Ever heard of this vine?

Now please don't think I'm being nasty, but there's a vine in this area (Florida Panhandle) called "Monkey Balls" that seems to like some shade and has fairly large heart shaped leaves that are not smooth -- more wrinkled looking and deep green. Has anyone ever heard of this? It gets large seed pods (hence, the name, I guess). A friend just gave me a couple and she said that she had put a couple in a closet last winter and they rooted in there and she did nothing but set them on a plate!!!??? I've put mine in a moist paper towel, but now what? I've seen the vine climbing the railings of many front porches.

I wonder if that is the Potatoe Vine.

Might be of the Aristolochia Specie, or tropical Passiflora.

Bill

It's an Air Potato vine. Quite invasive here.

Robin

Yes, it is the air potato vine. Someone sent a link in DG about it. You're right -- very invasive. Too bad since it is attractive, but then again so is kudzu! LOL. I'm immediately destroying these seeds. Thanks for the help.

I think I'll leave this "unsolved" for a day in the event anyone is thinking about planting one! Check under Vines & Climbers for the link to this horrible pest.

This message was edited Nov 21, 2005 7:46 AM

B~

Wait!!! You can plant the tubers in a pot and keep away from open ground to enjoy this curiosity safely. The lil taters stay on the vine and can get fairly large if it isn't knocked about.

raydio.

Thanks for the tip. I've got so-o-o many indoor plants than I can handle now. Do you want the "tater seeds"?

I had one tuber sitting on my table, deciding if I wanted to plant it or not. The thing sprouted & grew with no dirt or anything. Outside each tuber that falls is another vine. I know of a lady that has a vine that has grown up to the top of telephone polls & trees. She lives on a corner & the vine jumped across a road & has taken over the other side of the street.

Robin

That's funny, Robin! I got rid of the things. I actually sent them down my garbage disposal chopped up! Hopefully, that will take care of the things. Thought that best rather than the trash can where it could end up in a landfill near Pensacola and take over your house. LOL.

Yeah, I can relate to that!

I have a telephone pole inside the fence line of my backyard...an eyesore to me...but figured this nice little vine could provide good foliage cover on a trellis panel I have in front of the pole.

Well, it did great at covering the trellis but then it decided to latch onto the pole which is about 3 feet behind that...and then it climbed up the pole. Not bad, I thought...good coverage for the pole too.

Next time I looked that thing had grown all the way up the pole and was working it's way across the line to the neighbor across the street! YIKES!!! I had to get out the big ladder and cut it down.

I thought I had pulled out all the roots...but even those went well over six feet in length. I still find pieces of it sprouting up around that corner of the yard...GRRRRRRRRR!!!

~ Cat (south tip of Texas)

That's funny, Cat....kinda' paints a visual image! I had even thought about that ugly telephone pole across the street from me on the vacant lot and then thought better of it..........good thing! Can they be used to fight hurricanes? LOL

B~

Thanks for the offer, but I already have some. I started with one tuber last year and now have a good supply.

I know you've said bye-bye to yours but:
I always allow my plant to go dormant (expose to increasing dry and cold as our season ends) so all I had to store were the tubers out of the soil. Letting them go and off the fertilizer helps the tuber mature (develope a tough skin) so that they don't dry out in storage. Guess if you wanted to save some, you'd have to put them in the fridge or something.......

They *will stay* green indoors if warm, sunny and watered. I let one do that but vines in small windows just gets annoying, so now I store them. Each season you get a bigger tuber. They are edible too, though I haven't tried them. Not sure, but I'm thinking they would have traveled further north if the tubers were hardy. I haven't seen any volunteers so far.

raydio.