pepper4
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Trumpet vine

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right place so if not any advice would be appreciated. I have a trumpet vine that is starting to produce seed pods. There a few friends of mine that would like seed from my plant. How do you go about getting the seeds from the pods. Do you take the pods off and leave the seeds in to dry or do you cut open the pods and dry out the seeds? What kind of care should I do with the seeds once they are out of the pod? Thanks for any help.

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Kisal
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The seeds need 2 months of cold treatment in order to sprout. You can do that in your refrigerator. If you live in an area that has cold winters, you can just sow the seed outdoors in the fall. If you prefer, you can wait until spring to sow the seed, but then it will be necessary to stratify each seed (nick/chip it with a knife or file) to help it sprout. For spring planting, it might also help to soak the seed in water overnight.

If you want to start the seeds in pots indoors, keep them in your refrigerator for 2 months, then lay them on top of moist soil in a pot. Do not cover the seed. Cover the pot with clear plastic, to keep in moisture. It should take approximately 2 to 3 weeks for the seed to sprout.

I find it far easier to start new Trumpetvine plants from the suckers. :)

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rainbowgardener
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I'm thinking because you said pods you mean the trumpet creeper, campsis radicans https://www.easywildflowers.com/quality/cam.rad.htm

There is a honeysuckle trumpet vine, which is a lonicera, related to honeysuckle shrubs, but it makes berries not seed pods.

Leave the pods on the vine until they turn brown and dry. Then you can easily open the pod and you will find inside hundreds (it seems like!) of seeds, thinner than sheets of paper.

I've never tried growing them from seed, but I'm assuming that they have a pretty low germination rate. I have a huge trumpet creeper vine, that I have to keep cutting back to keep it from swallowing our house whole. It produces many, many of those pods full of seeds each year and yet our yard (thankfully!) is NOT full of trumpet creeper, just a few here and there. So you will have to take some care to get it started.

" Seeds are prepared for germination by stratifying them in moist sand for 60 days at 4oC and 30% relative humidity. Fungicide should be added to the sand to prevent mildew formation. For spring outplanting, seeds are sown in early fall. Sixty percent germination will occur within two weeks of removal from stratification conditions. There is no special treatment required for establishment other than monitoring for water needs.

During the active growth phase, plants will need to be cutback to encourage root growth and prevent the tangling of foliage. Seedlings will need to harden in winter-like temperatures before outplanting."
https://www.easywildflowers.com/quality/cam.rad.htm

Your vine will be much easier to propagate from cuttings, which root easily.

Word of warning -- NEVER make the mistake I did and plant it growing up the side of your house!

planter
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Location: South Shore MA/ Z6?

Suckers you say Kisal!! I know of some BIG roadside Trumpets that might get a visit! Are Trumpet suckers easy to harvest??
I'm not sure I can find a place where they will get enough light but if not I wouldn't mind putting a few in the nursery for giving away as I am the giver especially when it's something that propogates easily!!
I do climbing hydrangea by the ton and an old guy I know who I help in the garden is giving me both Japanese and Korean stewartia seedlings as well as all the Styrac "pink chimes" I want ( I hope they come true from seed).

I don't even need those particular plants but what the heck. :wink:

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Kisal
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Yes, suckers are easiest way to start trumpet vine, IMO. Like RG, I have some large Trumpet vines in my yard, and I let the seed pods dry on the plant every year. It seems that the only new plants I get are from suckers, though, because they're always attached to one of my big plants by a stolon. The seeds certainly must disperse naturally, but they don't seem to germinate all that easily ... not where I live, anyway.

I find about 3 or 4 new suckers every year, and if I want to keep them, I just dig them up with a reasonably-sized root ball and replant them where I want them to grow. I dig them when they're between 6" to 1 foot in height, because they're easy for me to handle at that size. That's how I got my first Trumpet vine ... a friend dug up a couple of suckers from his yard and gave them to me. One died, but the other flourished, and I've started 2 new plants from suckers from it. :)

pepper4
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I don't know if pods was the right term but I think so. They sort of look like a large green beans. Advice was leave them on the vine until they turn brown and dry, oops. I already picked off about 8 of them and they were green Marlingardener, should I toss them and wait for others to turn brown? rainbowgardener, Now you tell me. LOL I planted it about 10 years ago and I know what you mean by swallowing up the house. I intended on it growing down a chain link fence which it does but the fence is butted up to the house and I am constantly cutting it down because it goes up the side of the house. I get alot of suckers in my yard and flower bed near the trumpet vine. Oh it is the orange kind. Just keep digging them up or mowing over them but it seems like over night they are back again :shock: I think I will give them some of the pods and some cuttings to root. They can try both. Thanks for all the input guys :)

pepper4
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Marlingardener, Thanks! From my experience I think it grows rampant in Ohio also. Love the plant for the privacy, flowers and hummingbirds but it is hard to maintain. Probably wouldn't plant if I had a do over or I wish I had done alot of research first :oops: :cry:



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