How much to prune this wisteria?

[PinkCamelias]

I pruned my wisteria in late February before it was hoisted on the new support structure. I left the thick, old branches growing vertically, the thickest horizontal branches, and some very long, thinner stems. It is now covered in a mass of leaves and new shoots but it had only a few flowers. I suppose it is because I pruned it quite late.

I was hoping that it will grow a bit more downwards now, with flowers hanging between the rods of the support, but it grows very much up, and looks less and less manageable. I’m
wondering if I could prune it much more radically in winter, maybe just to the point where the vertical branches rest on the support? And get rid of the rest, and train new shoots along the rods? I was hoping to train some now, but I can’t see many I could use, it’s just a big jumble of stems. The structure is 2 m high, 4,5 m long and 1 m deep.

On the photos there’s my wisteria with still mainly bare branches to show what it looks like, then what it look now; and a photo taken in the neighbourhood of what I would like it to look (the one with the big pergola.

I think it sounds and looks like you did the right things. It looks very old so maybe the rigorous pruning gave it a bit of a shock and it needs to recover this year. Maybe feed and water well this year, prune as required and keep fingers crossed for next year. Good luck.

Thank you @bilbodog, it’s nice to know you think that! Yes, the plant is old, maybe 30 years or more (last owner of the house lived here that long and she did most of the planting).

I prune anything I don’t want up to the autumn but after that I think you need to leave it alone until it’s flowered

If it flowers before the longest day, prune after flowering. If it flowers after the longest day, prune in spring. A basic rule for plants!

Apparently you should prune wisteria in summer and winter. But I guess this year it was too late (I had no other option). What I’m wondering about is not so much whether it will flower- I believe next year it will - but whether to give it a bit of a new shape and renew it.

Definitely need to prune twice. In July shorten all the new growth back to 6/7 buds from where they start. Then in January or February shorten these further to 2 buds. The summer prune is important as without it the plant will just put on extension growth and we want them to focus on flower bud production. You may need to go over it a couple of times as they will keep growing! There are lots of great videos on You Tube.