Morning Glories

I've just been reading all this great information about winter sowing. I always run out room when it comes to starting seeds, so I would like to give it a try. I would like to do a flat of morning glories-is there still time in zone 4 to do this without nicking the seeds first? We probably have a good 1 1/2 mo of freezing temps yet to come. Do I just set them outside? Seems kind of mean after all these years of setting up lights and heat cables to protect the babies! I know this has probably been answered here-I promise to keep reading-but I would like to get them out tomorrow if it's possible.
Thanks-
Deb

It seems to me you'd have plenty of freeze/thaw time left to scarify the seed coats... go for it!

I'm planning to just soak and direct sow my "regular" mixed MG this year, but I'll be starting some Japanese MGs inside... I haven't heard from anybody who has wintersowed them successfully. But the regular ones do just fine!

I'm planning to wintersow some morning glories directly in the pot outside that they will stay in. I just need to figure out what kind of clear plastic cover I'm going to use to cover the pot - I know we're going to get some more snow here before we truly get spring.

Also - there has been discussion on another thread regarding wintersowing morning glories in hanging baskets so that they don't have to be transplanted. The idea was to try and use the hanging basket thingy (technical term) to create a frame for the mini-greenhouse.

Joanne

Thanks! I'm anxious to try it out-it opens up a whole new world of possibilities for me!
Deb

Last year I just sowed into the pots they were to grow in. I didn't soak them or even cover the container (I think I had seed planting overload and just wanted to get it done LOL). They were a little later than usual to flower but they did really well.

Arachide, do you recall what month is was that you sowed them?

It must have been the beginning of May. I remember we hadn't officially had our last frost day yet (usually May 15th). Morning Glories really want to grow. Two winters ago I created a new lasagna bed in the back yard. I raked all the leaves from the front yard and mixed them in with the dirt to decompose over the winter. Last summer the new bed was full of MGs growing all up and down my new rose bushes. I couldn't figure out how that happened since all MGs are in the front yard. Well, you guessed it but my dad had to point it out to me, I must have raked up seeds with the leaves in the front and they sprouted on their own in the new bed. Mother Nature at her best!

DMurray:

Morning Glories wintersow beautifully! No soaking needed! In zone 7, I sowed them last year in a plastic soda bottle and then transplanted them to containers. No problems with transplanting and they bloomed beautifully. This year I plan to wintersow them directly into hanging baskets, cover the baskets with plastic garment covers that you get from the cleaners, insert 4 straws to keep the plastic slightly elevated, tie the excess plastic in a knot on top & trim the excess.

Morning Glories are annuals and need the soil to be consistantly 60 degrees in order to germinate. You can sow them now or wait another month for your temps to warm up.

Critter:

I wintersowed Japanese MG's last year with absolutely no problems!

*now* you tell me, LOL... I have a whole flat's worth of JMG seeds soaking now, getting ready to pot them up and put them under the lights!

I did WS a couple varieties for which I had plenty of extra seeds, though, so now I'm more hopeful about them! :-)

Critter: It's not to late....sow them in containers & put them outside. The temps are suppose to jump up 25 degrees tomorrow!

Japanese M.G., "Hoshi Asago" (6/06)

Wintersown Japanese M.G., "Fuji no Momo" (8/06)

M.G. "Double Blue Picotee" (8/06)

***The above dates are when they were blooming, not when they were wintersown.

I started Blue Star and Double Blue Picotee seeds in flats and had 100% germination in most cases within two days. Now I know I planted way too early (Feb) and will wait until March or even early April next year. I have them all in separate 5 inch pots now ready to go outside hopefully by the end of next month or early May. I have my fingers crossed that they will continue to grown and thrive in two west facing windows until then :'( Deb, you should have no trouble starting them now. I didn't soak mine either. Good luck...to both of us.

I didn't know what a morning glory was until I started winter sowing. I bought seeds cause I thought they were so pretty. One of the first ones I WSed were "Tie-Dye Blue", which I later found out were Japanese MGs.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/30313/

And I did "Double Blue Picotee" too:

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/54336/

I sow MGs around mid-March, and usually have blooms by mid-June. Easy!


PV