I have two morning glory vines growing on my side yard fence. They are beautiful, yet I seem to have a lot of dead undergrowth. Is this normal? My leaves also seem somewhat mottled in color. I'm pretty new to gardening, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D
You need to check the undersides of the leaves, looks like spider mites, but could be aphids.
Yes..Calalily..
I do believe I can see spider mies from here in Brooklyn there... some 2809 miles away...
CNSwift.. get a magnifyinglens... I love my little 4X eye loupe... but any high mag lens is great... take a leaf and look at the undersides with this les ad you'll see the etwork of fine webs and piles of mites scurrig about on their little legs... laying eggs everyday.. with more hatching out every day also.. a real comunity.. society.. with new ones every day... that's why when you do spray.. you should do it every few days as they are allways being born and laying eggs.. Gordon
And spray the undersides of the leaves. I had a red moonvine that got mites so bad I finally gave up and cut it down, it was half naked anyway, lol.
Thanks for the advise. You guys are awesome! I was about to call my landscaper and have him cart it away. I like the idea of getting a magnifying glass and checking them out. Any advise on what I should spray with? Thanks again!
Well if you like natural products try Organicide, Neem oil or Pyrethrum. Or you can get out the big guns and spray with Avid.
Hello again, I babied my morning glories this weekend and removed all the dead growth, cleaned the leaves and reattached errant vines. I also used the neem oil to clear up the mites (that is what plagued the vine). The package said to retreat every 7 days, so I'll keep a close eye on it. It already looks a lot better thanks to everyone's advise. Thanks very much!
Hello,
Not sure if you're still watching this thread, but thought I'd give you a follow up some months later. My morning glories are flourishing! I still get the spider mites, but only when I'm not diligent with my neem oil. (I love neem!) Thank you for your help and advice. I adore my morning glories now and they're so cheery outside my office window.
Have a great day! :)
Those look fantastic!!
Congrats!
mg
Thanks! They seem to grow a foot a day. I'm forever chopping off those runners. I can see how this would become a monster if left unchecked for an extended period of time! lol
How beautiful! I am always "rescuing" my plants...and anyone elses plants, too! Your Morning Glory is beautiful. I have always admired them, but have never had one. Are the cultivated MGs as invasive as the wild ones? Do you plant them as annuals, or do they come back or self-seed?
Thanks
Tracy
Tracey, you are missing out on a whole new world by not growing Morning Glories. Some are perennials, but most are annuals. And, NO, the Cultivated MG's, are not as invasive as the wild MG's.
In fact, I have very few that self seed - probably because I am standing by the pods waiting for them to be ready to collect....LOL
Check out some of the Threads on Morning Glories 2005.
We are now on Thread #9 [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]
....and see what you are missing.
Emma
Well I'm a newby, so I should check out thread 9 as well. I planted these in the spring for the first time, so we'll see how they fair over winter. I suspect they'll be fine here in San Diego, as we have such temperate weather. I haven't seen seeds, but it's the runners you have to keep an eye on. Once a week I probably pull 10 runners that are 2-8 feet long each. But the flowers are amazing, and it's well worth the effort. This picture doesn't do them justice. Some days I'll have 15 flowers or more only to die away that night and be replaced by just as many new ones the next day. They also turn really pretty shades of blue to purple as they fade making them more interesting as the day goes on.
cnswift,
Your Morning Glory is called 'Blue Dawn' Ipomoea indica.
It is a perennial in your area [and in my 8aTX Zone].
Also, you will not get seeds from this species.
You can plant it in the ground if you have an area with lots of room to climb.
As you can tell, the runners need plenty of room - Or, just keep them cut off. They will also root very easily in water, or on the ground if the runners are in contact with soil.
Also makes a great ground cover.
Emma
that's great news, thanks for the encouragement! you're sure right about them rooting if they touch the ground! I bet they would be really pretty as a ground cover. :)
The Blue Dawn is pretty as a ground cover.
This year I decided to let one of my vines just go for it,
and it is covering a part of the side of my lawn and I just love it.
I'd love a photo of that if you have one. Do you have issues with spider mites there? It's so wild the way they change the whole structure of the leaves when they really infest. Yuck!
I don't have a photo of the runners that I have let go on the ground, but this photo is part of the area. Here it is climbing all over my Cleomes.
Oh my yes, I have spider mites REALLY bad this year. It is will ever stop raining, I'm going to spray again. I've been cutting off all of the yuck leaves and yellowed leaves from all of our heat.
Oh Emma............. now I have to have that one. I have been eyeing it on Onalee's site for a long time, but seeing like that is making me drool. That is spectacular :)
Janis
Those are just lovely. I like how like they look against the lawn. Thanks!
Your morning glories are all beautiful. I just wish my Blue Dawn would creep DOWN the other side of the arch. It makes a huge boquet on th top of it though.
Do yours turn purple at the end of a hot day? It looks like an entirely different plant.
I have collected seeds from this plant. The seed size is quite varied. Will they germinate?
frogsrus
My Blue Dawn does turn to a deep Mauve color at the end of the day. It is neat how they change colors throughout the day.
You'd think that as many runners this vine sends out that you could take them and drape to the other side of your arch, forcing them to grow on that side. OR, a better idea is that you should plant another vine on the other side. Let one of the runners root on the ground and dig it up and move to the other side. They are tough, and transplant easily. They also root very easily in water.
I have heard there are species of Blue Dawn that do produce seeds, however, I am not that knowledgeable about them. There is a special technique to force them to produce seeds, but that is way over my head. I assume your seeds will germinate. I'd be curious if they grow back 'True'. I would LOVE to have some of your seeds if you have enough to share. I have MANY MG's/JMG's that I can trade you if you are interested.
Emma
Lol let's see, technique, Hmmmmmm. None of that here. Now that I know that they are stingy with seeds, I will pay better attention and go seed hunting tomorrow while the marine layer keeps the garden cool. I will keep you posted. I am going too rock this plants life by turning the arch (take it apart an the bend and reconnect actually.) The nandina blue butterfly bush had gone form a 4" plant to young bush this year. A neighboor of my Dad's ties the bottom branches and trains them into trees so I am starting that project on mine.
Hello,
Many colonies of Ipomoea indica are clones(!) from a single plant,and because the colonies are very 'clonal',this produces what is known as self-infertility in these clonal colonies...Self-infertile clones are also the type of plants distributed from plant suppliers...
Researchers studying these plants most often encounter self-infertile clonal colonies on beaches and this has given rise to the mistaken belief that this species does not produce seeds and only propagates by division and runners...;
To produce seeds in a self-infertile plant requires the pollen from a different plant of Ipomoea indica that has compatible pollen...
The plants that produce seeds naturally are obviously self-fertile,and so therefore no 'special technique' is required...
Hope this helps to clear up any mis-perceptions regarding this species and seed production...;
Ron
This message was edited Aug 12, 2005 12:04 AM
Thanks Ron. . .
Emma
Frogs, that is so funny how it only goes up and not over. Mine is going crazy and is now completely on the other side of my neighbor's fence too. They love it however, and I asked their permission before I planted this one since I knew it had a tendency to creep. They do change to purple at the end of the day - very cool.
I would not dare let it creep over the fence. I have complained about their nasty trumpet vine. Cant stand the nasty invasive things. They could have at least planted one of the attractive cultivars. They were put in as "bushes"-guess you know how long that lasted!
I was contemplating it this am though and may move it to the fence anyway. I can cut the strings on the arbor and move it easily enough. Hmmmm.
I have a salmon "Blushing Susie" thunbergia on another fence that is currently more attractive on the neighbors side than mine. They share that and the passion vines and love them. No gardeners there. They have a truck for a garden ornament currently.
ok, now I'm laughing because I love trumpet vines and just planted two of them. I guess I just love vines in general. I have two wisterias and two trumpets, with the thought that when the wisteria goes dormant in the winter that the trumpet would still give it color. :)
I lived in a house where someone had planted a basic orange one that had been allowed to become like the barrier around Sleeping Beauty's castle. We had to replace the drainage that it had ruined but I never could get rid of the blasted plant. It came up all over the property. If you turned your back on the thing, it grew 4 feet. That is what they planted behind me and it is crawling under my fence, over the fence, and through the fence. There are many lovely better behaved trumpets. I have a variegated porcelain berry that everyone warned me would be invasive and so far has not covered the space allotted to it. No flowers but pretty berries. I have a carolina jessamine that is a beautiful beast which currently needs a sever haircut again. I guess if we love vines in our climate we must be willing to do the chopping they need lol.
oh my, I can see I'll have to keep a close eye on them!
Do not panic. Depends on what you have. My particular nemesis was about 40 years old and had been allowed too much leeway to spread. The roots were horrible.
