Can Moonflowers Be Trimmed Back?

[emmdavies]

I am thinking about growing some moonflowers for the summertime, I have already soaked 3 seeds for 24 hours and put them in a pot.
I got the seeds at Lowe's and they are annual and the vine type, not the bush.

I live in an apartment, and they don't seem to have an issue with me gardening at all. I am going to make a trellis (about 5-6 feet) for the moonflowers if they sprout and keep them away from the walls, even though they are just annual.

But I am wondering, I know they can grow like crazy, so in case they do try to crawl up my apartment building, can I cut them back? Or will that harm them?

I have read people who have moonflower bushes cut them without any problems at all, but I wasn't sure if this was the case with the vine.

Thanks for your help!

[rainbowgardener]

Once it is growing well the moonflower can be trimmed back as long as you don't over do it. It doesn't start blooming until well in to summer anyway, so too much trimming will definitely slow down the blooming.

[emmdavies]

Thanks!

[applestar]

There's a point in mid summer when they start taking off and growing a lot of side-shoots. That's when you really have to keep on them and prune them back if you don't want them to eat your porch or house, etc. Mine grew to ceiling of the porch and then tried to get past the overhang by supporting each other, managed to get a vine-hold on the rain gutter and up and over before DH declared them danger to the gutter ("They're foing to rip the gutter off!")and cut them down before a hurricane came through....

But they are twining vines and can't crawl up a flat surface -- they are not even good at getting up a thick trellis -- so you may need to give them some twine, string, etc. to climb until they can start climbing on each other.

[emmdavies]

Interesting! Thanks for the info. Mine have yet to sprout, I sowed them about a month ago, and I keep the soil moist but not too wet, and they are outside in a terracotta pot as the weather has been highs of 87 here lately! I even soaked them for 24 hours to help them germinate. How do I know if they're not germinating? I don't want to dig down to find that they are actually about to sprout and risk hurting them or something.

Any suggestions?

[rainbowgardener]

If you planted them a month ago and they haven't sprouted, I'm betting they have rotted away and are gone. You can dig around and see if you can find any. If you find some, you can plant them back and you won't have hurt it.

Otherwise, I would plant some more. Even with the soaking, they can be a little slow, but they should have showed themselves in a couple weeks.

[emmdavies]

So I dug and found them, one was beginning to push a white root out and the others look like they are about to as well, so I planted them again about 3/4 an inch down (I had to Google it). Last time they were a bit further down than that, and I can't find the package I got them in so I'm not sure if I sowed them too far down on accident which was causing them to take longer to germinate or if the package told me to put them 1 or 2 inches down in the soil.

Does 3/4 an inch sound okay? I hope to see them sprout in a few weeks!

[applestar]

Most seed should be sowed twice the thickness of its thinnest thickness (if that makes sense) if sowing indoors, and thickest thickness/diameter if sowing outdoors in the open.

[emmdavies]

I'm starting to see a sprout push it's way up!

When should I place a trellis in the pot??