The morning glory is a magnificent morning glory plant, which, in contrast to the much smaller flowering bindweed and field bindweed, is valued by many garden owners. Most gardeners grow the plants themselves from seeds because it requires little maintenance.
How do you grow morning glory from seeds?
Morning bindweed seeds are soaked in lukewarm water for a few hours to promote germination, then soaked for approx. Sow 0.5 cm deep in nutrient-rich soil and germinate at a room temperature of 18-20 degrees Celsius. After 10-14 days the young plants can then be planted out in the garden.
Special features of seeds
The seeds of the morning glory usually have a brownish surface and are oval to elongated, but quite irregular in shape. Before sowing, they are ideally placed in lukewarm water for a few hours to soak in order to accelerate the germination phase. The following factors are important when sowing:
- Dark germinators (the seeds should be covered with about 0.5 centimeters of soil)
- Germination time: 10 – 14 days
- optimal germination temperature: 18 – 20 degrees Celsius
The seeds are relatively small, so there are around 40 seeds in one gram of seeds. To get a head start on growth in spring, morning glories are usually preferred indoors, as the window sill has exactly the right germination temperature in spring.
Prefer young plants from seeds indoors
So that the plants have a certain shoot length after the ice saints in May, morning glories are usually sown on the windowsill from the end of March. To avoid pricking out the delicate plants with their even more sensitive roots later, 3 to 4 seeds should always be sown together in a rotting plant pot (€19.00 at Amazon). When sowing, it is also important to have a nutritious and water-storing substrate so that the plants do not dry out so quickly in the sunniest possible locations. After the last night frosts and a few days of hourly hardening outdoors, the morning glories can be planted in the garden. You can place these in the ground at a slight angle in the direction of the respective trellis to make it easier to climb the climbing aid.
Harvest seeds from plants yourself
You can harvest the seeds directly from your own plants for the next season if you don't remove wilted flowers straight away. The short-blooming funnel flowers quickly form green seed capsules, which become increasingly brown over time. As soon as they appear brittle and dried out, the seeds inside the capsules are fully ripe. Then take a plastic bag or a screw-top jar to grab as many seeds as possible when collecting the seed capsules. After removing the capsule residue, allow the seeds to dry a little before storing them in an airtight container.
Tip
Since morning glory seeds contain a particularly high dose of hallucinogenic toxins, they should only be clearly labeled in the house and kept out of the reach of children.