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Morning Glory not flowering

michael.hookermichael.hooker Posts: 20
in Problem solving
I planted some Morning Glory seeds indoors and they have been outdoors growing away for some time.  One is in a pot, and growing up wire netting wrapped around a concrete washing line post (it has to be hidden somehow).  The leaves are quite small, there isn't much growth, but it has reached the top and there are occasionally flowers.  The rest are in soil and growing madly across a trellis on a 6 foot fence and trying to strangle passing neighbours the other side.  I sometimes wish they would succeed. They are also heading for my tomato plants.  But despite masses of lush foliage there are no flowers.

Does anyone know what the problem is likely to be?  Thanks.

Michael Hooker
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Posts

  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    Mine are not in flower yet either. They like the higher temperatures. I'm assuming you mean Ipomea, the coloured ones. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Mine are waiting for summer to arrive .... 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Mine (started in root trainers in a GH about 3 months ago) have only just started flowering this week - they do require a fair bit of sun and warmth, as @Bijdezee says.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    Some of mine have been flowering for a while but the more unusual white ones don’t even have buds! I won’t bother again with those. 
  • michael.hookermichael.hooker Posts: 20
    They are bright blue Ipomea variety.  I expect the flourishing ones will flower in due course, but the real question is why the weedy one in a pot is flowering when the vigorous ones 6 feet away in the soil along the same fence aren't.  They all get the same sunshine and the same rain and dose of assistance from the watering can.  They were all started indoors at the same time in coir plugs.  We have had, to be honest, rather more hot sun than I can deal with.  Could it be the case that the weedy one is stressed and doing its best to produce seeds before it is too late, while the good ones are relaxed and taking their time, spreading as far as they can so they can scatter their seed more widely and take over the world?
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    that is exactly the reason. I often find the same plant, grown in a pot , as in the garden, will flower earlier, as in my case, they don't get the same level of care.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • michael.hookermichael.hooker Posts: 20
    Thanks punkdoc.  I had been wondering, especially as I have a couple of hibiscus that were planted as seeds from someone else's plant decades ago and have gone on to become trees.  Some years they flower well quite early - as this year - others they leave it until later but then the flowers aren't so impressive.  A good torrent of rain always seems to help them.

    The one thing I am not going to do is plant another passion flower.  The last one we had seeded itself everywhere (although I considered it improved my neighbours' bramble and nettle paradises considerably, I don't think they even noticed).  Everyone who fought their way past it to get to our bell push thought it was lovely, but sadly it and its children proved stronger than our front porch, pulling all the joints apart until it collapsed.  This with its roots in the foulest clay soil and builder's rubble mix you can imagine.  And it was always fun explaining to the Jehovah's Witnesses why it was called a passion flower.  It was always news to them!  But I don't think my house can take another one.
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    Under stress and trying to set seed? 
  • michael.hookermichael.hooker Posts: 20
    Yes.  That's what I suggested and what punkdoc confirmed.  It has had flowers on and off since 20 June, so has a month's start on the healthier specimens.
  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 1,039
    If the soil is rich they will put on amazing greenery and late flowers, if the soil is poorer they will go for less green and quicker flower, as someone else said under stress they wand to set seed faster, if they enjoy the conditions too much they go lush and green. Like your analogy of them reaching out to strangle , mine are happily trying to move into every other pot and strangle the sweet peas!
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
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