Help me - how can I get seeds next of this morning glory???

I've checked the postings and don't seem to see this answered:

I have just sown this wonderful little picotee morning glory and want to make sure I have enough to share next year - how can I make sure I get this pollinated correctly so it breeds true? Where's my resident expert on all things plants 'Equilibrium' and all you wonderful experts out there????

Since I grow all the varieties of morning glories I can possibly find, cross pollination is a big possibility, anyone have seeds they want ta share???? lol.......

IEdited cause my fingers just type faster than my brain :)

This message was edited Mar 8, 2005 10:39 PM

ok - I googled "Ipomoea" parts and found this link:

http://www.cs.umb.edu/~whaber/Monte/Plant/Conv/conv-part.html

Can I strip away the fpetals and fertilize the upside down part of the ovary nectar ring without killing the whole kit and caboodle? I thought then I could put a plastic bag around it so I can be sure it was pollinated the way I want - anyone???

Mindy

Hi Mindy,
MG's are self pollinating, but cross pollination can be a problem. I think the accepted distance for it to be safe is 100-150 feet or some huge number like that. I personally could only grow one variety in that case. LOL
What I did last year when I grew 60+ varieties was go out at night or at the buttcrack of dawn & tie each bud shut. Yeah, times that by 60 & you know why I burned out & am only growing 1 MG seed this year. LOL
If you do not want to go to that much work, just tie off a few (I used wire twisty ties that come in a box of plastic bags) and make sure that you use a twisty tie around the flower and 1 around the stem cuz once the bloom falls off, there goes that twisty.
Hope that helps.
Donna

I don't know why you couldn't bag the blossoms the same way people have mentioned for tomato and pepper seeds. This doesn't mean a plastic bag though (wouldn't the blossom just rot in a warm baggie?). I'm going to use squares of that spun poly row cover to bag tomato & pepper blossom clusters this year, fastened with a twistie or maybe a stretchy length cut from an old nylon stocking if I'm worried about the twistie injuring the stem. I like the idea of tying flowerbuds shut on morning glories -- let them make their own bags!

Thank you both for your advice - now that's what i call dedication Donna! You have me panting over those morning glories. Do you have a picture?

I was thinking about making little bags out of fine netting like that used for a brides dress. I thought that perhaps nylon stockings might capture too much of the water but the kind of netting for under a brides dress might be fine enough and not hold water???). Sew a seam on top and bottom, put string through it, stitch into bag and then tie it on to the plant. I did think of this method to capture daylily seeds but should work for everything eh> Good advice attaching it to the plant also - I did think if I used red netting (that would have been SOME bride dresss ), I might be able to see it better! I lke you idea much better!

Donna, did you just allow nature to fertilize it or did you? Someone else told me emailed me to get stiff paintbrush and use that but I thought if I just stuck the whole stamen in there - it wouldn't hurt the plant and I could ensure fertilization. What do you two think?
Mindy

I don't think tulle (the netting I think you were talking about) will prevent cross-pollination, although it sounds like it would work fine for catching seeds. Consider making your little bags from row cover material instead.

Assuming morning glory flowers are both male & female (this will be my first year trying to grow MGs, so I'm no expert), tying the blossom shut like Donna suggested and maybe giving it a little shake should ensure fertilization. I've used the paintbrush technique on other flowers (like my lemon tree in winter when it's inside), but never a stiff brush -- you want a nice soft one! Applying pistol to stamen (or is the other way around) should also work fine, but using a little paintbrush or makup brush lets you pick up pollen from each flower & transfer it to the next as you go.

Your bags sound like a lot of work. MG's produce LOTS of flowers.
I don't know if you have seen this site, very informative.
http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/Asagao/Yoneda_DB/E/Introduction/htmls/20.html
that is the link for the exact page which talks about the pistils (female) & stamens (male). MG's contain both & are self pollinating.
To navigate around this site, you will see top & bottom the word CONTENTS that will take you to the main index. You can also use the arrows on either side of CONTENTS to go back a page or forward a page.
Hope that gives you plenty of info.
Oh, and I feel I need to clear up one thing that I said, I did not tie off tightly shut buds, only as they were starting to unfurl.