MG's froze

I am sorry to report that all the morning glory seedlings I planted in the ground a couple of weeks ago, froze. I still have about 6 plants inside that didn't make it into the ground, so will not plant them out until May 1!

Oh bummer .. I'm so sorry. You might start saving 2ltr soda bottles. Paint them black and put water in them and let the sun heat them up or put hot water in them. They are great for passive solar heating. I surrounded some black magic elephant ear babies with 6 of them then put a trash bag over it. Worked like a charm. I also use them in my greenhouse. I start seeds on top of them with trays sometimes and plants that sit above them actually grow a lot. I have a heater for my gh but the temp is set for "dont freeze", around 38 degrees. It's a cheap and easy heating solution.

X

I am sorry to hear about your plants..

X.

what a great idea, did you use black spray paint??? wait till I try this...

A.

No, just some black matte paint in a can. Spray paint costs too much and you don't get as thick a coverage. I tore off the labels then put a string loop over the neck, painted them then hung them up to dry. Once dry I filled them with water. You don't have to paint them, but the black matte paint heats them up faster.

X

Kay, sorry to hear about your MGs too.

I've been following the Wintersowing Forum where some folks experimented with wintersowing MGs. Shirley1md has successfully wintersown Ipomoea purpurea in the past, but this spring some say MG seedlings (not identified) that germinated by this method have been adversely affected by cold temps subsequent to their outdoor germination.

So, I'd be very interested to hear what kinds of MGs you sowed and under what conditions they were germinated, if possible.

Last summer I sowed 10 seeds of Ron's Evolvulus nuttallianus at warm temps, and none germinated. So, on 2/19/07, I wintersowed 5 seeds - no activity yet. I plan to try sowing the last seeds in the refrigerator for a few weeks to see if that helps.

Has anyone else been stratifying (exposing seed to cold) any kinds of MGs? It would be great if we could expand this thread to which ones do well with or need that treatment for future reference.

Good tips about those liter bottles, X.

The plants froze above the ground - it didn't get cold enough to freeze below ground level, so I am hopeful that they will come back from the roots. I had 1949 mg's, japanese mg's in the ground, sword bean vine, and my sunrise serenade had reseeded and seedlings were all over the ground where the mother plant was. As I said, I am looking forward to them coming back from the roots.

Y'all, feel free to correct me if I've got any of this wrong -

Kay, I think Sunrise Serenade belongs to Ipomoea purpurea, many types of which self-sow in your and my zones pretty regularly, so I'll bet there's a pretty good chance you'll see more seedlings appear of that one over the next few weeks.

But the term, Japanese morning glory, refers to quite a mixed bag of genes from different species of MGs, so it's hard to generalize with those. But to my limited knowledge, the ones from the Ipomoea nil species do not volunteer seedlings as generously as I. purpurea, if at all, in our zones.

Plus, since both I. purpurea and I. nil are annuals in our zones 6 and 7, they are not known to survive sub-freezing temperatures. It's quite a mystery as to why Ipomoea purpurea can be wintersown here and germinate and go on to flower through summer, while, at the same time, be killed by sub-zero temps. So, if the tops have been killed at this point, I'm not too hopeful about those roots.

So, I think you need more seed and will send you some in the coming week, and I sure would love to be proved wrong about those seedlings returning from the roots.

Has anyone tried making a cloche from a 2 liter soda bottle? I've been thinking that if you cut off the bottom, you could place it over a plant. It probably wouldn't work if its windy though.
Sorry to hear about your MGs, you must be really disappointed.

KayJones - Sorry to hear that all of the picture perfect MG plants that you posted relative to the sprouting of the 1949 seeds here
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/692983/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/677301/

were all completely destroyed by the apparently still too cold temperatures of Spring in your climate zone...

We were all very much looking forward to seeing exactly what type of flowers that they were going to produce...

We all learn from our mistakes...that's how we make progress...

bluespiral - The seeds of Ipomoea purpurea have evolved to withstand the winter conditions and won't break dormancy until conditions are right for continued growth of the plant,...so the seeds can certainly withstand the winter temperatures,but any above ground vegetative parts >especially seedlings or young plants can be completely decimated by temperatures that are just too cold fro these plants...

The annual species are able to resprout from the stem above where the cotyledons was attached,but if the lower stem(below where the cotyledons were attached) is sufficiently damaged by cold weather then they will not regenerate from the stem or the root...

Ipomoea nil has rarely(if ever) developed the cold winter survival strategies that Ipomoea purpurea and Ipomoea hederacea have...both Ipomoea purpurea and Ipomoea hederacea are known to grow in the mountains of Mexico where the temperatures get very cold,but Ipomoea nil is usually confined to the lower elevations where the temperatures are warmer...and it is the genes that have naturally evolved to survive the cold temperatures in the mountains that has apparently carried over into the garden cultivars of Ipomoea hederacea and Ipomoea purpurea, >but which is mostly lacking in garden cultivarieties of Ipomoea nil...

TTY,...

Ron



This message was edited Apr 10, 2007 11:40 AM

I feel your pain. I may have lost some of my Gypsy Bride and Chachamaru vines this weekend. We had an unexpected cold spell, and the vines in the smaller pots are looking sickly - the ones in the bigger pots look ok. It is supposed to be warmer today, so we'll see how they look once I get home from work.

Nichole

I`m sorry to hear about your losses Kay. Some of the nils that I had plenty of seeds for replacement showed damage and were laying flat over on the ground yesterday even with protection but they did make it. 37 was probably enough to make them ill but not kill them. The baby nils are very sensitive to cold. The purpureas are much tougher.

This message was edited Apr 9, 2007 9:46 AM

Mine are planted on the south side of my house in a protected alcove, so I am hoping they are just foliage-dead. I have a tropical amaryllis planted in the ground, in this same area, and it comes back each season - it's up now, but wilted. I guess I will wait and see.

If the stems are standing then you might see little buds come back out.

This message was edited Apr 9, 2007 10:48 AM

I am hoping that happens - it is predicted to warm up and rain for a couple of days, then back into the cold again.