Seeds not forming on Heavenly Blue.

I've been out gathering seeds like a nut the past few days... and when it came to Heavenly Blue, it's almost like they are duds.

Is this common?

last year i was able to harvest a few, but not many - considering how many blooms I get.

I have one area that is still full bloom, with [it seems] like a hundred blooms one it... the other one has dwindled down ... but when i looked for seeds - most the seed pods had nothing in them.

is this common with some MG's , is this a fluke, or am I just not being patient enough?

I'm hoping we do not get an early frost -- or they all will be toast.

any insight would be great.

Terese

I had to move both of my tricolor vines indoors this past weekend. They had developing seed pods but they were not anywhere near being ripe. Fortunately I am growing them in containers. Maybe you can protect the vine from frost for a while by covering it up at night?

Joseph

Terese - You stated:

"most the seed pods had nothing in them."

Are you saying that there were what looked to be the remains of seedpods,but empty(indicating that seeds did form,but the capsule has already dispersed the seeds)...or,that there is no evidence of any seedpods fully forming / ripening...(?)


TTY,...


Ron

Ron -- sorry i was not more specific...

The seed pods looked fully 'ripe' [brown] and fully formed, though a few looked small, and when i crushed them in my hand - there were no seeds.

From what i could tell, none of the seed pods had opened already.
I've seen that before on my other MG's, so i know what that looks like.

I probably crushed about 10 pods, and got a total of 2 seeds.

On a different plant [in the southern flower bed] i grabbed a few pods, and the seeds were 'white' mush. Not sure what to make of that either. The pod was brown.

There are still a lot of "green" pods out there.... so i guess i still have more time to get some seeds.... hopefully.

Terese

Terese - It almost sounds like you have caterpillars/worms/larvae from some bug eating your seeds from inside the pod. I have that happen off and on. Bugs lay their eggs on the bloom or ants carry the eggs down into the throat of the bloom. The the forming larvae eat the seeds. I have crushed seed pods too and the white sticky mush is a bug I squished! Ewwwww ...

LOL...thanks for that vision Becky!!

Terese - Thanks for your clarification...

It sounds like your Ipomoea tricolor is partially self-incompatible,which is definitely much more common in the perennials,but can occur in the annuals...

The few ripened seeds is likely the result of the self-incompatibility and the season,which is too short for some strains of Ipomoea tricolor...

The mushy white seeds in the brown pods are a further indication of self-incompatibility and / or the colder temperatures which either factor can cause seeds to strart to develop but fail to fully develop...

Try seeds from a different source to start your crop for next season...preferably from someone in a colder zone that has already harvested seeds from the Ipomoea tricolor that they have grown...as seeds harvested from a similar zone will be pre-adapted to form seeds in a similar climate zone...


Hope that helps...


TTY,...


Ron

Thanks Ron -- that does make sense.

Last year, Spring of 2007 - i purchased seeds. I was not able to harvest many.... handful at that.
The couple of plants i have in my south bed, must have grown from seeds that fell.

I do have one other plant that had to have come from the gathered seeds from last year, as it is a new bed... so i must have push a seed into the ground... actually - i stuck many seeds in the ground, and this was the only one that germinated.

Terese - Ipomoea tricolor seeds are best harvested by hand and sown in the SpringTime after the last frost as the seeds of this tropical species (as compared to species like I.purpurea,I.nil or I.hederacea) have not yet developed the survival mechanisms against the cold wet winters and repeating cycles of freezes and re-thaws...

Seeds which have not fully ripened and dried will be turned into frozen mush...

The seeds of Ipomoea tricolor will swell and will either simply burst or be killed off by the cold temperatures...


Hope that helps...


TTY,...


Ron

yes -- that does help. Thanks.

Similar question - will list as new thread.

This message was edited Oct 30, 2008 7:35 AM