HYACINTH BEAN VINE

Can anyone share experience in planting this from seed?

Thanks,

Tracey

Daisy,
They are very easy. Nick and soak for just a few hours ( I sometimes soak these and sometimes not, it works either way). Sow the depth of the seed, cover. Keep around degrees. One thing with these is do not let them get too wet, they will rot. They are easy to direct sow in the spring too. hope that helps
mj

Thanks mj !!

Can I start seeds in the house at any time, or should I wait til a few weeks before spring arrives. Maybe these would prefer to just be planted in the ground after the last frost.

Suggestions anyone?

You can start the house but I'd wait till closer to spring unless you have lots of light for them. If you plant them outside wait till the soil warms up some. I've always started inside about 3-4 weeks before our "last frost" which is a little earlier than yours, but I don't put them outside till night time temps are consistently in the upper 60's.

mj, So they transplant well from seedling pot to ground? I think I will wait a few weeks before starting them..

Thanks for the help.

I've moved them to bigger pots and also transplanted into the ground. Even transplanted one that was about 3 feet tall from a large pot to the ground.Had no issues.

Thanks again mj

They'll not do well until soil temps (not just air temps) are warm. I'd start them no more than a month before you intend to transplant...whenever your soil temps are good for planting beans. Like most beans they do not like to be transplanted so plant them in peat pots or waxed paper cups with potting soil. If the pots deteriorate before the weather warms pot them up in similar containers or make newspaper pots. Plop the whole plant and pot in the ground. They'll do better if not removed from the container they have been growing in. I freeze my seed as well as nick it. Mine grow more than twenty feet in a N. GA season.
Laurel

Great info MaypopLaurel... Do you also grow Passiflora? I know there is one called Maypop!!

I bought peat pots to grow them in and I keep staring at them wanting to pot 'em up, but I know the time is not right.

I will follow the instruction given above.. Thanks to both of you for helping me with them new task.

Tracey

They seem to take forevvver to flower, if you're impatient like me. In my zone, I started them a month or so early in paper pots, and still didn't get more than a couple ripe seeds before the temps dropped. But you should be fine, three zones warmer.

Sorry for the long delay, Tracey. I do grow Maypops but not on purpose. They are wild at our cottage in North Georgia. Maypop is a common name for all Passion Flowers or Passifloras. Our place is called Maypop for the Maypops, thus my name here.

Nice plant DS and in 5b no less!

Those bean vines are very robust in our zones. I love those vines, but was shocked how much and far it grew in a season. Nothing a little snipping doesn't cure.

Thats good to know Judd. I plan to have them climb the screen my hubby built to hide the ac unit. He built it far enough away so we wouldnt have to worry too much about it getting into the unit... I'll just have to prune it well to be sure .. I'm excited and just waiting til prob mid to late Feb to start them indoors...

Good information. Think they can be wintersowed?

Daisy I have grew these for a copuple years and last year it reached about 12 feet high had on trellis in front of my bird house thats on a pole behind it and it covered my bird house and about 3 feet above it the bird house is about 6 or 7 feet high but it was really pretty.

sounds gorgeous

Maypop, do you freeze other seeds before nicking?

Gosh, where the heck were we here. lol It depends on the seed, Birder. In the vine dept, I freeze Moonflowers but refrigerate Morning Glories and garden beans. I keep Zinnias in an open bowl as dried flowers and use the bowl to seed out the garden in Spring. I keep all open pollinated/heirloom seed for the veggie garden in the fridge or freezer. Are there particular seeds you're wanting to know about?
Laurel

Really? freeze moon flower seeds. I have a few left over from a few years ago that the vine produced..wonder if I should give that a whirl.

Well, there was a discussion on nicking nasturtium seeds and someone wondered if you could freeze them instead of nicking them?

Moonflowers are easy to grow if you can germ. them, but what a pain to get them to sprout! I've tried with modest success, then tossed the seeds in the general direction of where the sprouted seeds were only to have them come up months and years later! They are warm weather vines of course and don't need to freeze. The idea here is that by freezing you can crack that seed coat. Some recommend freezing and thawing multiple times. Can't say what works best. I've cut them with knives, sanded them with sandpaper, frozen them and soaked them. I've combined the aforementioned as well. Maybe I'll try rolling over them with the tractor this year. :>) The good news is our Moonflowers are from saved seed going on close to twenty years and some always come up. The flowers are spectacular and the moths, especially lunas, are a unique experience to observe.

my problem was getting them to open fully...still haven't figured it out

Maypop, wow, Moonvines have sprouted for easily with nicking and soaking...I have had them root though if kept a little too moist. They do like heat for germination. Heat mats work great for them.
Rj....do you have any light source near your moonvines? One I had under an outside floodlight did that..other's not near it opened just fine...

I'm in 7b and I haven't had any trouble getting moonflowers to grow - I usually just soak mine and then stick 'em in the ground. LOVE those moonflowers!! Here's my favorite picture. Not sure about the unopened ones I agree it might be some light source keeping them from opening completely.

Aloha,

I soak moon vine seeds (and morning glories) in water with a splash of hydrogen peroxide added - most sprout overnight, or within 1 day for me - no nicking needed! Worked well on the hyacinth beans too.

Jenn

I tried a hyacinth bean vine last year but I didn't have luck with it. I think they look neat so I may give it another try:)

I have none now because it was so difficult to get them to open. I was thinking it was too hot for them here or something. They would try to open, but more did not than did.

Rj, maybe put them in a part shade location if you didn't have them there already. I do that with a lot of ones that say Full Sun here because it gets so hot. They do fine then.

okay, that is good advice- I know..I laugh about the full sun thing, doesn't work that well for us on many things.

I love this vine, but have to admit that is is pretty invasive here for me.. The seeds reseed absolutely everywhere...Still love it tho.. Where I don't want it, I just pull, pull, and spray and spray! lol

Larkie

I just planted mine inside.. I have been misting them.. but right now I'm in Chicago visiting family for the week. I sure hope my hubby remembers to mist them...

Wow! When I came back home they had sprouted and are about a foot long.. : )

I'm going to wait a few more days and put them in the ground. I'm pretty sure we have seen our last frost...

I have a very shady yard and have had trouble starting several vines, including morning glory, hops, and porcelain berry, but this summer the hyacinth beans did well on an obelisk in a spot with dappled sun, and now I'm enjoying the colorful pods.

I got one to grow in a pot outside last year but this year the seeds did nothing, not sure why either. The one I had was in direct sun most of the time. It only grew about 3 feet too, not large like they are supposed to. I loved it though.

Hellnzn11, I didn't have much luck with them in 2009, either. Maybe too much sun or heat? You gotta try again!

I will because it was so pretty the first time. It reminded me of little Orchids.

I agree - the hyacinth beans and sweet peas look like little orchids, and the colors in them change from day to day.

The color is almost fluorescent purple.

I have better luck putting my h.bean seed in a small flower pots with part sand. They tend to rot otherwise. Then, plant them where I want to. I don't know if this will help anyone or not.