Wisteria Help

No matter what we try, we never get any blooms on our wisteria. Any suggestions?

—Earl and Pat Gent, Boonville, Missouri

Melinda: If you started your wisteria from seed, the first thing you need is patience. That's because seed-grown wisteria takes 7 to 10 years to bloom. If your plant was started from a cutting, then fertilizer containing too much nitrogen may be the problem. High-nitrogen fertilizers usually cause plants to produce lots of leaves but no flowers. A soil test will tell you exactly what type and how much fertilizer you should use. If soil tests aren't available, try applying a moderate amount of 5-10-5 fertilizer in early spring. (The numbers I'm referring to appear on the fertilizer bag and correspond to the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively, in the fertilizer.)