Moonvine

[roseycheeks]

I guess the moonvine in the picture window decided it was time to take off and grow! Here it is so far, I have a string tied to a piece of wire and tied to a nail in the top of the frame, and it IS climbing up rather quickly. I also took the pot that is next to it and trying to train the other moonvine and morining glory to do the same. I gave it a small shot of miracle-gro and it seems to have done the trick. I will post a picture and maybe you can tell me if you think it will bloom at least once this year. If it does my feet won't touch the ground for weeks. I guess what my hubby says, I can grow almost anything!

[rainbowgardener]

Hard to answer, since you didn't say where you are. It really helps to put your location information in your profile, so it shows under your screen name, like mine does. It is hard to answer ANY gardening question without regard to location -- maybe why your post did not get a response.

So it depends on where you are and how much time you have in your season, whether your moonflower vine has a chance of blooming this year. But unless you are quite far south, I'm guessing probably not. Moonflower is a summer blooming annual. I actually start mine indoors a week or two ahead of my average last frost date, under lights. But you wouldn't need to. It could also be planted in the ground once the soil warms up. For growing indoors in container, supplemental lighting might help. I don't know when you planted yours. It looks healthy, but small. Starting mine in early April, I think it was early -mid July when it started blooming. Even though yours is indoors and will not get frost killed, if you are in a northern area, days are getting shorter, so it will be harder for it to bloom, unless you are giving it lots of extra light.

Mine is in the ground and with all the rain we had this spring and summer, it got huge. It went all the way up the shepherd's hook it was planted next to. So I started training it over to the next shephard's hook 4 feet away. It is now a solid curtain of vine between the two poles, 4' x 7' high and sticking out in all directions and covered in blooms. Remarkable, I've never seen anything like it. And it is fun, because the shepherd's hooks have bird feeders on them. So now the vine is full of goldfinches hopping in and out of it to get to the feeders that are almost lost in it.

[roseycheeks]

Sorry, I forgot to put the zone where I am at, I am at zone 6. I planted these sometime this spring, I put a little of Miracle-Gro on it once and I don't know whether I can keep it alive this winter or not, we have a storm window we put on the outside to keep the wind and cold from coming in, I also have a flourescent lamp that I could keep on it. Can't move it because it is twining up to the nail in the windowframe. Do you think it will survive the winter where it is? Or when it starts to die down should I just let it die?

[rainbowgardener]

Well technically it is a tropical perennial. I grow them outdoors and have never tried bringing it in for the winter. Maybe you have inspired me to try. But I'm thinking to stay alive indoors it will need supplemental light (even if you have a really good south facing window, we just don't have enough hours of daylight in winter) and frequent misting, to counteract how dry our houses are in winter. If you are willing to work at it like that, you could give it a try, but I wouldn't expect it to bloom even so, unless you have high intensity lighting and really work at it. Otherwise, you would just be keeping it alive so that next spring it would be ready to take off.

Since you inspired me, I may dig up my giant one when it starts getting cold and cut it way back and bring it in.... Dunno . I collect seeds from it, but most of the seeds don't ripen up until the very end of the season, sometimes even after first frost. So to cut it back and bring it in in time, I would be sacrificing some of the seeds. Still thinking.....

[roseycheeks]

I have another question, my Datura plant is really getting big, is there some way I can get it out of the pot it is in without killing the vine? I don't want to kill either the vine or the Datura, but I am at a loss to figure out how to transplant it. Any suggestions will be helpful.[