Group Seed Swap Discussion2

Ouch Becky, hope you keep healing!

I have all kinds oof stages of mgs in water bottles in the windows and some are already blooming, nannie, go for it.
Becky, you poor thing! I am so glad it isn't worse and requires a real cast. Thank Goodness!
Elsa, no need to worry bout sending me any seeds, just get some growing this year! ;D

Becky, Hopefully this will speed up the healing process for you.
and you will be out of that boot in no time.

Nanniepb, I have mine in Soda bottles.
One I have it as a self-watering unit. The other one is just hanging. Then my one little seedling Moonvine is in a 2-litr cutoff jug.
Debra showed me how to recycle them.
Charleen

now, i wintersow perennial seeds outside in milk jugs and 2 ltrs, and then tomatoes and peppers when it warms up, but i never tried to do much inside. i have 15-20 plants i bring inside so they take up my spare room. my only windowsill, in the kitchen isn't very wide, then my sewing room has the best windows but i dont want to be watering around my machine or fabrics. but,

well, once again, DG'ers have opened my eyes. if there's a will..

I built my kitchen ledge bigger. I was desperate for plant space.
Just added a board above the sink and put side legs on it. I used my
scroll saw to cut it. No problem and I got a few more plants up there.
As You can see I als hung a few. thinking of taking cutain down and making it easier.
Where theres a will, there's a way.

now what do i do?

ok i winter sowed some datura seeds as someone told me they needed cold to geminate. they are in the little peat pellets do i leave them in them till roots start showing then plant them? never winter sowed anything so this is a first for me. have a few mgs winter sowed in the bedroom. it stays cold in there so we will see

inoxia needs stratification, i would go ahead and put those seeds in the outside, bundle some leaves up around them , cover them up if they are in pots, and as it warms up, remove a few leaves every few days. ( That is what I do, but my inoxia comes back from seeds dropped every year anyway. I did the double purples outside in a pot, put them in the tub in end of february, and they were up big bold and gorgeous by end of May. I started some yellows and some lefleurs, no sprouts yet, I did not stratify them, sometimes the source stratifies and sometimes they don't before they send them to you. All my seeds right now are in the trunks of three cars and in boxes in an unheated garage. I get a few out every other day to plant in a starter container. Usually a water bottle or milk jug like above. MGS don't like their feet to get bothered, so I leave them in the plastic water bottles or two liters spout side down into the ground. you could do the same flat side down, just slit the edges before you stick it in the ground. This is a ragu jar.

Thanks everyone for the speedy recovery wishes! :-)

Charleen and Debra - Love your use of recycled containers and unusual containers! You girls are on the ball! Your outdoor garden beds will be blooming the minute Spring is here because you have started so many already! My hat is off to both of you! :-) Thanks for sharing those wonderful photos! Your plants sure look like they are smiling!

I want to get out into my yard today to start doing a little cleaning up. My house is a mess inside because it is harder for me to motivate around with the foot issue, but I would still prefer to be outdoors! ;-) It's a little cooler, but not bad at all. I like the cooler weather, just not the freezing temps. I am restraining from cutting back any of the plants because I am afraid if we have another freeze spell, that would most certainly do them in completely if I trim things back now. I think the last frost date here is the end of this month. Though I might wait a week or two in March before doing clean-up. Spring break from work is the end of March. So hopefully my foot will be healed and I can get out there and start getting the beds prepared. I'm going to start a bunch of seeds this weekend of all kinds of plants. And I need to transplant some veggies into containers outdoors. :-) There is so much I want to do! :-) I feel handicapped with this foot. My sloped yard is the issue. :-/

I have Poppy sprouts around the 3-tiered bed and I am going to dig them up today and transplant them into some of the containers out there. The rodents chewed them down last year, so I am hoping that having them in pots will curb that issue. :-)

Debra - You amaze me how you use just about any container for seed starts! I transplanted all the Fall MGs last year and they didn't skip a beat. No wilting or anything. I was happily surprised. I grew them in styrofoam cups. :-) I am going to do that again this year to start my new ones. Can't wait to see everyone's blooms this year! :-)

i love the bottles, you can watch their roots grow. Did you see the self-watering one up there> I think Debra gave me tat idea too. she's a regular whizz-kid. Love to watch them . Spring will be here, one of these days.

my Hanahubuki germinated in 3 days! I am giving one to a friend at a party tonight. Also, I got a Dianagon a while back and it also germinated in less than a week. The small seeds seems to take longer.

But they will make up for it once they get growing.
Won't they???

I have been waiting for ever on some to show.. but they always end up showing.

I know, a watch pot never boils

I am housebound today. it's in the low 20's, most of the snow was rained away friday but yesterday afternoon we had llight snow dusting followed by ice, so even my front porch is icy. brrr brrrrrr brrrrr is all i can say. it was in the high 30's when we went to quilt class yesterday...a nice change from all this snow.

soooo this morning i decided to get our MG swap seeds out, again, and between Park seeds and DG, I have saved pics, and figured out lots about our seeds.

we got such a variety of vines...i am just busting at the seams.
i know, i know, shut up and plant somthing, but i have to wait till i can get to my dirt/pots.

i want to ask about growing canna lily from seeds:
do i start from seed and then use the bulbs and/or save seeds from the new plants? ive saved many canna seeds over the years and never had any success, BUT i never tried to grow them inside. thats my plan for now.

then what i figured out is moonflower and moon vine are both 'ipomoea alba' so i am tickled that we got lavender. another first for me.

and can someone tell me is there a quick answer on the difference between I.nils and I.purps?

I. purps and I. nils are two different species of MGs that are in the Convolvulaceae family. They are both usually climbers, but the biggest difference I have found personally are these:

I. nil blooms tend to be bigger. I purps are usually around 3" whereas I have had I. nils as big as 5 1/2".

I purps usually have large heart-shaped leaves. Not always though, but most culitvars do.

I. nils also have large leaves but the shape can vary greatly. And there are many cultivars that have variegated leaves. (I do think there is now an I. purp with variegated leaves, too.)

I. purps are usually tall/long vines. They can become quite invasive here in my zone, so I grow them in pots.

I. purps usually produce LOTS of seeds! Those seeds will often come back as volunteers. So if you don't want volunteers, you'll have to pull them up. The seeds also withstand freezing temps much better than I. nil seeds.

I have found more cultivars of I. nils to be sterile than any of the I. purps I grow. So I may get seeds from I. nils, but not in the abundance I get from I. purps.

Both are easy to cross-pollinate. But not with each other. (Though it is remotely possible, but highly unlikely. Many have tried and failed.)

I love I. nils because of the blooms and the fact that they are not invasive in my yard. I. purps are beautiful in their own right, but their invasive quality makes me a stay a little bit more on my toes. :-)

I hope that helps, Phyllis. I am sure there are others here that can give you a more botanical comparison. I just know I love growing both of them, but each has it's own personality!

well said, becky. I love i. purps because they also transplant easier, and they can really decorate a fence, tree or shrub that is naked or leafless. I. Nils are lovely, I like to do more "ART" with mine. I already have the lav moon vines and the albas up and going, to be ready for spring. I have I. Purps blooming already inside, they bloom faster for me.
Nanni, I know you are having those I wanna Plant now feelings. when I get those, I pick a few seeds I have ALOT of and find a way to get them going. I feel better after that .. LOL

I need to start a sd or two from each of my No ID pkts so
I can get them properly identified. Would be nice to be able to give them a name. I will be too busy come
summer to start any of these with all the great new ones I want to start.
lol.

that helps a bunch. i thought i.nils were the cream of the crop, had fancier blooms, and the i.purps was pretty but more common. more every day. lol. after looking at pics of the leaves and vines, I'm scoping out lots of areas to cover.

Debra, oh yes. i'm getting there though. if i'd get off this puter ;)

uh, if i have a half of a bag of potting mix from last year, the bag has been folded down so should be fairly dry....can I still use it? does it go bad?

next time i take moe out, i'm gonna drag it in the house and see if i cant get my fingers dirty

Sure! Use that soil! Stay warm, I just came in to get stuff out of the trunk for planting play and its' sleeting, raining ice stuff. Shoulda brought that stuff in a week ago.. *sigh* Merrimia tuberosa is up and vining finally, I got tired of waiting after 6 weeks, so took the two seeds out, filed them after determining they were okay, let them soak in boiled water ( hot!) for a day or so. kept changing the water to keep them warm. I was still kinda curious, so I took a peek at the grow cup, it had a reddish looking vine snaking all over the inside. So, I took off the lid and led it thru the hole in it and put it back on, to vine out of..

Y'all be careful going in and out of that sleet and snow. Especially dragging heavy bags inside. I don't want to see anyone else wearing a "boot"! LOL!

I didn't get anything done today relating to gardening. Maybe I'll manage tonight during the Super Bowl game. :-)

I need to file some of the larger species seeds I have. I bet they would sprout if I did that. So many seeds, so little time!

I am going to start a new thread for this year's seed swap grow-out in a week or so. I want to see what everyone grows this year! :-)

Becky, do you think the I nil seeds are larger than the I pur?

Absolutely. They are most definitely larger. The I. purpureas to me are very small seeds. And that is how you can sometimes tell between the two. I do know that there can be instances where an I. purp is a bit larger and an I. nil is smaller, but the rule of thumb is that nils are larger than purpureas. :-)

would it hurt to 'knick' the MG seeds like you do moonflower seeds?

when i first read about moodflowers on Southern Living, 20 plus years ago, they said to speed the process up, knick the hull and then place it between soggy wet folded napkins or papertowels someplace warm until you see a seedling. i usually use nail clippers and clip a tiny chunk on a corner.


btw, i read yesterday that moonflowers are the same thing as moonvine......... i.alba
my mom and i grew them all those years and didn't know we were playing with MGs =)

Becky, are you getting used to walking with the boot more easily now? how long do you wear it or when do you go back to the Dr?

I love the baggy method for germination. Wet a small piece of paper towel or coffee filter and wet it, squeezing out excess water. Put in snack-size bag. Blow some air in it and seal. Put under puck light or on top of dryer and the seeds will germinate fast!

There is a link with specific instructions for this. Will have to look for it.

"puck light" what is it?? But may try the method. then after they sprout ,you put the wee little rootlet in soil?
Is that how you do it?
That is about what I did with my moonvne.
RRM
Charleen

those little round lights that are installed under the counter. Mine is older so it puts out alot of heat. I actually have to rewet my coffee filter every 2 days or so.

I forgot to blow in it and I got it in a warm spot.
Thanks, It gets dry inside that bag, with the light. I would think it sweats.
I just tried it with paper towel, wine cups someone gave me.

"nicking" does help them germinate a little faster. I have never tried the baggie method. I have some species seeds that I may try that on to get them to germinate. My guess ... the bigger and harder the seed, the better to nick it!

I also never thought to "blow" into the baggie. LOL! I'll remember that!

I seal part of the bag and put a straw down into it and blow some air and seal the rest up.

ok. i'll bite, what's the blowing in it do? and the straw?

My guess would be to keep the plastic from wrapping around the seeds and possibly causing them to mildew or rot. :-) But I don't know for sure. I'd never heard that before. LOL!

here is what I do:
most of the not so big seeds, I just plop them into the growing container. The really big ones, after many tries, I decided to soak after filing , in hot water, and then plop them into the soil. ( a little deeper than the others)
the labels show what these are..there are two tags and two kinds of mgs in this container ( in the straw opening in the middle of a mcdonalds iced latte cup)
this is the merrimia tuberosa side, and then on the other side is another special species. I will cut the lid off when the other sides cots pop thru with a leaf..both sides show root system and cots growing under the medium. I like this way the best so far, but still do the same thing with water bottles..

The other side, if you look real close, you can see the babys starting to come up, but still under the medium. here is the top of it... with the other vine already thru

here is the bottom of the above shot

yes. also it keeps some of the heat and moisture in the bag - humidity.

I forget about things in baggies, and they end up molding or mushy before I remember them, that is why i use a closed in plastic container....:P I am just horrible about that... I guess I need to fix that problem with me...
These were started in a plastic water bottle last winter, and then put into the growing area last spring.and then taken out of the ground in the same container, roots and all, and brought back inside in the fall. I just love these morning glorys. ..

If you put air inside the baggie it gives it a little breathing space to help with the rot and it also acts like a mini greenhouse. Using the straw just makes it easier to get the air inside.

so.. are you saying as soon as there is a root show to plant it then? How deep do you put them? I just poke seeds in and go for it.

LOL! Me, too! Poke and wait ...