A Detailed Guide to the Latest Cultivation Methods for Morning Glory
Morning glory is a very common flowering plant in daily life, also known as qianniu, trumpet flower, jinjiaolazi, large morning glory, qinniangzi, etc. Its corolla is trumpet-shaped, and its flower colors are bright and beautiful. Besides being cultivated for ornamental purposes, its seeds are a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, with effects of promoting diuresis, expelling phlegm, and killing insects. Now let us take a look at the cultivation methods for morning glory!
Growth Habits of Morning Glory
Morning glory is a flower with very strong vitality. It likes a mild climate, ample sunlight, and a humid, ventilated environment. Morning glory also has strong adaptability to soil, is relatively tolerant of drought, salt, and alkali, and is not afraid of high temperatures and summer heat. It is a deep-rooted plant, so soil for ground planting should be deep. However, large seedlings of morning glory do not tolerate transplanting, and friends who like morning glory must pay attention to this point.
Propagation Methods for Morning Glory
Morning glory is usually propagated by seeds. The sowing period is spring and summer, and sowing is suitable at 20-25°C. It can bloom in summer and autumn. When sowing, the seeds need to be soaked in warm water for 4-6 hours, appropriately treated with sulfuric acid, sprinkled into the soil, and covered with about 1 cm of soil. Keep the soil moist, and germination occurs in about 5-6 days. After two leaves have grown, it can be transplanted.
Cultivation Methods for Morning Glory
1. Planting: When planting morning glory, sow 4-5 seeds per pot and crack the seed coat slightly. Keep the temperature at 25°C, and germination occurs in about 7 days. When leaves grow, it can be transplanted, separating the pot with soil. When planting morning glory, first choose soil with good drainage, provide appropriate ventilation and sufficient sunlight, and water it. Apply dilute fertilizer once every half month, control the amount of nitrogen fertilizer well, and prevent the stems and leaves from growing too luxuriantly.
2. Final planting: When the seedlings grow 6 to 7 leaves and are about to extend vines, take out the whole root ball and repot it into a standard pot (inner diameter 24 cm) for final planting. The potting soil should be enriched culture soil, and apply 50 g of hoof pieces as base fertilizer, then water thoroughly after planting. Morning glory is not afraid of heavy fertilizer, and horse hoof, cooked sesame residue, etc. can be used as base fertilizer. The root system development of morning glory needs temperature, and black pots absorb heat better than red pots. Turn the pot frequently to make sunlight exposure even and allow the root system to develop fully.
3. Soil: Potted morning glory is suitable in early April, using half ordinary culture soil and half plain sandy soil. When potting, remove 1 cm from the lower end of the main root and plant it in a No. 2 tube pot with ordinary culture soil, one plant per pot. Note that when transplanting morning glory in the open ground, the main root must never be injured. Transplant seedlings while they are small and early, and the larger the soil ball, the better.
4. Water and fertilizer: For cultivating morning glory, choose culture soil with good drainage, provide sufficient sunlight and a well-ventilated environment. During the growth period, water when the soil surface is slightly dry, and apply dilute liquid fertilizer once every half month. Nitrogen fertilizer should not be too much, so as to avoid overly luxuriant stems and leaves. Potted plants need supports to hold them up.
5. Pinching: After the potting soil has settled, insert a 1 m long thin bamboo pole straight into the center of the pot. Then use about 3 m of galvanized wire, wrap one end around the bamboo pole level with the soil surface, and then coil upward from the pot mouth to form an evenly shaped tower-like spiral frame, large at the bottom and small at the top. Fix the upper end of the wire to the top of the bamboo pole. Morning glory is a left-twining plant, so the coiling direction of the galvanized wire must conform to morning glory's habit of twining to the left. When the main vine climbs along the wire to the top of the pole, pinch off the growing tip. Pinch the side vines each time they grow to 6 to 7 leaves. In this way, the flowers can be large and the vines can keep growing and blooming.
6. Diseases and pests: Morning glory is mainly susceptible to white rust. The affected parts are mainly leaves, petioles, and tender stems. On affected leaves, small light green spots first appear. If this occurs, promptly pull out and destroy diseased plants to reduce infection of seeds. Select disease-free seeds as propagation seeds. Before sowing, disinfect the seeds and avoid crop rotation with plants in the Convolvulaceae family. In the early stage of disease, spray 1% Bordeaux mixture or 50% Yimeijing 500-fold solution. Spraying once every 10-15 days has a good control effect.
7. Seed saving: Good varieties must have their seeds saved well. After they mature in autumn, collect the seeds, classify, label, and store them. If variations appear, they should be preserved with even greater care. For hybridization of morning glory, after selecting the female parent and male parent, cut off the upper end of the flower bud at dusk on the day before flowering, then remove the stamens, and wrap it with a wax paper bag. The next morning, remove the wax paper bag, use the stamens of the male parent for artificial pollination, and then wrap it again with a wax paper bag. After one or two weeks, the wax paper bag can be removed, but the pollinated seed pod must be marked and recorded well. The following year, all hybrid seeds should be planted well, and after flowering, the results can be observed, from which the effects of various genetic factors can be studied.