Info. on 'corkscrew' or' shell' vine , wisteria won't flower

17 years ago

I have some seedlings growing of a 'corkscrew' or 'shell' vine (vigna caracalla). Would anyone have any experience in growing this & have suggestions for me as to where to plant it .... shade, sun, wet, dry, etc.? I understand it will be an annual here in zone 7.

Also, I have a wisteria vine that I trained on the top rail of a chain link fence. It has never flowered & wonder what I can do to get it to produce flower buds. It is not overwatered or fertilized (I was told over doing this might be the cause)& I have another vine trained as a tree & it is just loaded with flowers every year!

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Comments (7)

thistle
17 years ago
I grow Corkscrew vine every year,I just love it's fragrance.Mine grows up the front of a 15ft South facing deck,mostly full sun.Unfortunately I have never been able to harvest seeds from the vine because my season is too short,the seeds are rather expensive, but they are worth it.
I also have a 12 year old fussy Wisteria.I have had a few sporadic blooms on it in the Spring,but the buds usually get frozen before they get a chance to flower.
I know from experience that improper pruning is the most common cause of non flowering Wisteria.There are many sites that will provide information on the correct proceedure of doing this,I'm sorry I can't link you to any at this time I have not saved the info.
Good Luck with your vines, enjoy!
brian_swift
16 years ago
The previous post from thistle is correct - pruning, pruning, pruning! Let me guess: the one trained into a tree gets pruned regularly to maintain the tree shape, and the one on the fence just grows wild? There's your answer right there. You have got to stay on top of these things or else they just spread leafy vines everywhere.

You have to know a couple of things about how they grow to get it right. Google "pruning wisteria" for more info. To quickly summarize... The flower buds are set at the end of the summer, then grow out and bloom in the spring. The green leafy runners that the vine sends out do not produce any flowers. If you pinch them off the new ones after they have six or eight nodes (sets of leaves), they will develop side shoots that may flower later in the spring or the next year.

I have a 25x10 foot wistera here in Chicago that blossoms consistently. I am training it to grow and cover a two-story brick wall, so I am pruning and rearranging it all the time to grow where I want it. I also have another in the same spot. It has never bloomed (it started as just a six-inch sprout two years ago!) but then I have also never pruned it.

On 90+ degree days, these things are rampant. I have seen either of them extend a shoot by a foot from one day to the next! When it's cooler, in the 70s, they will barely grow at all.
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hi. just moved into a new house and found a plant that i dont know. should i wipe it out as a weed? or cultivate it as something good? sorry i cant figure out how to upload my pix here. the plant seems to be a vine with multiple stems/stalks coming out of the same spot in the ground. its stems/stalks are 1/4 inch+ thick, purple (blue? i cant tell colors well.) with short, thick thorns. the thorns are spaced a few inches apart and 2-3 of them appear on opposite sides of the stem. (honestly, they remind me of rose thorns.) the stems/stalks are long (3-5 feet) and bow slightly under their own weight. leaves are slightly long, serrated, and in groups of 3 or 5. when the tip of a stalk meets the ground, it plants roots. i have not seen flowers or berries....yet. it climbs the fence near it, so i am guessing it is a vine of some sort. but it might be a bush. i really cant tell the difference here. as you can all tell, i am not any sort of expert on plants. that is why i am asking for help here. thanks in advance.
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root, yeah- i kind of recall those pretty pix. so many things do well with morning sun- it sounds like a great spot. i may be able to bring you asarina babes in spring, but i don't think they normally show up til it warms up nicely. i'll keep my eyes peeled. it's much more subtle than mandevilla, though, that's for sure! and it's only annual, but if you get it there it'll seed around. crossing my fingers for your mandevilla. someone brought little ones to the fall swap and i grabbed one. not sure if it's still going or not- it's in the basement, dormant. the bowtie is amazing (i saw it in person at JCRA one time and about peed myself), but i have yet to find a seed source and plants are pricey and hard to find. i've not seen it again at JCRA- and that was about 4-5 yrs ago. john, if they're issai you don't have to worry as much. it's self fertile, for one thing , tho it does better with a male pollinator, but it's also not early as crazy vigorous as the regular hardies. and that's a really good thing, actually! means you won't have to prune 2-4x a summer like i do/should. my small 4 or 5 yrs old issai may have died in the drought, but i can tell you it definitely did bloom and set fruit much earlier & smaller than my anna did- though i never did get to try any (birds or something got fruit first yr and the frost got it last yr). i don't know if your male will bloom if it's kept in a pot. if i were you, i'd stick him over by the woods and let him semi-climb up into some trees and keep him whacked back a bit. then when he blooms, just cut that cluster off & hand pollinate. that's how i get the best fruit set myself. i don't trust the bees since there's so few anymore. my male was shy bloomer and about 2yrs behind my girl. so, if yours is the same, when your issais bloom, come get some branches from my guy & pollinate. a sort of a stud service if you will.... heh heh heh i was shocked about that solanum thingy. i literally had it in a cup a while and noticed it still looked perky and finally stuck it in some dirt (didn't have roots at that point), and it's got new growth so i guess it rooted. it was just a little sprig. the plant you cut it from was butt ugly, so it must be the same thing. the blooms are gorgeous, tho- and your vines at home are beautiful. hey, when you're whacking away at that thunbergia see if you can get some to root. i was way wowed when i saw it blooming one time at logan's and have coveted it ever since. it's really hard to miss, that's for sure! like a giant blue/lav black eyed susan vine. but with white eyes.
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So glad you finally got some blooms on that wisteria (was it the one that was barren for years?). Not sure what variety mine is (wasn't aware that there were quite a few!) but it has lovely dark blue flowers & heavenly aroma!! I have one I have trained as a tree form (it is about 50 yrs. old), a newer one I trained to grow across the top of the chain link fence. The other tree form was next to a porch post & had grown around & twisted the post so had to cut it down. It was the neighborhood beauty when the top was in full bloom! The cut base now is trying to put out more shoots so we have kept just one to train -away from the post- & let it grow away from the house & up the trunk of a near-by tree!(we may find THAT a mistake later on though?!). Seems wisterias do well with little care... & sometimes with no care at all ... or being ignored! Can be trained to different styles too.
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peatpod
16 years ago
thistle .. I too live in Southern Ontario and LOVE my corkscrew vine .. I dont think I can live without one =) You can over winter it in your home. The rootball developes tubers . If you give your vine a good cut down and over winter it indoors and give it a head start for the summer season.
karyn1
16 years ago
I have both Corkscrew and Snail vines. They are about 3 years old and I winter them over inside under HID lights. This is the first year that the Corkscrew vine has bloomed and it's just beautiful with a wonderful scent. During the growing season I have them in full morning sun and almost full afternoon sun. They are in 24" pots and get BIG. I cut them back to a couple feet, enough to get them inside. I cut back on the amount of water and I don't feed them while inside. The Snail vine continues to bloom throughout the winter. I'll find out soon enough if the Corkscrew vine blooms over the winter also. I like my Snail vine but I love my Corkscrew vine.
Karyn
Beverlee Borrego
8 years ago
So, what everyone is saying that I have read, they do not produce seeds often? (corkscrew vine) This is my first year of growing them, and I have them planted all over my yard. I live in zone 5. (cold) I was wanting to get seeds from them. This has been a very wet spring so far, rain almost every day for the past 3 weeks. They are growing, about 4" tall so far. all in the sun, (When we get it) But it is almost July now!! And they are all only 4" tall. Do you think mine will flower at all this year? We usually always have tons of bumble bees, since my yard is full of other flowers. So they can pollinate them right? So I will get seeds? How far back do you cut them to bring them in, in the winter? Mine are planted directly in the ground, on fences, trellis, and around my deck with lattice.
thistle
8 years ago
Because of the Flower shape a Bee cannot get in to pollinate,I believe they are pollinated by Ants.I am trying again this Year to get some Seeds,Fingers crossed I will be successful .
Beverlee Borrego
8 years ago
Thank you thistle. This is my first year trying to grow them. Have heard so many different things about them, I think I am confused!!!

Info. on 'corkscrew' or' shell' vine , wisteria won't flower

Comments (7)

thistle

brian_swift

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