inside morning glory

Beth, this thread all but died in November, but maybe it is time to revive it. You mentioned grow light, flourescent lights. I hope you don't get the aquarium type, they are so weak,weak,aweak. I used them to grow tomatoes, broccollii brussell sprouts etcetera inside at the end of winter, and I have never been happy. The full spectrum sounds like the answere to me, because the intensity allowes me to keep the light, a safe distance from the plant.

Several year ago, a friend of ine tried to start a salt water aquarium store, and in the process he brought into the store thhe newest flourescent light in the trade for reef tanks. It was intended to make algae grow on the glass for the fish and other living thins in the tank. When I walked in to the tank room, I was blown away. Like many fish stores this tank room was really a long hallway lined with tanks against both walls , the length of the room. But there was was one display tank down there in the middle that lit up the middle of the room, like high noon on the 4th of July. And it was just a flourescent light?????? No, It wasn't. It was like 3 feet long and was $200 for a two tube set up. But geez louise was it magnificent in its brilliance. It was so bright, that you might be able to put it on yur ceiling and grow plants in 1 gal pots on the floor. Yes this is a slight exaggeration, but I didn't have one of these to experiment with, yet.. I am wondering, so do we have any expertice out there in the thread that is actually up to date on flouresecent lighting?? Is there a book that is up to date????? Frank

I have not used any "aquarium flourescent lighting" for my plants. I use a 400 watt HPS for the red/orange spectrum and a 1000 watt MH for the blue spectrum. This covers all the spectrum of light. These lights are so bright that they fill a room with sunshine...people have even commented on how bright the house looks when driving by. I hope they don't think I'm growing something illegal!
Beth

This message was edited Jan 17, 2007 11:27 AM

Frank, the lights your friend had were in fact MH, metal hallide. It's the lighting that made aquarium reef-keeping...... umm.......moderately successful, for lack of a better term. It started to get big well over a decade ago but the costs have kept it's use, and reef keeping, to a minimum.

LOL Beth, neighbors can be very inventive! Keep an eye out for a freindly neighborhood stakeout :-)

They aren't cheap, I think I had to pay around $200 for the HPS and $250 for the MH.

I use the natural light, augmented by Home Depot spot lamps that have plant type bulbs, 75 to 100 W. The plants do fine.

Speaking of high tech lighting, has anybody out there seen the movie, SAVING GRACE?
If you havent seen it and you use plant lights, you are over due for this wonderful movie.
Frank

Nice!Blooms.

Hi folks, I'm new to DG, and interested in trying a morning glory or two for the first time this year to set outside. I have a grow light system set up, and I'm itching to get started....

Just wondered, baolvera, how your inside MG is doing now?

The MG's have done great all winter long. They have bloomed and produced seed. I will be doing this every winter. The one problem you have is that you bring in spider mites when they come inside. I have been battling them, but just found a source of a predatory mite for biological control. I hope it will help the leaves look more attractive, the spider mites do damage to the leaves but don't touch the blooms.

How's the snail vine doing?

Ok, question from a newbie. What do you do with your MGs in the spring? Do you plant them out? I've never done much with MGs other than plant them outside and let them go crazy. My neighbor across the street planted a blue MG and let it grow up his power pole. Beautiful...people would stop as they drove by...I had never seen one get so tall. That and this forum have piqued my interest. I've got some MG seeds rarin' to go, but I don't want to "waste" them this early in the year if I can't plant them outside. Make sense??

Thanks,
Michelle

Sequee, the snail vines from cuttings are doing fine, but I think they are waiting for warmer weather to "take off".

MsKatt, Certain types of MG's are going to rush to bloom and then seed and die off. This process takes about 3 months, so if you started now you would not bother planting them out in spring, they would be done. Other types of MG's ( japanese types) need a head start before planting outside or they won't have enough time to seed. They take 5-8 months to get to the seed stage in my experience. They would be perfect for starting now. Still other types are perennials and won't flower until the second year, but I won't go into that now. Just let me know what types of seed you have so I can answer your question!
Beth

Wow, Beth! That is excellent information; thank you for shring. I thought maybe JMG didn't give seeds since I've never gotten more that a pod or 2. How exciting that I can start them now!!!

I have one JMG that I started last summer, late august. It is just now developing seed pods. They do make wonderful potted plants so you can move them around.

I grow mine in pots outside. Last year I started several dozen MG'd inside in early Spring and moved them outdoors for the summer. They were very happy campers and went right to blooming. Now I think I shall get a few started early - like a few each month, just to see what I can do!

My Snail Vine is doing good, but he's really like to be outside. I think he liked bring on the other side of the sunroom better last year. I have a feeling this side is too wrm from the heater, so the leaves dry out a bit more. I keep giving the old pep-talk. (Ya know, "Spring's right around the corner and you will be able to go outside to play in no time!")

Baolvera,
I just wanted to let you know that this was one of the first threads that I stumbled on to when I joined DG, and I was so inspired by the pictures of your beautiful morning glory that I have ordered seeds to start some for my garden this year (this will be my first year to try seeds, period, so I'm pretty excited about it).

Thanks for the inspiration!

Joanne

Always glad to hear about a new MG lover beginning his/her journey with this interesting and diverse plant!