I am looking forward to this one blooming. The picture the vendor used was the over-used Scarlett-O-Hara I know from ebay, but I can tell already that this is an ipomoea purpurea...and not a nil like SOH.
I measured 16.5 for the diameter of the largest leaf. This one may come in handy for crossing and also has lots of hair wich makes it difficult for aphid or ants but not impossible to climb up the plant. It seems to be growing a couple of cm per day and has now reached my washing line...
Martin - Holy Convolvulaceae!!! That vine is HUGE!!! I can't wait to see what the blooms look like! I've never heard of Red Giant Kao! Looks amazing!
Gofast, that gets my attention. Do you have Convolvulus floridus in your part of the world? Frank
@fchilders. Seeds came from America. This will turn out to be an ipomoea purpurea, it just happens to have big leaves...
Biggest leaf of the plant is now 17.5 cm, still vining like mad and branching off in different directions, but not a single bloom...
I think I made the mistake of fertilizing it with a "leaf" fertilizer...so it's now honouring my efforts.
Still hope to see blooms at one stage...
At last, the plant is flowering hesitantly. In my opinion, this is a pink or blue star...
however the huge leaves are still the best part of it all...
I forgot to mention that it has nothing in common with the photo it was displayed with at ebay which was a SOH, ipomoea nil.
Can't wait to see the bloom. The vine is amazing.
Sharon from New Castle, Indiana
I have already posted a flower, Sharon
What's weird with this one, is that it produces blooms, but they have a hard time to open in this heat. My only explanation for this is that perhaps due to the large leaves it dehydrates much faster. I can hardly give enough water, and water already 3 x times a day. If the plant doesn't have enough liquid pressure inside its shoots, the blooms won't open...
Nils have the least problem of opening, this purpurea is the first one I have noticed this phenomenon with...
Martin,
Do you utilize some type of water reservoir under the planter to help retain water (?)...
No, I don't. Because I work from home, I can see when my plants need water. I am also flooding the floor to keep the temperature down at midday and increase humidity. Actually, this is a good idea with the water reservoir, Ron.
Ron - Would that be a good idea for all MGs or just this particular cultivar? The temps are pretty high here in my zone, too. That idea would certainly keep mine hydrated.
And what causes the blooms from opening all the way like that? I had some that were doing that too.
Martin - Impressive vine! If you do trades, keep me in mind! :-) With my rust issue, I may have to settle for growing only I. purpureas until I can get the fungus issue resolved. The size of the leaves on this one make if most desirable! Thanks for sharing!
@becky
Are you saying you only have a rust problem with the nils and not the purpureas?
By the way, in addition I spray my plants three times a day.
I spray twice with the recipe suggested for leaf-feeding in the brugmansia forum and once with my special mix to keep mite population down.
Martin - I started growing MGs only last year and have grown somewhere around 50+ different cultivars so far. I have grown both I. purpurea and I. nils. I have not had a rust problem with any of the I. purpurea vines I have grown to date. I don't know why, but they seem to be somewhat resistent to rust. Which is a good thing for me! :-)
What about the youjiros (cross between nils and purpureas) any luck with these?
Martin
Becky - I usually use some type of tray underneath the planters as a water reservoir as I find that it helps keep the plants hydrated...the water depth should not be too high,but is relative to the size of the container...water level in reservoir is usually about 1.5 inches,but is ultimately determined by the size of the container...
The plants release water vapor and metabolic waste through the pores,but if the respiration pores need to be partially or fully closed to try and preserve systemic water,then the metabolic wastes accumulate and the metabolism slows...ambient water levels can also be helpful,but too much ambient humidity can also impair respiration...
The metabolism can continue at full speed without waste accumulation when the pores can remain fully open by maximum healthy water availability via the roots...
TTY,...
Ron
It looks like the bloom is fairly large too. The leaves look like Moon Flower leaves.
Thanks for that info Ron. I never considered doing that because I was worried about root rot or some other issues with it sitting in water, but that would sure be helpful here as the sun dries everything out daily. I am sure the vines and other plants would appreciate it!
Martin -
Which of the Brug recipes do you use?
The one from Ken?
There are several - plus, adjustments are being made.
Also, how long have you been using 'The Recipe' on your MGs and what is your opinion of this recipe?
Emma
Hi Emma, it must be my own recipe by now. I cannot add epsom salts and molasses because I cannot buy these ingredients here in Morocco. Otherwise it has beer, fertilizer and tea tree oil in it as far as I remember...
Hey, this morning I got this flower. I am sure these are seeds from you...Do you know what it is?
Emma, how is the Hitoshi Hazime coming along. Remember the new type you got that's divided into two major sections, pink and white?
Martin
Hi Martin -
Just curious how 'The Recipe' was working.
Your bloom looks like China Doll
I haven't started Hitoshi Hazime seeds yet, but will be doing that this week.
Emma
Wish I had made my way to this thread Friday. At least now I understand why some of my blooms failed to open.
Martin - I missed your post above and was re-reading this thread, so ...
You asked:
What about the youjiros (cross between nils and purpureas) any luck with these?
I believe the I. nil genes in these vines also makes it suseptible to rust as well. All my I. nils have been attacked by the rust which shortened their life cycle. But I was still able to get plenty of seeds.
I wonder if vines that are "happy" receiving all the nutrients and water and sun that they need plus no assault by pests or diseases or fungus take longer to produce seeds? I got a lot more seeds than I was expecting from some cultivars and they were also the first ones attacked by the rust.
Hi Becky,
You have to fight with rust, I have to fight with spider mite.:)
True, I have it much better under control this year, knowing what to look for and what to do when I detect the first signs. Hence we have to find the right cultivars that do just fine under the given circumstances.
The Kao is a miracle vine when it comes to growth, I do not particularly like the blooms though and it is more susceptible to the mite than the nils.
I think the fact that nils are, as a rule, hairy, makes it much more difficult for the mites to move up and down on the plants. One strange phenomenon I observed was that on one plant the infestation started right at middle height, in other words the lower and the upper leaves were not [yet] affected. This raises the question how they got there. My assumption is that they were transported by some bugs, ants, the wind, etc...
I also noticed that vines that don't have optimal conditions do want to bloom fast and set seeds...survival strategy. If one removes the wilted flowers all the time, however, it will be forced to produce more blooms.
Last year I was so captivated by the Murasaki Jishi that I wasn't sure if I wanted to see more flowers or save seeds...
I did eventually let it set seeds. I have noticed with that one -- which I am mainly growing in pods -- that it has a hard time producing more blooms if it has even only one seed pod. So seed pod production seems to use a lot of energy from the plants.
Martin
Martin - Any of the Jishi that I have grown produce very few seeds, as do any the Picotees. My vines never get very long on them either. All the other vines do very well (until they get the rust), but the Jishi just seems to be more of a "dwarf" type vine when I grow it. Though I must say that Antoinette gave me seeds for a Jishi X Ten Ten and I seem to be getting lots of seeds from that cross. It's growth is much more rapid, too. Go figure! The cross did not exhibit any characteristics of the Ten Ten gene that I could discern, so maybe it's just a freak thing for me to get so many seeds from that one. It may not even be a true cross since I can't tell by looking at it.
