Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

I have these growing on my back porch, which has large east and south facing windows. There are two plants in the pot, one with plain green leaves and one varigated. The plants look great, but so far I have only gotten one bloom, from the varigated-leaf plant. I've been using Bloom Booster every week or two. I don't know what variety these are, the seeds were only labeled "Mixed Nils," so if anyone has a guess as to the identity of the bloom, that would be appreciated, too. What can I do to coax these guys to give me some flowers?!

Woofie - Where did you get the mixed nils from?

The season is not over yet and these might go blooming nuts...however I am doing what the Japanese are doing and using window planter boxes next year with minimal soil to avoid lush leaves...see Gerris2 (Joseph's) amazing Japanese visit thread

TTY...

Ray

They were a gift from a friend, and I believe the original seed packs came from Japan. I was hoping to be able to collect seeds from these--Ha, but I need flowers first! I was thinking that possibly the pot was too large. I have some other nils in much smaller pots that are blooming, but the leaves are tiny and cramped and interfere with the blooms opening fully. That was why I put these into larger pots. It's frustrating.

Do you see flower buds forming? Many of my vines have yet to flower, it was a cool wet spring and I think it delayed growth of the vines. Get the container into the sun, and water when the soil is dry, preferably in the morning (you get bigger flowers this way).

I like your DG name, bet you have a dog? I am using the genus of my favorite insect, the water strider, for a DG name (i.e. Gerris).

Joseph

Nope, no flower buds on these vines. Now I have a smaller one, a Yoinoitsuki (I *think* I spelled that right!), also in a smaller pot, growing right next to it, and it has several buds on it. Now am I understanding you to say that you get bigger flowers if you water in the morning, or by waiting till the soil is dry (always!) or both?

Dog? Try dogssss; one wolf, 2 young Alaskan malamutes (I call them my "male-mutts"), and an aging border collie. Favorite insect? Now that would be a contradiction in terms for me! :-)

Hi Woofie, just wanted to say I also have a Yoinoitsuki!! I hope you can post pics of your flowers I only have one so far and it was to wet to get a good shot. There are lots of buds on mine though. I too am way behind others due to the cool spring and early summer.

Woofie - I see that you are in WA state. MY guess is that it is a bit cooler in your region of the USA. You are growing I. nil vines and they like the heat. I go from seed to first bloom usually within 30-35 days here in the heat of FL. When I was growing them indoors over Winter, it seemed like they took a little longer to bloom because the night temps dipped. They got sunlight through the window during the day and grew pretty quick. They seemed all happy and cozy during the day. But my guess is that the cooler temps at night have some effect on how fast they bloom. Bloom Booster does help, but I do believe temps play a big role in I. nil vine blooms. Does it get pretty warm in the room they are growing in?

It gets VERY warm in the room they're in. Oddly enough, I have a couple of I. nils outside, again, smaller plants in smaller pots, and they are ALL blooming, even though they are in areas that are shaded until well after noon. Hmmm, do you suppose it's the variation in temperature they don't like? I have the windows open because it gets so very warm during the day. Maybe I should try closing the windows at night so they retain more heat overnight? Ha ha, assuming I can remember to be that organized!

Maybe it's the circulating air outside? LOL! I know my vines seem to like being outdoors much more than inside... There is something to be said for fresh air! LOL!

You watch ... no sooner than this thread wraps up ... you'll get a ton of blooms on those vines! Murphy's Law, ya know! LOL!

Ha! You're probably right. And not only that, I just went outside to look at the ones in the small pots again and realized that not only are they shaded in the morning, the shadow of the house falls on them in the afternoon....so they only get direct sun for a couple of hours at noon! Go figure. :-)

Can you move the others outside? LOL! I would certainly consider doing that! :-)

This message was edited Aug 22, 2009 6:33 PM

My idiot dog would eat them! I can put the little ones up high on a shelf, but the big one would be in reach....and he does just love to shred plants. Sigh. Well, I'll be patient a bit longer and see what happens. Ooooh, but that first bloom was soooo pretty---I want MORE!!!

I heard a request for a pic when my Yoinoitsuki bloomed; lookee what I found this morning. And I do think that the nils like the smaller pots. AND they like to stretch out. At least, those are the only differences I see between the plants that are blooming and the ones that aren't.

Woofie do you mind if I ask you where you got your seeds? My Yoinoitsuki doesn't look like that and I don't remeber where I got them...LOL

Here is mine

Ronnie;

Your bloom looks gorgeous, however I can see some rust on the leaf, I am just telling you so that it does not spread to the rest of your plants..

R

Thanks Ray!! Didn't notice the rust until you mentioned it!! Leafectomy in the mroning!!

Uh oh, I may have some of that rust, too. Yikes! Leafectomy indeed!
I mentioned earlier that my seeds were a gift, so I'm not sure where they came from originally--I think from Japan. BTW, these Yoinoitsuki blooms seem very fragile. They open briefly, then seem to just wilt away--they were wilted and limp an hour or two after I took that picture. My other blooms last much longer....matter of fact, these pink nil blooms (picture taken at the same time as the Yoinoitsukis) are still mostly open almost 12 hours later, although they are starting to droop now.

Well, I guess all I needed was a bit of patience. My babies are starting to bloom now. Unfortunately, this morning's blooms can only be seen by going outside and looking at them through the window. But, they are covered with baby buds now, Yea!

Now, can someone identify the lovely bloom I originally posted?

woofie - Your bloom looks like Yuuzuki. Scroll down and you will see the original Japanese seed pack:

It looks like Yuuzuki to me:
http://www.onalee.com/catalog.php/onaleeisrael/dt66287/pd1741824/Japanese_Morning_Glory_Seeds_Yuuzuki__The_moon_in_the_dusk__Ipomoea_Nil

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/91248/

Is the color more of a chocolate or dusky rose color or a red or pink color? Sometimes it's hard to tell what a plant is by a photo.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2009 12:50 PM

I do believe you may be right! It is a dusky rose color; the color of the photo is quite accurate for a change (at least on MY computer screen). And it does have the variegated foliage that appears in the PF photos. Of course, it might also be the one mentioned in Onalee's description, "Rose Silk." They are very similar. Thank you! Now at least I'll know what to look for if I end up having to try to buy seeds (if I can't convince my plants to produce them) ;-) I do love the color and size of the blooms. I like the foliage, too.

Glad my ID suggestion may be a match in name with your plant! :-)

I really DO like the foliage on yours! A lot of white variegation on your foliage makes it especially attractive, IMHO! :-) I do hope you get seeds from your vine, too! ;-)

Well, with it being indoors, I have to get out my little paintbrush and play bee. I didn't have any luck with that last year with a really pretty kikyo blue picotee I had. I got a few seeds, but none of them germinated for me. sniff. Any tips on technique?

A gentle dusting inside the throat of the bloom with a soft small artist's brush. :-) It works for me! Others might challenge my method, but I get lots of seeds every year from all my vines that are not sterile and even crosses from the ones that are! So I must be doing SOMETHING right! LOL!

If you do a little dusting ... you will see white spots of pollen from the anthers on the tip of your brush. You need to use that pollen to fertilize the stigma. See this chart for an idea of what I am talking about: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/printouts/floweranatomy.shtml

One thing I was wondering, does the pollen need to be from a separate flower (from the same plant, I mean) or does it matter? I think, too, that maybe I need a softer brush.

It doesn't matter. Use whatever pollen you can find on the same vine or you can use a different vine and make a possible cross. One thing though ... there are different sub-species of MGs and usually those do not successfully cross with other species. So ... You can use other I. nils to cross I. nils. Other I. purpureas to cross I. purpureas. And so on ...

Good luck! :-)