Morning Glories Periennial in Florida

Here is a collection of photos of some of the MG's I grew from Seed given to me by Ron.


This message was edited Apr 5, 2007 6:39 PM

I. Species Colombia root tuber top view

I. Species Colombia root tuber bottom view

I. Species Colombia Leaf

Merremia Hederacea Africa (had a hard time focusing with a good breeze blowing)

Merremia Hederacea Africa roots

Merremia Hederacea Africa - More roots & stem

Merremia Hederacea Africa - Extent of roots

Merremia Hederacea Africa - Leaf closeup

Ipomoea Cordato Mex

This message was edited Apr 5, 2007 6:13 PM

Ipomoea Cordato Mex closer view

Ipomoea Cordato Mex Roots

Ipomoea Cordato Mex more roots

Ipomoea Cordato Mex base of stems

Ipomoea Cordato Mex More Stems

Ipomoea Albovenia

Ipomoea Albovenia base

Ipomoea Albovenia Roots

Ipomoea Albovenia - more roots

Ipomoea Bonariensis

Ipomoea Bonariensis Base

Ipomoea Bonariensis base closeup

Ipomoea Bonariensis roots

Ipomoea Bonariensis More Roots

That's It. Whewwww..

Wow .. looks like you have been busy! Way to go!

When you repot plants, do you soak the roots? I'm wondering if my Rose DaySpa treatment might be good for morning glory. After seeing your terrific picture of roots I think they might respond well to it. It does wonders for roses, It might wake up and encourage faster growth on mg's and get some of the ones I've been growing for Ron the last year to get out of their coma's, like Wallichi.

What I do for tired roses is cut them way back, dig them up and spray off all the dirt from the root ball. (Rose roots are decidedly more robust than morning glory so you probably wouldn't want to spray off the soil, maybe wash it off in a bucket of warm water.) Once the roots are free of dirt, I trim off the old dead and half dead looking ones and neaten up the root ball and spray the canes with orthenex. I then soak the roots in a bucket of warm half strength fertilizer for about 15 minutes while I make a slurry of ProMixBX (about the consistency of watery oatmeal) and dig out a new hole. When ready, I pour the slurry into the new hole or a container and dunk the roots up and down until I'm satisfied that all the nooks and crannys of the rootball have been filled by the slurry and let the water drain out adding more, less watery slurry as it drains.

It's astonishing how well and quickly roses respond to this treatment. I think I might try it on Ron's Wallichi. Do you think mg roots are hardy enough for this kind of treatment?

X

I tend to leave it up to mother nature and cause as little upset to the roots as I can. I normally would not have taken all the dirt off these roots except that I wanted to get photos.
I normally start them in the container I mean them to stay in and let them grow into it like they would in the ground. I've even had the roots come out the bottom of pots and go into the ground. I try to prevent this now by turning the pots a couple times a week.

Ron probably knows more about these than I do. I just tend to stick with what works for me.

Applausexxxxxxxxxxoooooooo Outstanding. Now just more detail.
OK maybe several. What size container, fertilizer and how long did it take to get these tuber to this size. Outstanding thread. Frank

Checking back on my records, these all sprouted around 6-11-06. They were grown in 3 gal pots in a basic topsoil. They were watered regularly in accordance with the weather.
I have to admit I am not a big one for fertilizers but what little they did get was a miracle grow foliar feeding as this is the easiest method for me to fertilize a large number of plants at one time. They received no special protection during the winter but we had an unusually warm winter with no hard freeze or frost so they all stayed outdoors the whole year. Since I wanted to take pictures of the root systems anyway I took advantage and changed their soil from plain topsoil to a potting mix of topsoil, composted horse manure, shavings & time release fertilizer. I added perlite to lighten the mix a bit for better drainage. I am able to get it by the half yard (fills my S10 pickup) so it is economical when using alot of 3 gal pots.

Just great photos, they are great sources of information.

The I. bonariensis that I started Jan 29 of this year has formed something like a (what I thought was small onion) but after seeing your long tap root, WOW, I better get a taller container. Did your's go dormant? This one has such tiny round leaves and very slow going here.. it is putting it's strength into the root..

I love your photos.. keep them coming.. Thank you for sharing them.

Yep, pretty much. Kept that one leaf but no growth all winter. I find on most periennials that top growth is much slower than with annuals since they have more complex root systems to develop to last them for years. 4 O'clocks surprised me this way also. They put out some op growth the first year and perhaps any odd flower but then "died" . Down the road I went to empty the pots and found large tubers had forms and were very much alive. They went on to put out new growth and bloonms the following season.

Hey Jan - great photo series...very glad to see that these are alive and well...

I'm tending to agree with you on letting nature take it's course...most of these perennials are just too rare to try and push faster than they usually develop...
I'm tending to think that once seeds and/or cuttings have multiplied enough plants >then some more experimental treatments can be applied without risking losing the very(!) few and only plants that we have going...

Let us know if you uncover anymore plants that may have made it over your winter season...

TTY,...

Ron

Wow! As a newbie (just this past month) to MGs, I continue to lurk here on this forum. This thread absolutely fascinated me enough to post some questions.

I, too, live in zone 9b/10a in Florida. I have been planting some very common MG as well as possibly much rarer seeds in my garden beds against a long fence. From my observation, the germination rate seems to be 90-100% for the different cultivars I've started from seeds in the ground. Without actually counting, I have about 30-40 seedlings going currently which I probably have to thin out.

When planting these seeds, I was thinking these vines were annuals. But after reading this thread, now I am thinking they may be perennials in my yard. I also grow 4 O'Clocks and was surprised like you, Jan, to find nice size tubers in the pots and in the ground. (I don't know if that is a good thing or not, since they put out so many seeds as well. lol)

After reading this thread, I am excited but also a little concerned. I was told that the MG vines in my zone will die back midyear due to the heat. It was suggested I start a Fall harvest from seed so that I would have them year round. (Unless of course we get a hard freeze.)

Now, after reading about your experience Jan, I am wondering if I really need to plant more seeds in the Fall? If they form tubers in the ground in my yard, then perhaps it would NOT be a good idea to plant more seeds since any Fall growing MGs might cause tuber/root over-crowding in the areas I am designating for my MGs to grow.

I would appreciate some advice. Thank you!

Hi Becky,
First of all, I would recommend you keep your 4 o'clocks in pots. They can become fairly invasive here.

Yes, the MG's do tend to suffer when the summer heats up. Some are more heat toleratant than others. Some of the old fashioned MG's like Grandpa Otts seem to hold up better than the Japanese types. You can help them out by providing some shade for the hotter months. I can tell you that I start my seeds in the late winter like February/March to get them off to a good start. Pregerminating them by the nip and soak method pretty much alleviates any problems of it not being warm enough to germinate them natually in the soil.
By late summer (August) most blooms will be fading and seed pods will be ripening. It's about this time that I will start a new round of seeds but plant directly in the soil to naturally germinate. When they begin to sprout, I will move the pots to a partially shaded area for a few weeks and then move them to a more sunny area. By this time, we are into September and temps will have come down a bit. That leaves several months of bloom time.
Of course, you can also have some winter bloomers like Ochracea that do their best here in the winter months. This one is periennial here and will bloom it's heart out from late November thru February or so. I collected quite a few seeds from this one in February & March. Part of the fun in growing them is experimenting to see what will grow when and where. My suggestion would be to start a good database with germination dates, blooming dates, seed productions, growth habits, water requirements, etc. that you can refer to each year.

Jan - Yes! I am figuring that out about the 4 O'Clocks. lol

I am growing both common MG cultivars such as Star of Yelta, Grandpa Otts, and Scarlet O'Hara as well as some Japanese varieties and some that were seed pollination experiments. (These were all from a very kind and generous trader!)

I appreciate all the great advice for germinating the seeds. I don't seem to be having a problem getting them to germinate right in the ground in my yard. lol

What I really want to know is are they perennials here in zone 9b? I am NOT growing them in pots, but right in the ground. If they are not annuals and are putting out tubers and lots of roots, should I even plant a second wave of seeds in the Fall? They are in the ground, so would that possibly cause too many live tubers all growing in the same area?

Edited to add:

IF they are perennials, should I be growing them in pots instead of the ground? I don't like growing plants in pots that are in sunny locations because the heat here requires so much watering during the dog days of summer and fall. I prefer to let plants survive naturally in the ground so that I don't have to worry about them wilting or worse dying in case I forget to water them one morning or afternoon.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2007 10:19 AM

You would have to know which type you are growing. I know Ron can better explain it in scientfic terms but some varieties and species of mg's are by nature annuals and some periennials in their native habitat. You can't turn an annual into a periennial, even in our climate. At most, you will get an extended growing period by a couple months over those in colder climates.

I grow all my MG in pots as my climbing space is limited and I like to have better control over things when experimenting. The only periennial I have in the ground is ochracea so I can't answer your question in that regard. I like to plant a second round so I get an extended blooming season later in the year.
As far as the heat/water issue, I don't have a problem as I am on reclaimed water and can freely water as needed. I also admit to adding water crystals to the bottom layer of soil in the pots to help hold water.

Thanks so much Jan for sharing how you grow your MGs! I really appreciate your shared insight and experience.

I was looking at the photos of all your root tubers that you mentioned were planted about 9 months ago. I assume they were from seed? Anyway, the tubers appear to be a very healthy size and still alive, so that is why I am asking about them being perennials in Florida. If they were true annuals wouldn't they have completely died when the temps cooled or got too hot? This is the question I am confused about. Or was this just a rare growing season because we did not get any freezing temps this year in central/south Florida and ALL your MGs survived to grow another year?

Ron (and/or anyone one else with knowledge) - This is what I currently have growing in my garden beds: Star of Yelta, Scarlet O'Hara, Dwarf Plum Creeper, Plum Tie Dye, Blue Blizzard, "Akatsuki no Umi", "Hatsu Arashi", Raiko, and 'heoka asagao x blue rose silk".

Which ones would be perennials and which annuals?

I feel like I am asking really stupid questions and I don't mean to invade on this thread, but the tuber photos and the fact that Jan is in Florida in the same zone as me has made me wonder what to expect my first year of growing MGs. I apologize if my naive questions are off topic here. I thought this might be the best thread to post my questions since it does seem to relate to Jan's thread topic.

Sorry to be a nuisance. :-} I am trying to understand more about growing MGs here in Florida.

Sorry, I didn't realize you were referring to the ones in the pics. I thought you meant in general. I'll leave the rest up to Ron or the others as I am still learning also and don't want to misinform you.

I was looking at the names of your tubers, Jan, and most of the names have "Mex" or "Africa" in them. So perhaps the seeds that Ron gave you are perennials in Florida due to our mild climate (hence the healthy root tubers almost a year later)?

Hi Becky,
I've grown almost every single one that you mentioned up there in Southern California and I believe they are all annuals. In fact, I struggled to keep some of them alive with our heat.

Now that I've moved, I have to struggle with the dryness here..lol.

Hope that helps and someone else chimes in.

A.

Hi Becky,
I looked up some of the ones you mentioned in plant files or I have grown myself and I have to agree that these all seem to be annuals.
I can send you a few seeds of the yellow ochracea which is the winter blooming periennnial for us if you like.