Good morning folks.

The height of my moonflower is 28 inches as of yesterday. I didn't include the pot's height. Looks like it grows like 1-2" a day.

At this height for this date, is my moonflower behind?

GREAT!! Happy to hear you planted the seeds after all! I have 2 planted in the ground that I started indoors in peat pots. Mine usually don't bloom until sometime in August. GOOD LUCK!!
They die when it gets too cold & I just start seeds again the following year! The vines in the gound are really taking off!

Glad I checked this forum. :D

Mine is almost 9-10 ft now :D WOOHOO!!!

I'll take pictures tonight. No blooms yet.

Just an update, I had 2 blooms already!! We are having a heat wave in Philly, they must LOVE it!

Sorry to keep you waiting guys. Here it is. Still no blooms.

{{gwi:398825}}

A good reason to save seeds , because if you get one that flowers early in your area , the seeds will tend to produce more plants that flower earlier...

Every-time you get new seeds (from a different source) , you never really know what conditions it has been acclimated to...so save the seeds from stabilized early flowering strains...

Those of you who have had moonflower (ipomoea alba) set seed - did it bloom again afterwards? Does it die after seed ripens?

I bought the same packet at Wal-Mart. I started mine early under lights. I got two blossoms in May. It hasn't bloomed since, but does have two seed pods which have been hanging out for the past couple of months. I do have more than one vine in the basket, but they are so entwined I can't tell whether both pods belong to the same vine. I kept thinking maybe I should cut them off, the way I deadhead petunias to promote rebloom, but was tempted by the prospect of saving my own moonflower seeds. Yesterday I noticed that one of the pods is finally beginning to dry and turn brown. The vines loved our hot spell and doubled in length this month, but I see no sign of flower buds. Until this week the cotyledons were still attached and green; I've never seen a plant keep them so long. Now the oldest leaves are yellowing and falling off. It looks too autumnal for my comfort. Could they be hungry?

Seeds: $1 at Wal-Mart
Hot weather: Free
More flowers on my moonflower: priceless.

Please help!

-Edie

Here is a link that might be useful: photo of seed pod

I started growing Moon flowers 4 seasons ago. First year I managed one or two blooms in late Sept before the cold got them. The next year, blooms in Aug. Last year bloomed in late July and I FINALLY got my own seeds, but..... None seem to be any good. So this year my start was really late (I had been starting inside earlier and earlier each year). I also tried pots instead of in the ground. They just have not worked out at all and I don't even expect any blooms. But I purposely put one in a big (16 inch) pot with plans of bring it in this winter and seeing if I can keep it alive at least to get an early, EARLY start next year. I'd really like to get my own seeds.

But I have a question.... Mine have never had ANY fragrance at all. I have several other 'fragrant' flowers that are not fragrant for me. I bought violas this spring and thought 'Oh. They smell so nice'. In no time at all, they no longer smelled. This is the first year I have really taken an interest in gardening and I am just learning. I know next to nothing at this point so take that into consideration. I'm guessing I'm missing something with the soil or fertilizer?

Ron recommends that :

1) be sure to get your seeds from someone in your climate zone who has verified that the strain they have is fragrant

2) be sure to add some minerals to the growing medium both macro and micro-nutrients because the type of essential aromatic oils produced by many plants are dependent on particular minerals which if not present may impede the fragrance of plants...

Believe it or not...

I planted two moon flowers this spring. The were in little pots.
Both grew very large but I had no flowers on one, and one flower on the other one.
How come?

Thank you, Ron.

1) All of my Moon Flower seeds have been from packets from the store. Any suggestions on how to locate someone in my area or at least my zone that I could get seeds from? I often wondered if a different source for seeds might make a difference.

2) I have been working on adding to my soil for all my plants this year. This is the first year I have really worked at gardening and it didn't take much to figure out I had lousey soil (MO clay). Hoepfully that will lead to many improvemnts for all my plants.

YAY! WOOT WOOT WOOT!!!

My first bloom!!! :D

{{gwi:1340924}}

Very exciting Neil!

I tried moonflowers this year, direct sowing them back in June along an 8' fence section. They took off in no time and have completely covered the fence. :-)

I was checking on it last night and noticed that it is COVERED with buds. What a show it will be!!

my moonflower is thin. I am not sure why. I even have 3 vines per pot. The leaves also wilted quickly. Wilts every 2 days. Did you plant yours directly in ground?

hostarookie,

I would like to see how they look when thick. Can you post some pictures please? I'm so excited too!!! :D

Neil,

I'm at work right now but I'll post new pictures this weekend.

Here's a pic that was taken the beginning of August. Three days later it was completely covered, front & back!

Emily

That is so beautiful!!! So maybe, my small pot is the culprit. It could be the main reason why it is thin. What do you think?

Forgot to ask, how many seeds did you plant by the fence?

It was probably 10 seeds spread out across the length of the fence. I honestly don't remember counting but it wasn't more than that.

I've always thought that things do better when planted in the ground vs. a pot. Just my opinion...

Emily

my MF lost about 70% of the leaves. It turned yellow. Did yours experience it?

Here it is now... :-)

I haven't lost any leaves at all. I did notice last night they were just a tad bit wilty but I'm sure it was due to the 98 degree temp yesterday. They were perked back up this morning when I took this pic, which isn't the best because I used my phone camera.

Anymore changes with your moonflower Neil? Do you have any pictures to post?

The flower bud died. I noticed the wasps were feasting over it. I see new buds but I haven't seen any bloom. :(

I don't have any new picture. I've almost forgotten all my plants since I'm so busy with my patio project. :)

I saw my first bloom this morning but I didn't take a pic since I was so busy with my patio project. I looked at it around 7:30pm after my work at the patio, the flower is already wilted. I still took a pic of it. I sniffed it for 5 seconds but I didn't smell any.

Arrived home around 8:30pm today and was so glad to see a another bloom. I would highly suggest not to plant moonflower in pots. It's very hard to maintain. It seldom flowers. I'm not going to do it this way next year. I will directly sow them to the ground.

Here is a pic I took an hour ago. The scent isn't really strong. I had to put my nose as close to the flower. It smells like soap. I love the smell. I also love the scent of datura. They're different.

{{gwi:1340928}}

V1rtu0s1ty - love your moonflower photo - that shadowed silhouette of the overall vine makes your moonflower look all the more mysterious.

karen

Thanks Karen! Tonight, I'll be taking a picture of the Datura. I have a strong feeling it will open tonight! :)

No luck with the datura :(

Anways, how do we harvest seed from moonflower?

v1rtu0s1ty, there's a great picture of moonvine seedpods in the following link, about 1/3 the way down. The seeds should be brown and crispy before you harvest them. Pretty garden, huh? http://annieinaustin.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-still-autumn-in-austin.html

With your vine in a pot, you'll be able to bring it in to ripen any seedpod indoors after frost that may form - quite an advantage to having it in the ground this late as far north as you are. (Although, some years I bring in stems with immature pods from my moonvine where I can continue ripening them indoors after frost in water with just a tad of hydrogen peroxide (H202) added. The H202 helps to oxygenate the water and slows down formation of slime - nice to water pots with from the bottom, too)

Is your pot outside where it can be pollinated at night by moths for seedpods? If you wanted to, you could do some pollinating yourself to speed seedpod formation along. Just swish pollen from an anther onto the pistil - a brush will do, or break off the stigma that has the pollen-laden anthers on it with tweezers and brush the pollen across the pistil like that.

I googled up a picture of moonvine (Ipomoea alba) anthers and pistil that can be found in the following link, which I strongly recommend that folks reading this thread bookmark as a very useful reference - http://botany.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/imaxxcnv.htm .

Scroll down to Ipomoea alba (Moonvine), and click on Flowers of India;
In the right column, toward the top, click on Flower Parts, and a diagram should come up showing moonvine reproductive parts, labeled.
-----------------
Would love to see your datura blooms when they happen pretty please.

Hope this helps,
karen

Thanks for all the information Karen. That is amazing! :)

Here is the datura I took 2 days ago. I had a wrong setting on my camera plus it was so dark. I didn't use the flash. I will retry again next time.

{{gwi:398838}}

Thankx, v1rtu0s1ty - that's beautiful - looks like a Harvest Moon :)

karen

You're welcome Karen! :)

From this experience, they don't bloom that much when planted in pots.

I'm trying to determine if these are the seed pods. I know they aren't ripe if so...

My moonflower is dying :(

Sorry Neil, I hate to hear that!! Mine continues to grow and flower like crazy!

I'm hoping to hear back from someone to know if those are seed pods... if so, I'd be happy to share some with you so you can try again next year.

hostarookie - The structures that look like seedpods in the photo that you posted above are indeed seedpods...

I've attached a link of a google search that includes some previous posts including a post with links to what the seedpods look like at different stages of ripeness...

Hope that helps...

TTY,...

Ron

Here is a link that might be useful: Goggle search for Ron_Convolvulaceae posts and cache of relevant links

Thanks Ron for confirming!!

The link you posted came up with "vase mush mature" results. lol I'd defintely be interested in finding the post with links that reflects the different stages of ripeness if you can find the post/link for it. I've searched myself but haven't found anything that was much help.

Neil, I'll post a current picture later on today. It's unreal how well this vine has done for me! I'm hoping that the pods will have time to ripen before a frost... it's pretty late and the temps have already started dropping around here. FINGERS CROSSED!! :-)

Emily

hostarookie - The system truncated the link I posted , so the results were not as I intended...

There is at least one other gardening related site which is not allowed to be mentioned on here due to some conflicts...

Try the new google search result link that I have attached and click onto the google cache of the results to bring up and scroll through the relevant linked threads...

Hope that helps...

Here is a link that might be useful: Ron_Convolvulaceae google results for assisted ripening and seedpod maturity

The picture above, of the seeds sprouting, is that the color of the seeds when they are dried? Yellowish? I have a feeling I have the wrong seeds - mine are black like peppercorns. Should I just throw them out? They NEVER sprout. Thanks

Donna

No need to reply - I threw them out. No wonder they never sprouted!

I have started a couple of moonflower plants inside, this is the set up I have and I also have 6 seeds in a baggie with water. Would I be better off with another flourescent bulb? The little pot has some in it too, but they have not come up yet. I had them in the windowsill but it gets cold there so I moved them here on my desk. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

They will grow ok under fluorescent light. You don't want them growing at full tilt growth or they'll take over your house hahaha.

I grew Ipomoea alba for the first time last year. I enjoyed it very much. I bought a plant however and did not grow from seed. I will try it from a seed next time I want to grow it.

I planted three white moonflower plants last year mixed in with hyacinth beans and blue Heavenly Morning Glorys in a 30 gal container and it was BEAUTIFUL. I saved seeds from each of them. I was just wonderiing has anyone tried to grow the moonflowers down? by down I mean just let them flop down and not grow up? I would like to try that this year on my from porch. I have a 6 foot wire shelve attached to my brick wall on my front porch and I was thinking about planting the moonflowers and letting them drape down instead of climbing up... I have plenty of others climbing up trellises eles where, was just trying to cover up a brick wall? anyone tryed this before?

The Ipomoea alba will only drape 'so far' before it tries to grab onto whatever it can to climb back up again...it will eventually climb back up itself (up the same dropping stem) if there is nothing else for it to twine upon...

There are some Ipomoea nil that are true trailers (they are called shidare) and they will fall or drape over anything , but they are still relatively rare outside of Japan...

Oh well, I did a boo-boo, I put several moonflower vine seeds in a clay pot, can't remember how many, and they are sprouting like crazy, I have two seedlings up and out of the soil and 5 more coming up quickly. I have a question, will these moonflowers bloom inside or will I just have a pretty vine until I put it outside. Here is the picture, I thought I would let them all twine together and make a big happy mess, what do you think?

Some aspects to consider...

The short days of sunlight are what triggers the plant into flowering.

You might get lucky if the plants were able to reach a blooming size before the days get too long.

The plants will likely be stunted to some degree if you keep them all in that small clay pot.

Clay tends to cause the growing medium to dry out very quickly.

You might want to consider a larger size container in addition to a different container material with a water reservoir underneath it to help maintain moisture levels.

What are you going to use for a trellis and what will support the trellis when the plants get larger (?)

Found this growing in my front yard. I didn't plant it, so cool "mistake" I have lived in house for 2years in Wisconsin. Maybe an animal brought the seed?

Im thinking it is a moon flower, but when I Googled, the leaves don't seem to be the same. Maybe there are different varieties? Would u say this is a moon flower? Something else? Flower is about 7-8 in diameter.

This is hard too see, but if it's 7-8" in diameter I would guess that it is a bromansia.

brugmansia, sorry

It's a Datura. The picture quality doesn't aid id but check D inoxia.