first time growing a moonflower vine

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bassetts Ormond Beach, FL(Zone 9a) Mar 07, 2005

I'm trying to have a moonflower climb up a palm tree trunk. I am going to use netting around the trunk for support. Do you have to train these to climb or do they just take off by themselves? How many seedlings should I plant around the tree to get good coverage?

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Plumeriagod Houston, TX(Zone 9a) Mar 07, 2005

Hi. The moonflower vine may have to be trained at first, but will start to climb on it's own. How tall and thick is the palm tree? If it's a large fan palm, it may get too much shading and the vine will grow towards the light. If the trunk of the palm is fairly exposed to daylight, it will grow straight up the netting on the trunk.

Randy

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bassetts Ormond Beach, FL(Zone 9a) Mar 07, 2005

The trunk is fairly tall (15 feet ) and gets lots of sun. I was reading a lot of other threads and I think I'm a little confused. Is the moonflower a morning glory? If so, is it also invasive? I know it reseeds itself and i'm not worried about that but my mother had a problem with a trumpet vine that shot feeder roots out everywhere. Will the moonflower do this? Are all morning glories invasive?

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Plumeriagod Houston, TX(Zone 9a) Mar 07, 2005

I'm in zone 9a and mine wasn't at all as invasive as my morning glory. Of course, I trained my morning glory and kept it pruned and I let the morning glory just go. I was lazy and never collected the seeds from the morning glory and it didn't come back. I don't remember it shooting feeder roots anywhere. My experience is that the moonflower is not as invasive as the morning glory vine. They are definately from the same family!

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Clare_CA Ventura, United States(Zone 10b) Mar 07, 2005

The Ipomoea alba is a very good grower and will eventually climb by itself. My vine is two years old now and is twice the size of the picture below. I've never pruned it, but I think I'm going to before it gets any larger. It is taking over the neighbor's backyard, and thankfully, they don't mind and enjoy the flowers.

Ipomoea indica, perennial Morning Glory, is a very, very agressive grower and sends out ropes of vines which root whereever the ground is moist. Once you have that vine, you cannot get rid of it, especially if you live where it does not freeze. Thankfully, Moonflower vine is not nearly as agressive as its relative.

Thumbnail by Clare_CA
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bassetts Ormond Beach, FL(Zone 9a) Mar 08, 2005

thank you guys for putting my mind at ease.

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