Hey Plantwork,
I am growing corkscrew vine also. It's close to first
frost where I live but I am hoping my seed pods will ripen soon.
I wonder how long it takes from when the pod gets pollinated to when it ripens?
{{gwi:1350713}}
I am definitely planting this vine again next year.
Andrea

Hi Andrea, I agree it's a really cool vine! I think that the answer of when to harvest the seeds are on this site, my computer is going goofy again [ that's why I didn't answer your post right away] If you could do a search, maybe you could find out for both of us? I'd appreciate it!
I've tried but my puter is still goofy :(

Now I bought one myself, very very purple in color. I planted this in a pot and after mid July it took off and has now taken over the entire front of the house! great vine but when does it go to seed???? Would love to have this plant all over everything in my yard. Anyone know how to get this plant to seed??

It is pollinated by ants and you really can't control when and if they will pollinate the plant. I have anywhere from 7 to 11 seedpods on mine right now but winter weather is approaching rapidly and I doubt I will get them to mature before frost. It is hard to believe that earlier this week we were in the 80s and next week we will be in the 50s for highs. This year, we had a late spring and the weather stayed cool well into July. Hot weather arrived and it was shortly thereafter that mine started to bloom.

Andrea, you can overwinter your plant inside in an unheated garage and not have to start over next year. I have done so for two winters now. I have linked below a thread I had going on this vine earlier in September if you are interested.

The seed pods will elongate and turn brown. Here are my two seed pods from last year.

{{gwi:782202}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Vigna link

If anyone has any seeds for the Corkscrew Vine I sure would love some, lots of seeds to trade.
Sunny

Sunny- No luck so far on collecting any seeds.

Nckvilledudes- I planted my vine in the ground. I tried
digging it up and made a mess of things.
I did not realize that the roots were so extensive.
My plant sent out thick roots that extended about 18 inches
in every direction from the plant. I had to cut many
of the roots to try and pot up the plant. I am not sure if it will survive.
I guess my lesson for next year is keep it potted.

Andrea

Andrea, supposedly you can dig the tubers up and overwinter them like iris rhizomes. It could be that your plant was not mature enough to develop large tubers in one season. I kept my plant in a container for two years before transplanting it into a larger container and there was definitely tuberous structures within the root ball.

Nckvilledudes,
It's been a week since I transplanted my vine.
It shed most of its leaves but the vine is still green.
I left the pods on hoping that they will mature. If the
plant survives, I'll keep it potted and keep it from going
dormant. I don't want to take the chance that it won't wake up come spring.
Wish me luck!
Andrea

Andrea, my potted one was brought inside the garage a couple of weeks ago when it looked like the weather was turning colder and I assumed it was going to stay cold. During that time period, we had lows in the low 30s so I am glad I brought it in anyway, but had to sacrifice the developing pods on mine since they were on vines that had climbed the neighbor's Bradford pear. I did a real hatchet job on mine getting it trimmed up and placed into the garage. In the weeks since then, the plant has started putting out new foliage since it has been in the 70s during the day. Stupid plant doesn't seem to know that winter is just around the corner.

If you have green stems on your plant, it is still very much alive. By midwinter, all I have is a mess of green leafless vines and it recovers nicely in the spring. Good luck with your plant this winter! If it doesn't survive by some strange fate, email me in the spring and I will see what I can do about getting you started with one again.

I have several vigna caracalla plants. Started them from seeds from Parks. Problem is, none have bloomed or even formed buds that I have seen. They have grown and climbed up a fence and seem to be healthy. Just no blooms. Anyone have any advice or info? Thanks. Sara

Miguel- Thanks for the generous offer. I am going to follow
your advice about taking cuttings to hedge my bet. If this
plant survives all this torture, it is going to be one of my
garden staples for years to come.

Sara- This was my first season growing them so I don't
have much expertise. I did notice that my plant held its blossoms
when the weather stayed consistently in the high 80's.
What kind of micro-climate are your plants experiencing? Maybe they need more heat?

Andrea

Sara, I find that this plant does need heat to bloom seeing as how we had a very cool spring and it didn't start blooming until after the summer heat had begun in earnest. I would think that you would have the needed heat in Florida but perhaps as Andrea suggested your plant is in some sort of protected microclimate that keeps it cooler than I think. Another possibility is that if you are gardening in sandy soil, you need to add some triple phosphorus or bone meal to up your soil's phosphorus levels. Phosphorus stimulates root growth and then eventually bloom production. Another possibility is that you are feeding it too much nitrogen fertilizer and it is just producing foliage and no blooms. These are the only things that I can think off right off the top of my head that could be causing your plant not to bloom.

One last thing, how old are your plants? Perhaps if this is the first year they were started from seed, they are still establishing themselves and will bloom once the plant matures. The first year my plants were grown from seed, they bloomed some but not as much as in subsequent years.

Just stumbled across this thread again (with my post) and thought I'd add a little more. Hope someone will see it. My Vigna grew well and started up a fence and a climbing rose nearby but when hurricane Dennis hit last year the wind really did a number on it. I cut it back but it never really recovered. I have it on the south side of a wood fence so it gets lots of sun and heat and some protection from wind. The soil is pretty good here and I fertilize with high phosphorus fertilizer. I brought it in for the winter (our temps are still in the 70s except for a couple of 35 degree days). Maybe it will do better next summer.
Thanks for the replys.
Sara

Wow, can't believe it's been 3 months since I first posted this! Thanks to all that replied, I learned alot....Here it's very cold,grey and wet, but so far no freezing temps.My Vigna is pretty much a tattered flag in her pot, but the three seedpods are still green and healthy looking. Should I cut them off and let them dry indoors[cold garage]? I'd sure hate to rot the seeds, and I'd still love to share! TIA