Vines, observations, and questions! (Thread 2)

The other thread was getting too long, so I am starting another thread for MG questions and observations. To view the first thread, click here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/769055/

Ron - I was reading on several discussion threads how you were describing some of the differences between Ipomoea nil, I.purpurea, I.hederacea and Ipomoea tricolor. Would you please show a photo or share a link "of each one" and briefly describe what it is that we need to look at on the sepals to distinguish one from the other? I had seen you mention this difference in sepals before but I didn't know what I was looking for. This would be extremely helpful to me (and probably others too)!!! I apologize if you have already covered this on a single thread (I must have missed it!).

This message was edited Oct 13, 2007 8:06 AM

Also, I have been trying to hand pollinate pretty much all of my MG vines. On some blooms on most cultivars I can see the fine white pollen. But on other cultivars, I see NO pollen whatsoever (at least not with my naked eye). The vines that seem to have very few seed pods or none at all are also the same blooms that I see no pollen being produced. Any ideas????

I came up with another question.....

Somewhere here on this forum I saw mention about growing more than one MG together in a container (not the ground). If my memory serves me correctly, I thought I read that in many cases one vine will take over the container. Since my first shot at growing them in containers was 4 vines each in long rectangular planters, I was happy to see almost all of them flourish and do well! But I do have one or two vines that seemed very puny and little growth and few blooms. Could this have caused the vine to be small by being in a container with other larger vines? Or could this just be the cultivar of MG or perhaps the fact that BOTH of my puny vines were unknown crosses. (Both are apparently unknown I. nil crosses.)

Which brings me to another question ....

Do crosses produce hardier plants or weaker plants in the case of MG vines?

I am particularly stumped by my Yaguruma Blizzard vine which produces a show of at least 10-20 flowers a day on my single vine. When I try to hand pollinate the blooms, I see no pollen. This vine has very few seed pods to confirm my suspicions that most of the blooms are either sterile or have little to no pollen. I thought at first it was the damp climate clumping the pollen together. But this morning it was cooler and dryer and still no pollen was visible. All the other cultivars had so much pollen in each bloom that I was amazed!

This message was edited Oct 13, 2007 11:03 AM

When I planted my "wall o' morning glories" on my balcony, I used windowbox planters, with anywhere between three and seven plants in each. I was expecting at least some die-off, but for the most part, that didn't really happen. Instead, I got a wall of mixed vines, almost all of which grew to over ten feet in length. There were a couple of them that didn't do as well, or stayed fairly short, but I'm not sure that they "vine out" as much as the rest in normal conditions, anyway - for all I know, they may just be short morning glories. Anyway, the vines grew and climbed all over the railing and the strings I set up, and before long, I had a wall of 'Star of Yelta' flowers - thirty and forty per day, from four vines - but not much else. After a while, I got a handful of 'Milky Way' blooming among the deep purple 'Stars', but none of the others were doing much other than making big green leaves.

At the end of July, I went on vacation, and had to leave the vines in the care of an automatic watering system (my containers are too small, and the vines would drink them dry in a day or two in the heat of the summer). I didn't have time to properly adjust the watering, so they ended up receiving a bit less water from the automatic system than that had been getting from me. By the time I got back, there had been some leaf die-off at the bottoms of the vines, but the tops were still going fine, up in the shady area of the balcony. Interestingly, this also seemed to have changed the "balance of power" in the planters, as I found that I didn't have nearly as many 'Star of Yelta' flowers. In their place, my 'Blue Star' vines had started to bloom vigorously, along with the 'Scarlett O'Hara', 'Candy Pink', and 'Milky Way' vines. I had a few 'Picotee' blooms (blue and red) that I hadn't had before, too. Once the 'Star of Yelta' vines were out of the way, everything else went crazy.

I suspect that some varieties are more aggressive than others, and may do something to inhibit other types, whether it's releasing something into the soil, or just hogging all of the water. I think next year I'll plant different varieties in individual (larger) containers, so they can all do their own thing, and I'll still have a mix of foliage and flowers.

I had a similar situation. I have one whole vine of gorgeous unknowns that has produced NO seeds! It seems to be sterile. I planted about 8 or 9 varieties in a very large window box self-watering container. Some vines did very well, starting to produce flowers prolifically in mid-August (Amomurasakizyouhatensibori)Rebecca, and Heavenly Blue, of course. But my Hatsu Arashi only bloomed lightly starting in July and finishing in August, my Scarlett O'Hara, an unexpected blue picotee type and some pink unknowns bloomed occasionally August through now. I have some bright yellow trumpet MGs that bloomed very little. And several varieties I planted didn't show up at all, Cameo Elegance, Gray Silk, Rose/Chocolate.

Next year I'd like to plant only two or three varieties and see how they do in this container. I love the container. Still had to fill the reservoir every day when it was hot because of our dry climate. But it sure beat having to do it twice a day.

By the way, here are some links:

Difference between Ipomoea nil, I.purpurea, I.hederacea and Ipomoea tricolor:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/723465/

Here's a photo of my vines in mid-June.

Deb - Thanks for offering your own personal observations about your MG vines growing together. That's interesting that Star of Yelta hogged the container at first. My SOY took off when it germinated, grew and bloomed beautifully, and then died after about 2 months. Then the other vines near it began growing like crazy. Interesting, huh?

Judith - Thanks for the thread link! That's the exact link I was looking for!!! Yay! And more specifically, Ron's post: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3504567

I have been trying to hand pollinate the Yaguruma Blizzard. There was about 15 blooms on it today. Using a fine point paint brush, I noticed NO pollen again. BUT ..... one bloom did seem to have some pollen (quite teeny white specks) that I then used to try to pollinate the other 14 blooms. I have my fingers crossed that they were fertilized. Every day I knock off 10-12 yellowed buds that didn't pollinate. It seems that for every 40-60 blooms, maybe one will form a seed pod. Pretty pathetic odds if you ask me. I wonder if this one produces so many flowers in an attempt to try to produce seed pods?