Geese took off the tops of my vines

Last night at dusk I was sitting in my living room when I saw a pair of geese fly past (I live on the 6th floor) and their wings clipped off the tops of my morning glory vines! I hope this only means that they've been "pinched" and that they'll start growing from the bottom. Has anybody ever lost the tips of their vines, and if so, what happened to the vines?

My morning glories are so pathetic this year because of the horrendous winds we've had, seeds rotting, plus an attack of aphids I just noticed last week. Maybe this just isn't my year.

Hi Rev, sooner or later, with or without mishaps, new secondary vines have always appeared in other parts of my MG vines where a leaf meets the main stem. In places where the main stem/trunk was growing horizontally (such as the top of the trellis), these secondary vines would fall beneath and the whole business would look like a curtain.

I especially appreciated this feature of MGs last summer when rust arrived. It attacked the oldest leaves first, so the newer leaves on the secondary vines made the plant look better overall. Eventually, rust conquered all, but the stems were still photosynthesizing and blooms still appeared up until frost. To some, the rust makes MGs not worthwhile to grow, but I'm too fond of the flowers to give up and too fond of hummers and flutters (etc) to spray. (Some do apply fungicides; however, check out sticky index under Foes/Rust & Xeramthem's link and fchilds' link within that - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/869840/)

Pretty amazing about those wings swiping your MG leaves like that. Love the stained-glass effect of an arched window from an old, stone church. The trellis is pretty enough not to need to be totally covered in vine. (If, at any point, you would ever want to control the plant's size or arrangement on the trellis, see the sticky index, under Trellising and/or Pruning MG Vines, 2nd, 3rd & 4th entries.)

Hmmm - did you ever see Zemerson's stained glass morning glory? I so wish Zem could have stayed around the MG forum longer - maybe we could have all cheered him/her along to keep going with that art form - so promising - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/632915/ (the second image with no frame shows up the coloring better)

Karen

Thanks, Karen. That's good news.

Rust doesn't seem to be a problem for me. Maybe it's too dry here (humidity around 15% most of the time), or maybe I don't have a host nearby. I do have a Ponderosa pine close by, but I don't think it's a host.

I love that great art piece! It's a beauty.

Judith - Oh my goodness! I can't believe that geese doing a fly-by whacked the tops of your vines! Now what is the odds of that happening!?? Sheesh!

Karen - THANK YOU!!!! I really mean that! I needed to hear a good word of encouragement about my MGs. Rust has struck here! I've had a LOT of rain lately, so rust has surfaced and attacked all my vines. Many are still blooming, but the leaves look awful. I, too, don't like spraying because of the butterflies, bees, and hummers. I have been looking at other types of vines thinking that the MGs aren't working out. (Though I love them so!) I have been looking at Clematis. They are pretty, but not like my MGs! Your wonderful words made me feel a lot better about my vines! Maybe I need to grow 2 different types of vines. One that is rust resistant and then my MGs so that the picket fence and trellis will still look good even when rust attacks the MG leaves. I could still have green foliage from a different type of vine with the MG blooms still showing up. Now if I can just figure out what vines are good looking AND rust resistent! I guess that is what you would call companion planting! LOL!

Also, I hadn't seen Zemerson's stained glass morning glory thread before. That's an absolutely stunning piece of art work! WOW!

"Maybe this just isn't my year. "...

You're not alone Judith - has been a poor year for me as well. We had a really wet and cold May, early June wasn't much better and I think my glories just plain drowned. I've still got a couple of struggling Moonflowers, one decent looking Gypsy Bride, and that's about all that's left from the ones I had started under lights. However, on the plus side, I have DOZENS of morning glories that self-sowed in their containers from last year. Very cool, I thought. They suddenly popped out about three weeks ago when the temperatures started warming up. Hopefully they'll have enough time to grow and bloom. We have such a short growing season.

What a bizarre story about the geese - you'd think they'd be looking where they were going for heaven's sake. LOL.

Joanne

I also soak (briefly) the seeds in a mild bleach solution before drying and bagging to prevent any rust on the seeds. I also wipe them with chlorox wipes too. I try to be extra cautious about controling any possible rust spores.

I am also seeing some kind of worm inside some of the flower before they even open. Their frass (poop) is the same color as the bloom. LOL! So another thing to combat! Sheesh! Growing MGs here in my area is sure a challenge! But I sure do love those blooms!! :-) :-)

This message was edited Jul 6, 2008 11:36 AM

Budworm! I didn't know they attacked MGs. I've had them on lots of things, geraniums, petunias, nicotiana, but never on MGs. There's really nothing you can use to repel them. I suppose you could use a systemic insecticide like the one Ortho puts out. But that just kills them after they've destroyed your buds.

I don't think the rust affects the seeds you dry, but I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable than I could tell you. Why don't you make this a separate post so that the headline will attract a wider group?

Sorry Judith. I probably should've posted this on the thread that X started or as you said, start a new thread. Will do that now.

No worries, I just hope you get your question answered about the seeds. I'm interested too. I didn't think people would look at mine as much as they would as a new topic about that issue.