Vines and Climbers: Vigna Caracalla-Corkscrew Vine Q&A, 1 by PudgyMudpies

PudgyMudpies wrote:
I found out something really interesting this morning. Maybe this will not come as any news to those of you that grow this beauty, but after 3+ years, I just caught on. LOL
I have 2 inground areas I grow the Corkies, and this year I planted 2 big pots. The inground plants are always covered with ants & I am not able to really get in and investigate as I would like. I had decided that the 2 pots I started would remain ant-free, and have been spraying ant poison around the base of the pots to keep them out. It has been working fairly well, but occasionally a vine will wander out & touch a tree or a fence, and suddenly it is swarming with ants. But I spray the whole plant good with soapy water & wait about 5 minutes, then I hose down the whole plant and whatever ants have not been killed yet seem to not be able to hold on & they fall down into the pot where the water is soapy bubbles & that finishes them off. But that is not what I wanted to tell you about.
As I said, I have not been able to really get in and explore the buds and when my first pot bloomed they were above my head, so still no exploring. But I have a pot on the deck that is on a short trellis & it just started blooming so I can scoot my chair up & explore to my hearts content. I tried something that Laurrie had told me about, squeezing the buds together to find the pollen, but I must be doing something wrong cuz I can't figure out what she is doing. Maybe she will post and give more details. I would like to try my hand with a paintbrush & see if I can do the ants job. But again, that is not what I discovered... What it was, is that those little roundish white knobs that I always assumed where chewed off buds? they are not! They actually exude a sticky substance! THAT is what is luring the ants! It is like syrup! How fascinating is that?
I know, that was pretty long winded to get to that little statement, but hey, I got there eventually! LOL So I think if any of you have interesting tidbits about the Corkies that you should post them here, so we can have a good thread of questions and answers.