There are quite a few new gardeners who get tricked by wisteria due to how nice the blooms smell and how good it looks. However, it’s important to know that wisteria can harm your plants, trees, and even your home itself.
This vine is so fast-growing that it takes things over when given the chance and this can be problematic in so many ways.
You have to make sure that you are controlling wisteria properly if you wish to keep it in any fashion. It might be better for you to go through the process of just killing it to give yourself an easier time.
Read on to learn about how to control wisteria as well as how you can kill it so that you can make your own choice.
How to Control Wisteria
Controlling wisteria is mostly going to be about learning how to cut it back properly. This isn’t really all that difficult, but it is going to take you a good bit of time to accomplish. The most trying part of this is that it is tedious and you won’t necessarily enjoy doing it.
Pruning wisteria is absolutely necessary if you want to be able to keep it on your property safely. The pruning that you will be doing might even be more aggressive than you would normally think because of how wisteria is.
You need to thoroughly prune it to keep it from taking over its surroundings and whether this is worth doing at all is up to you.
Some people find that regular pruning allows them to contain wisteria effectively. It’s going to be a very high-maintenance vine plant that you will have to go to great lengths to keep. The most important times of the year to perform substantial pruning will be the autumn and winter.
This pruning process should involve getting rid of dead or dying branches before cutting back side branches.
Generally, you want to cut the side branches back so that they are about a foot away from the main branch. Removing suckers that are located near the base will also be important and you need to try to be as thorough as you can.
How to Kill Wisteria
If you’ve discovered that controlling wisteria isn’t easy for you, you might wish to just go through with killing it.
In all honesty, this is the safest option that makes the most sense for the vast majority of gardeners. The first thing that you need to try is to go and pull up any young sprouts that you can find.
Next, you should take the time to cut the wisteria all the way to the ground. This should prevent it from resprouting, but you should dispose of all the wisteria branches properly.
If you miss getting rid of some, some seeds could make it into the soil and you’ll have wisteria growing on your property again.
Go around and gather up all of the cut branches and other debris from your wisteria plant. Failing to do this could cause you to not get the results that you are looking for.
It won’t take much time to gather things up and dispose of them, so try to be vigilant about doing this.
Many people decide to bag wisteria branches and get them off of their property. You could also try to burn the branches if you’re capable of doing that on your property.
To truly get rid of wisteria, you’re also going to need to use herbicide where it was growing to be sure that it won’t come back.
Buy herbicide that is meant to kill wisteria from the store and use it in the area where it was growing. You can paint the stump with the herbicide or just apply it to the stump.
Be sure to follow the directions that came with the herbicide so that you can use it safely.
It’s possible that wisteria can still grow back even after you have taken the above steps. This doesn’t typically happen, but wisteria can be a very stubborn plant and you might notice some sprouts or something.
If this does occur, you’re going to want to apply more herbicide until your problem is taken care of.
You should also know that wisteria-killing herbicides are best used during specific seasons. To get the best results, you’ll want to use the herbicide in the late summer or in the autumn season.
Some say that winter is the easiest time for wisteria removal because it should be at its weakest, but most experts recommend late summer or fall instead.
Wisteria Doesn’t Have to Become a Problem
Wisteria really doesn’t have to become a problem so long as you aren’t ignoring things. You now know that it’s possible to control things properly if you take the right steps and that wisteria needs a lot of attention.
However, it’s understandable that many gardeners would not want to have to aggressively prune wisteria so often and would instead choose to kill it off.
The method for killing it off isn’t too complex, but you do need to try to be thorough to get it to stay dead. Cutting the wisteria down, removing young sprouts, and then coating the stump with herbicide is the most reliable method.
You also need to be sure to dispose of the branches properly so that they don’t get the chance to spread seeds and restart your problems.
Hopefully, the above information will make it nice and easy for you to decide what to do. Wisteria is a very pretty vine-based plant that smells fantastic, but it creates so many problems.
If you have the energy and dedication, you might wish to keep it, but not everyone has the time to handle it properly.
Just be honest about what you’re willing to do and know that it’s likely simpler to kill the wisteria. You also don’t want to endanger the other plants in your gardens or the trees on your property. Make your decision and then handle everything as you see fit.
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.
Janet
Saturday 15th of April 2023
I have tried everything above to kill wisteria, in addition I drilled holes in the roots and poured Round-Up in the holes, additionally covered it in black tarp that was covered with mulch for over a year, also tried pouring salt on it.....and it keeps popping up with fresh sprouts/shoots. Very stubborn plant! Any other ideas?