I like to direct sow, because morning glories don't particularly like being transplanted. Plus, they are so easy to grow that way, I don't want to waste a jug on them when I can use it to sow something else. But I'm going to wait until the first of May to sow mine, less chance of a frost toasting them.

Karen

My seedlings (started in jug) were frosted to stiffness in 28 degree weather the other night and they LIVED!!! Amazing! Now the temp is above freezing but we have frozen stuff falling out of the sky. I'm assuming everything will be fine. It's been very warm lately for a while and yesterday it was above 60 so I'll bet the soil is very warm and protecting the plants as it radiates heat. At least, I'm hoping.

I know some things are not supposed to transplant well, but I'm wondering if transplanting small seedlings negates that. I don't know, this is my first time to wintersow. The roots of these small seedlings are all healthy but small. I wonder if that makes them amiable to trasplanting. It would be nice to hear somebody with knowledge of this chime in. My morning glories all had their true leaves and were 1-2 inches tall. They seem to be happy and growing well.

They do germinate fast if nicked, so I would think direct sowing would be nice, as well. My first year to grow them, but the ones I nicked literally showed germination in 2 days in a jug.

Good to know they survived such cold temps. I think I will direct sow the seeds. I've got plenty if things don't work out. I don't want to use a container either if direct sowing the seeds works ok.
Thanks for your help.

If it's any help, my experience (over only a few years, it's true), is that morning glories transplant just fine. First year I started seeds inside, planted out seedlings & last year my neighbors gave me a few small plants (not sure when they stop being seedlings, but these were definitely on the bigger size), transplanted them & they thrived. This year I have some volunteers, so I don't have to worry (even with the cold weather at night, they seem to be doing really well).

I did wintersow some moonflower seeds I saved from a large-ish plant I bought and transplanted with no ill-effect. We'll see how these seedlings do.

I have a lot of morning glories that reseed on their own, but I want to put some at a relative's house so I'm trying some in a jug for ease of knowing where I put them-I only garden there every week or 2. I have enough seeds that I may direct sow some also. I had few Moonflower vine seeeds a year or 2 ago that I WS & they transplanted fine

I halted all planting of morning glory on my property 3 years ago, when I saw the reseeding I had to deal with the following season. Just too much work - few ended up where I wanted them. I still get volunteers 2 seasons later.

I am making the exception this year for moonflower vine that I got in a swap. We have a dwarf plume tree that has up and died, about 20 years old (so maybe it's natural causes/) and my husband has pruned it back to this really interesting shape (It sort of looks like an 8' hand coming out of the ground. I plan to put very large pots of different vines, moonflower among them, to grow up onto this 8' tree trellis. If it looks as cool as I am hoping it will, I'll post pics!

I started morning glories in toilet paper seed pots. This way when I plant them out I can simply plant the cardboard pot along with the sprout and not worry about the roots being disturbed. A few years ago, before I learned of wintersowing, I started them in plastic pots and they transplanted well for me but the pots were generous and I was able to remove the whole square of soil when I planted them.

I read a post on putting the mg seeds into wet paper towels then transplant the ones that sprout. I'm doing that this year. I figure by the time they sprout, it'll be time to plant them out.
susan