Claudia,
Thanks for the pics and tips. My Vigna caracalla hasn't flowered all summer even though it is still alive and growing alongside a Hyacinth Bean Vine that has. Next year I'll have to try growing it in another spot. Where are you growing yours?
Virginia

Hi Virginia:

How I'm growing it is another thing I'm going to change next year 'cause I have not had a lot of flower production, either. This vine's really been a bit of a challenge :-)

Mine has been growing up an arbor, southern exposure. Getting zero shade from late morning on.

But, my "mother" plant came to me as a tuber, and after researching the ins and outs of caring for the thing, I decided to put it in a pot so I could easily bring it in for over-wintering. At the time, I didn't want to take the chance I might ruin the tuber when digging it up. (To plant, I sink the pot about 95% down into the garden bed.)

Don't know if it being in the pot has helped to cut down on flowering OR if it's the location in the garden. I've also had the problem of many of the leaves falling off. Grrrrr...

So, next spring I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to keep my tuber in the pot, but will also plant vines grown from seeds, which I didn't do this year (gave away ALL my seed starts at the spring swap). I'll also try some in another location. I'm determined to get lots of flowers and pods next year!!

Pat was telling me about how wonderful the wafting aroma from the flowers smells...ha! I haven't had that joy yet!!

Claudia

P.S. Having fun with html...LOL

I started several from seed and planted them in various locations. While I have a few blooms on a couple that are in pots, the ones planted in the ground in full sun are the ones producing the most blooms (and have grown the most).

While mine have been full of tiny ants (we call them sugar ants), I have only found one seedpod. I suppose I better find myself a paint brush for next year!

I don't seem to have hardly any natural pollinators in my yard for some reason so I have been "tickling" the flowers on my peppers and tomatoes for years now. Without doing that I have almost no harvest. I just use the tip of my finger and go from flower to flower like a bee. I can see how, with a more fragile flower, you might have to use a Q-tip or something so you don't knock the bloom right off.

Is there any indication that your vines might be sexual? I discovered the hard way this year that wallflower (Erysimum) is most likely sexual - I had only one plant, and tons of completely empty seed pods even though I saw pollinators all over it for months. :-(

-Regina

Not enough sun is probably my problem. Since we installed a wooden fence this past spring, the side yard that used to be in full sun now is shaded by the fence in the afternoon. This morning I found two flowers out of reach at the top of the fence and impossible to pollinate by hand.

Good luck you guys who do have flowering vines! I'll need to swap for either a few seeds or a couple of plants to try again next year on the other side of the fence!

Virginia

Regina:

Evidently V. caracalla is neither male or female, so the challenge for a lot of us seems to be natural pollinators.

I grew birdhouse-type gourds a few years ago and read about the need to hand pollinate them, which I did with great success. As a matter of fact "Hosta Mom" ended up with 4 of them at the swap last week :-)

So like I said, guess I'm gonna have to have a little paint brush ready next year.

Claudia