Wisteria

[Wudman]

Most foresters in the south have an "appreciation" of wisteria.  It is normally from trying to hack your way through it in the woods.  I saw this vine in Sneads Ferry, NC.  I thought it deserved some publicity.  For scale, I am about 6' tall and 215 pounds.  This is the most impressive wisteria I have ever seen.  That is a pecan tree that it is climbing.



Wudman

[Magicman]

That has to be a "Champion" Wisteria for sure.  I'll bet that Pecan tree top is completely covered with that vine.   

[Ron Wenrich]

We have one like that outside the local park.  It is growing up a sizable red oak.  Yours might be bigger.  Each year I threaten to take pictures of it, especially while it's in bloom.  Keep forgetting.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

You got my attention Wudman. Thanks for sharing this.

[curdog]

Ugggh,  I just had cold chills at the mention of wisteria. We did a grinding project a year or two ago and the wisteria would wrap around the grinder head and shut it down about every ten minutes or so, and with hatchets and loppers it would take another 5 -10 minutes to get it back up and running again. I hate that stuff, probably equally as much as kudzu.

[Ianab]

That's pretty impressive for a Wisteria.

Rata vines would put it to shame though. They start as an epiphyte in the top of a tree, and send roots down to the ground. Given enough time ( a few hundred years) they form a tree in their own right, and stay standing when the host tree eventually dies.

Ends up like this




The tree is hollow, where the original host tree has rotted away, but the Rata that was wrapped around it is now self supporting still sound.

[thecfarm]

If and I mean if,the deer would leave my wisteria,it would get that size in about another 50 years.   ;D  It grows 6 feet a year and the deer trim it back 5½ feet each year.

[scgargoyle]

My neighbor has one she trained into a small tree form, standing on it's own. I'd like to have one if I thought I could keep it under control. Do they re-seed all over the place?

[WDH]

I hate the stuff too.

[Magicman]

Do they re-seed all over the place?

Yes, but root sprouting is more of a problem.


 
We have two Wisteria "trees" here in our yard.   

[scgargoyle]

That's a nice looking tree- I could go for one of those. I think I could handle the root sprouts, as I would mow around it.

[WDH]

They will strangle you in your own bed  . 

[DanG]

There used to be a Wisteria vine that size in a yard in Greensboro, Fl. It too was growing on a pecan tree, but they cut down the tree and the vine several years ago.

They are beautiful and fragrant when blooming, but are a real pest.  They will shoot a runner out under the grass and it will come up inside of a wall if there's a hole.  I have seen it tear down a building.  A good part of the effort I have put into this place has been fighting it back. It grows incredibly fast down here!

[customsawyer]

That is a impressive one for sure. I have been hired to kill it on several tracts of timber. Most times it started as a little tree like the one in MM pic. Well then they move out of the little house in the woods and the wisteria then takes over. I have seen it cover over a acre and pulling pines down.

[Kbeitz]

I got one small bush of it....



 

[WDH]

Uh oh  .

Soon, the machine shop, wood work shop, weld shop, saw mill
and your new forum friends will be overrun with it  :D..

[thecfarm]

Mine will look like that in August. I have not checked it this winter. My stems are getting bigger,but that is about it for size.

[Kbeitz]

Uh oh  .

Soon, the machine shop, wood work shop, weld shop, saw mill
and your new forum friends will be overrun with it  :D..

I don't think so. It took me around 10 years to get it to look like that.
For some reason it does not like my ground or something. Very slow growing.

[yukon cornelius]

That makes my eyes itchy just looking at it! My momma has one in her yard and I can't breathe when it blooms. I love them though. Anyone ever mill a big one like that? Someone once asked me to mill one he had been beading for years. I decided in fear of destroying it