Snail vine germinated! Now what??!?

I grow both and the phaseolus is a year round bloomer for us here whereas the Vigna only blooms a couple of months.

Yeppers, my snail vine is STILL blooming. I don't think it knows it is winter. In fact, it has more blooms on it now than during the summer.

I am in zone 9a and we got a freeze in the first part of December...........then one night in January and tonight and tomorrow night will be below freezing so my foliage has been gone for quite a while now.

Critterologist- your the one that's closest to my Zone, what month did you start yours? I have the seeds here and was wondering, should I start them now. My Zone is 4b Can.
Is it a slow growing vine here?

I'd start them now. I think I started mine in mid-Feb their first year, and I barely had blooms by the end of summer. I'm going to try to get my plants to break dormancy sooner this spring and bring them upstairs to a bright window, and hopefully I'll get to enjoy the blooms a little longer before frost. Inside, I've found spider mites can be a real problem with this plant.

Thank for the reply, critter, I'm so glad I asked. I won't waste much more time, and plant them.

I just presoaked and planted 30 seeds to get them off to a good start for spring. When they get their second set of true leaves, I'll bump them up to 1 gal pots They should be ready for permanent containers or ground by April. I'm also going to plant some on a sunny side of the yard to see if they do better. My established ones are in heavy shade from a neighbor's tree and had limited blooming and no seeds last year. I'm going to compare the 2 and see how much difference more sun makes.

Budgie, That's interesting -- I am curious why they need to go to such a huge gallon pot. Is that one little bitty seedling per pot? Are they tap rooted or really big seedlings? I am missing something, but I have never grow these before.

Suzy

It's just my own experience that they don't like to be moved as seedlings any more than necessary. Vignas put all their energy into root development before top growth so I like to give them plenty of room to grow. I have done them in 4 in pots before moving up to 1 gal but why move twice if you can move them once.

This message was edited Jan 26, 2008 6:09 AM

OIC -- Never thought of that. Thanks.

Sue I received the paperwork for the seeds ...thanks for that, I look foward to sending off the seeds as soon as the pods are ready ...
usually late Autumn (Fall) my time.
chrissy

Cool! This will be very fun for me!

Thanks!

Suzy

such awesome pictures!

Bump.

So, how is everyone's vines doing? I purchased seed but didn't get them planted - too much going on earlier this year. The seeds are sealed in foil (from Park's seed) and in the fridge so they should still be good next spring.
Mike
tl³

My seedling was given to me by Phughes , a local DGer. It didn't do much last summer, but it survived the winter months with a blanket on the big pot. Here it is now and I can't wait for the blooms to come.

I planted 10 seeds, and manage to save 2. Scorched most of them, when I was harding them off. I had put them in a small greenhouse, and forgot to open it one morning.
The one in the ground is not doing so well, but the one in the pot is now picking up speed. Must be because the soil gets warmer in the pot. I will bring that one in the house to overwinter in the fall. I doubt, it will flower for me this summer.

Down here, the corkscrew vine is much more sensitive to our full sun, even when mature. The snail vine, on the other hand, seems to thrive on it.

I think I have the corkscrew vine.... a friend on another site sent it to me. Anyway, it's in full sun and seems to like it. Also, I was out at the beach and found some of what looked like the same flowers on the dunes! I don't know if they are the same, but they had nearly identical flowers... was pretty neat. I didn't have my camera, so couldn't take a pic.

There is a "beach pea," Vigna marina (had to look it up to see that it was, indeed, in the same genus as corkscrew vine, V. caracalla). http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62080/ Is that what you saw?

The "beach pea" that I've seen in NC is a different genus altogether -- but it's pretty! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/82459/

Mourning everyone was just looking at your beautiful pictures of snail vines!
Years ago I planted snail vines in hanging baskets at my Moms house. They took off so fast I really had to keep up with them or they would have covered her pourch! I took alot of the cuttings and put them in the ground also. In hard to grow areas, They did great there also.
I did notice a big difference in the colors of the flowers and vines. Sun and shade seemed to make the difference in the colors. They ranged from deep purples and green in the shade to a light lavender and bright green in the sun. They were so easy and alot of fun too.
Maybe I will try some hanging baskets here in Julian. :) Wish me luck...

I do have a Sweet pea bush doing well here, I think it is just so pretty and doesnt seem to need much care.

Vigna marina is yellow. Corkscrew is cream/purple.

critterologist - Nope... the one I saw was purple/white, just like the one I have at home. It's on a protected area of the beach and is not open to the public. I'll have to get back out there one day and take a pic. Obviously taking cuttings is a no-no that I wouldn't commit,,, in this instance at least :-)

Here's my corkscrew vine... I've never seen seed pods or anything resembling seeds on this plant.

Another view

LA,
I can't see a side view but yours looks like snail vine and not corkscrew vine.

This is a good picture of the corkscrew bloom

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4320416

Lathyrus maritimus is purple... that's the "other" beach pea.

Snail vine and corkscrew vine are common names that are used pretty much interchangeably for 2 different plants, Vigna caracalla (the "corkscrew vine" we've mostly been talking about here) and Phaseolus caracalla (the one that I think LAKelley has). V. caracalla is the scented one. :-)

Jan, have you rooted cuttings of either the Snail or Corkscrew vine?

I'll d-mail you.

Ok, so witch one do I have??? (in plain english please... I don't do well with the long difficult names). I do know that mine does not produce "bunches" of flowers like the one in the link that budgielover just posted.

You have snailvine. Phaseolus Caracalla.

That's the thing, Kelley... some people call P. caracalla "snail vine" and other people call it "corkscrew vine." And some people call the other one, V. caracalla, "snail vine" and other people call it "corkscrew vine." Sometimes the botanical names really are the only way to be sure which plant you're talking about. This plant is one of the ones that convinced me I needed to learn some of the "long names," myself. Check out this DG article, "What's in a name?" http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/707/

Thanks budgie!

I know I should, critterologist, and I have nothing against it.... I just don't have the time at this point in my life. Maybe when I'm older... or retired.... or have no kids... or a less demanding job LOL. 'Course then I'll be taking care of my parents or something... that's already started with the father-in-law. That's one reason why I love DG so much... I can get an answer quick and on-the-fly... even though I probably could have found it myself by googling, etc. It's quicker just to ask those who know! :-) I do love research though and try to do my own, but it's not a necessity and sometimes has to be let go. :-(

P.S. - Great article, Critter!

I do understand about time constraints! I'm glad you liked the article... I wrote it because there seem to be a lot of folks who resist using botanical names on some sort of principal, like the way my algebra students used to spook at the mention of the word "fractions"... and fractions can be really useful, and aren't actually that big a deal once you start getting used to them even a little. :-)

LAKelly2 that picture is exactly what I planted at my Moms house.
We called it a snail vine. I really enjoyed them. They were so easy and pretty !

I learn the botanical names of the plants I really like and don't care if I ever learn the others.

Each of us is different and motivated by different things in life.

WOW - Sorry I missed all this! Hope everyone's seeds produce some good plants! Beautiful Chrissy100!! ~ Suzi :)

hi, my clump that we dug up, last fall (in Dec), dried out and wasn't able to be planted; so I started another one this year from seed again. So far, it doesn't seem to like the conditions this season (probably too dry) and it is still quite small and not even climbing yet.