the base and twirl the new growth along to where ever you lead the wire to. Twirled branches turn into really neat tree trunks to support the plant. When twirling the branches, be creative but don't twirl too tightly as the branches gain girth over the years.

Watering with a composted manure solution in spring will give you brighter/deeper blue blossoms. Be warned on the beans tho, I fill a 45 gallon trash can with them when I 'harvest'. If you want to keep some to grow more/share, let them freeze over winter, then nick the outer coat, to speed up germination, soak for a few days in water and plant away.

FYI, I do two prunes a year... once after the first flush of blossoms fade, then a 2nd flush, albeit less profuse, happens about 8 weeks later. I just use an electric hedge trimmer on mine as it's a beast and I don't like climbing up on top of the pergola anymore.

Any questions... fire away :)

Go right ahead and prune your wisteria now. Once it has bloomed again next year you can give it another trim.

that looks like clematis instead of wisteria - but you can cut it back now so it will bloom in summer and spring

use google

Yes, it's a clematis. Wisteria grows tall and clings to roof porch railings etc

Any flowering shrub should be pruned immediately after flowers have stopped

It's definitely a clematis!

agree, wisteria clings to everything and those aren't wisteria blooms

I had wisterias that I turned into dwarf trees so I could maintain them. I trimmed the shooters the entire growing season and the still bloomed the following year. The blooms are on the brown bark, I trimmed them back to about 1/2" from the woody stem. Have fun!

You're welcome! I do recommend composted manure around the base... in early spring... it should help with bloom production. Most wisteria doesn't reach maturity for blooming for several years, yet the manure feed forced mine to bloom on the 4th year. As a norm, usually 7+ years is standard. I don't know where you're located, but here in Illinois that's pretty much my history with the beast. Best of luck!