You'll have quite a flower show soon. Enjoy!

I'm new to gardening too and also got over excited when planting my Morning Glories. I put mine in buckets which could equate to your 7 packs (LOL) since my buckets are so small and the roots might get root bound (where the roots run out of room to spread out and get tangled and choke each other out). I'm going to try to maintain the amount of vines I have by pinching off new "grabbers" once I get to many (I thought it was one seed = one vine but apparently one seed = one vine that shoots off many baby vines as it grows!

I've done some research for next year and this is what I've found:
Morning Glories like poor soil, no fertilizer really. Just plant them in dirt from your yard as opposed to Miracle Grow or something, if you fertilize you will have large leaves with little to no flowers.

Too much water will also cause them not to bloom. I read that a lady religiously watered hers and had no results so she gave up and after a few days of neglect she had flowers!

They can be ground cover as you ended up doing with yours, but they are great at climbing up something thin, a rope, chain link fence, trellis. You might have to train them somewhat in the beginning but for the most part they will figure it out.

The more sun the better!

How are your morning glory babies doing?

Hi Gerris thanks for asking. I felt bad I didn't train them on a trellis. I have a lot of groundcover. Huge 6-8 inch leaves, tons on tendrils and what looks to be flower buds. Now that I know I have purchased 6 foot stakes and connected a 5x8 mesh netting for it to grab onto along the fence. One side is already about six feet tall. I am really impressed on the speed and health of these plants. My back yard looks 100% better. This past weekend I bought another pack of seeds and planted them in three separate pots. I want to see how high it can grow so I will put it on the patio and train it to grow up ( three seeds). The second also has three seeds and is on the west side of my home so it will get a lot of sun. The last 9 seeds are in my flower box in the front of my home which gets south west sun. I planted on Sunday and DFW got a good soaking over the past few days. The seedling is about to break through the ground, by Sunday it definitely will. Now I can properly train the moonflower from scratch now that I know what to expect. I will try to get pics once I start blooming.

You'll be seeing many flowers soon. One variety that has the 3 point leaves your plants have is Scarlett O'Hara. There is no telling what you have until they start flowering up.

I can't wait to see them!

AshleyG - You mentioned 2 aspects about growing MG's as follows :

"Morning Glories like poor soil, no fertilizer really. Just plant them in dirt from your yard as opposed to Miracle Grow or something, if you fertilize you will have large leaves with little to no flowers."

Nitrogen is the one element (of any number of many elements) in 'fertilizer which can cause delayed flowering if supplied in large very soluble quantities.

The phosphorus will not delay flowering and is often bloom stimulating.

The descriptor 'fertilizer (which per se is a non-specific fuzzy term) which could contain any number of various elements and in different quantities is often misleading when used in relation to Morning Glories.

"Too much water will also cause them not to bloom. I read that a lady religiously watered hers and had no results so she gave up and after a few days of neglect she had flowers! "

Water stress can cause some plants to bloom but if you try to supply optimal nutrition and be sure the plants are getting the right amount of light,there should be no difficulty keeping the plants lush and green and still producing blooms.

There are many different species and strains of Morning Glory and some respond better to more water while others may respond better to less water...so, there are many variables and if you want to be guided by generalized quasi-myths that can be found plastered all over the web by people who do not know how to tell one species from another . that is certainly your prerogative.

I would like to suggest that you will get the highest quality advice from people who have specialized in Morning Glories for a very long time instead of gardeners who have a generalized knowledge of different plants but are not Morning Glory specialists.

The Japanese have been specializing in Morning Glories for many centuries and they keep there plants well watered and supply them with optimal nutrition...
Morning Glories are called asagao in Romaji Japanese which means "Morning Face"...and the show quality plants are fed and well watered with loving care...
These plants never have yellow junky looking leaves on the lower section of the plant and look picture perfect for the tough competition in the many asagao shows.

Should you be or intend to be very interested in Morning Glories , you might want to seek out some of the specialized groups dedicated ONLY to all Morning Glories and then you will learn healthy facts from bad quasi-myths..

The main point could be shortened to = perhaps consider being more selective regarding different sources of information...

Good luck with your Morning Glories...

Ok thanks for the tips

This post was edited by AshleyG on Wed, Jul 31, 13 at 3:20

Ron-Con - forgive me for abbreviating your SN. Thank you for posting so much on the subject. You are clearly an expert! Last year I had a fair number of flowers as well as the problem you mentioned, 'yellow junky lower leaves' on my MG's. This year... thus far...no flowers! I added compost & container soil to the planter where the MG's were to grow...and bloom. :p-(

If you're already shaking your head about what I did to the soil, then brace yourself for what I guess was another mistake. I used Miracle Grow fertilizer for annuals! :-( I had no idea!

Anyway....in preparation for 'next' year, perhaps you can offer a suggestion or two for success? I have FULL sun in my Z6 yard. When you say that the Japanese do provide optimum nutrition....can you please tell me what kind of nutrition and how much??

As for watering...how do you know what is an optimum amount? Do you wait until the ground is fairly dry before watering again?

Thanks in advance!
Susan

Ron-Con - forgive me for abbreviating your SN. Thank you for posting so much on the subject. You are clearly an expert! Last year I had a fair number of flowers as well as the problem you mentioned, 'yellow junky lower leaves' on my MG's. This year... thus far...no flowers! I added compost & container soil to the planter where the MG's were to grow...and bloom. :p-(

If you're already shaking your head about what I did to the soil, then brace yourself for what I guess was another mistake. I used Miracle Grow fertilizer for annuals! :-( I had no idea!

Anyway....in preparation for 'next' year, perhaps you can offer a suggestion or two for success? I have FULL sun in my Z6 yard. When you say that the Japanese do provide optimum nutrition....can you please tell me what kind of nutrition and how much??

As for watering...how do you know what is an optimum amount? Do you wait until the ground is fairly dry before watering again?

Thanks in advance!
Susan

Ron-Con - forgive me for abbreviating your SN. Thank you for posting so much on the subject. You are clearly an expert! Last year I had a fair number of flowers as well as the problem you mentioned, 'yellow junky lower leaves' on my MG's. This year... thus far...no flowers! I added compost & container soil to the planter where the MG's were to grow...and bloom. :p-(

If you're already shaking your head about what I did to the soil, then brace yourself for what I guess was another mistake. I used Miracle Grow fertilizer for annuals! :-( I had no idea!

Anyway....in preparation for 'next' year, perhaps you can offer a suggestion or two for success? I have FULL sun in my Z6 yard. When you say that the Japanese do provide optimum nutrition....can you please tell me what kind of nutrition and how much??

As for watering...how do you know what is an optimum amount? Do you wait until the ground is fairly dry before watering again?

Thanks in advance!
Susan

OMG! Ron & everyone...apologies for submitting my post THREE times!! It didn't seem as though tapping 'Submit' the first and 2nd time had actually 'stuck'. Woops! I promise to be more careful in the future.

Sorry Susan

It happens. I thought you were making an emphatic effort to get your thoughts across. hahahaha

Susan,

I will address your questions although in a somewhat progressive manner...

1st, you can edit your extra posts (into shorter posts saying something like extra post #1 or Hello, Everyone, tell jokes etc) , by utilizing the edit post feature which is located to the right under where it says "Clippings" please see my image for a clear view of the edit function....it will only appear after your own posts , since you can only edit your own posts...

You mentioned :

"You are clearly an expert!"

No I never accept any postings referring to me as an expert as I am only only a 'constantly aspiring aficionado'...

Be sure you have the species properly identified...post photos of the packet , the seeds , the seedlings and the young plants with true leaves for feedback from the community.

You can use miracle grow but use the (phosphorus based) bloom booster formula...although there are better approaches that some time to learn because there are no instant magic answers...

"When you say that the Japanese do provide optimum nutrition....can you please tell me what kind of nutrition and how much?? "

A) Plants that are being grown in containers they use special clay , smoked rice hulls, manure - the exact amount will vary with the species and size of container.

B) Plants that are being grown directly in the ground = the formulation is tailored to fit each circumstance by advice from a more experienced local grower and / or by self experimentation...

"As for watering...how do you know what is an optimum amount? "

C) Monitor plant response...

"Do you wait until the ground is fairly dry before watering again?"

D) Depending on the species and intentions Some do , some don't...I personally prefer to always keep the soil at least moist , as this helps to keep the beneficial microbes alive...

Here is what I have discovered and that is that each location has it's own specialized factors which will respond to judicious adjustments of various components.

Depending on where the plants are going to be grown n containers (which has it's own variables) or directly in the ground (which has a different set of variables)...every plant doesn't respond to the same ratio of components...

Everyone wants a formula that will work optimally everywhere under all circumstances and *that* is a dream...
Reality requires that you experiment to find out what works best for you , in your area , with different species and other growing conditions.

There are no soil test kits that are reliable and the reason why is because they only measure how much of a select substance will dissolve in a given amount of acid over a short period of time...and although this may be better than no info at all...it DOES NOT tell you anything about how the elements or minerals are going to behave in a Living Soil rhizosphere type of environment.

Feed the Soil and allow the LIving Soil to feed the plants...

Use only pro-biotic substances and preferably OMRI rated.
https://www.omri.org/

Learn about how glauconite, zeolites and humic acids can keep the nutrients in the root environment and stop poisoning the ocean with overly soluble phosphorus and other nutrients which cause algal overgrowth...

Make your own compost...this is very important, because the ancient humic acids that are mined are already pre-loaded with aluminum and heavy metals...if you make your own compost and humic related acids , the humic acid will only be loaded with what you put in it...

Zeolites and other ion exchange type of clays and clay-like substances are better for ornamentals , because they are almost always pre-loaded with toxic elements that may be OKay for ornamentals but aren't something you want to eat.

Growing Food (?!) - then try to use only your own homemade compost which will contain fresh (low molecular weight) humic related acids.

Try and go over the basics I have mentioned (scout around on the web to see what you can find) and when you feel like you are ready for more information I will do what I can...

I think it is a good idea for people to actively participate in learning rather than simply just try and digest info meted out to them...

To Be Continued...

Here is a link that might be useful: Rhizosphere

This post was edited by ron_convolvulaceae on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 16:39

Hun what zone do you live in?