Moonflower trouble

I started this moonflower inside in about March and transplanted it outside in late May/early June. It took a while, but it finally has started to flourish and grow up my trellis at a really fast rate. But....no blooms! I've never had such trouble with a moonflower. I used to grow them in container and they'd bloom up a storm.

There's not even anything resembling buds at the nodes (I checked in case they were drying up or rotting or something). Oh, and also I have checked for blooms at night, still nothing. I'm feeding once a week with 24-8-16 and having no other problems in the garden, besides slugs (grrr).

Is there anything I'm doing wrong or should do differently to make her bloom?? Here's a pic to show how big it's gotten, drooping a little in the noonday sun.
Susanne

She's just a little fellow. Give her more time.

Right.. when mine are that short there's never any blooms yet.. mine are about6-8' tall now.. anr are blooming ..funnythingis..one night there will be adozen blooms.. and a few nights later..none... I think they sulk some if they have got on the dry side.. and I no longer have leaves as far down as yours is tall..
is yours in full sun...mine don't bloom well till they grow up to where thay have it..... Gordon

Ohhh ok. I wonder if they bloom faster when root bound. I have had a 3 footer bloom in a container before.

6-8' though....so my trellis is about to dissappear you're telling me? :) I'd love to see pictures of your huge ones!

It is in full day full sun. The leaves seem very happy- some as big as my hand. I'll be watching for more growth and then some blooms.
Thank you for the help! I guess I was just getting a little antsy.

Same story here in GJ, Art'n. No buds on mine yet either. It'll get there.
(They do bloom when root-bound. One winter I started some too early in one-inch pots, and one of them bloomed when it was a four-inch vine indoors! You've got to love anything with such a will.)

I lived near Key West and moonflowers grew wild all over the place. I picked buds about to open and put them in a bowl of water on the table before dinner and my guests always appreciated them as they opened and filled the bowl with big beautiful blooms during dinner!
Tsewyek

Art n Garden.. well here's a few pictures.. I don't think of them as being giant this year..although quite long... they seemed to grow up a good bit before they flowered.. to show them.. the first picture is them up out of their container.. to the top of an 8' trellis ..... Gordon

Art n Garden... OK they go from the container up to the top of the 8' trellis... there they leave the trellis on a bit of fishing line up twards the top of the TV antenna... they have made about 8 ' of length on this second leg... so I guess most of the flowering now is up about 16 feet from their container beginning... and they arestill going.....to about 25 ft in length surely before they stop with the comming frosts.. I guess as they are 16' now.. [ and up in midair ] that's the reason they dry out so fast.. then sulk
TSEWYEK.. interesting use of the buds.. I'd tried using theopenflowers.. butthey don'thold up real well..
at what point in theflower do you break them off for the water bowl...
how much water are they in
wouldn't they just sink..
do you secure the ends to the botom in some way .
anychance of getting a picture [ or two ] of how they look in starting in the bowl... thanks Gordon

Wow Gordon you weren't kidding! That's really cool how you have them growing up fishing line like that. Thank you for the pictures.

Good to know Kenton. You've probably got a little more heat there than I do, no? I wonder if that helps. I didn't remember how much I like the leaves by themselves. I'd be ok with just them. Do they reseed at all or should I be sure to collect plenty seeds for next year?

tsewyek- I agree, neat way to use the blooms! I'd love to hear more too.

In my experience they will bloom sooner in a container. The slight stress of being root-bound causes them to bloom and produce seed.

I agree with rootbound plants blooming also, but you may also want to consider holding off on the fertilizer.
I've always been told not to fertilize morning glory type vines, because they'll spend all their energy on foliage, instead of blooms...
-T

Art N ...Well..they grow up there all by them selves.. it is heavy fishing line... maybe 150 Lb test.. as it grows up to the TV antenna.. and down the other side.. behaving like guide wires.. taking force from either side... on the other side of the moonflower/morningglory's 4 lines... I have it tied to the fence with my virgins bower and a raft of passion flowers.. climbing up from the other side...
There I was thinking the blooms were spurred on by them growing up and reaching full sun .. where it perhaps might have them just getting pot bound.. pot bound for them is just a decrease in water availability here... they do dry out so quickly... got to get them watered this morning... it's the hottest day of the year for us today.. but it only feels like 105 *... making my roof temps about over 150 *F ++... I'd imagine.. a light breeze off the roof... is like a convection oven... so the ones growing way up off the roof will do OK..
here's the flowers on the other side of the lines... Gordon


This message was edited Aug 7, 2007 8:40 AM

Seedpicker- I was afraid that was my problem as well. They were so slow to start after I took them out of the container after about 2 months that I thought fertilizer was my answer. And now I have loovely big leaves, but no blooms. I'll hold back and see what happens.

Gordon- I bet that is soo pretty with the bower vine and the passis. You garden on a building terrace, right? I think I remember pictures of your gorgeous gardens. I can imagine it gets pretty toasty up there!

I also think it is the temperature...Like Gordon's which are happy in the heat, they love it hot...I'm several zones warmer than you, and mine don't usually get going until mid-summer...blooms not until the end of summer/beginng of fall...
-T

Art N
Also...which I didn't notice before... your ferts have way too much nitrogen to flower easily...flip over to a bloom booster type..high middle number in relation to the first or last number
Gordon

ArtN, the seeds do not overwinter, so they must be collected. They have to get a fairly early start at blooming to have mature seed in time. Upon last inspection, mine has buds now.
Praying for a long autumn...

Oo me too. Thinking lots of long autumn thoughts. Good to know I have to collect the seeds. I think the seeds that started these plants were from several seasons ago. Apparently they last better than most.

I was afraid that the fertilizer might not be great. It was super cheap and I plan to start using alfalfa soon, so I may just take my chances this year.