More Morning Glory questions and general viney things questions ;-) I'm in Zone 8a - North Texas, Clay soil. This is my first year trying vines and like all things garden I went full blast. I planted Grandpa Ott MG's first in starter trays - I know the authoritative sources (one web article mercilessly copied and pasted 100 times) all say they don't transplant well but I guess they can't read very well as they are growing like mad. I have several other varieties that I just stuck in the dirt and they are coming up just fine so looking forward to lots of vines soon. I've planted: Morning Glories Moonflower (2 seeds, I soaked them as advised and they appeared to have 'blown up' so I don't know if they will still germinate but only planted a couple days ago. Cardinal Climbers Cypress Vine Cup and Saucer (neat neat neat growth habit) Hyacinth Bean Vine So I am starting to get my first flowers on the grandpa Ott's. One five days ago, 3 the next, 20-30 blooms this morning. BEAUTIFUL. The other stuff is just starting to climb but the MG's 'eat' another 6"of string daily. I have some of each in pots, along a fence, along brick wall and climbing up from hanging baskets on my patio. Questions: 1. I've read that MG's will grow in any soil and that they don't need much fertilizer (too much Nitrogen means lots of vine and leaves and few flowers). They seem to be growing REALLLLY nicely though and flowering just fine after I mulched with a few inches of a pretty rich compost (2/3 finished, aged, homemade compost and 1/3 "moo-Nure" from home Depot which is a little hot out of the bag if used straight. Any of you longtime MG growers care to comment on whether MG's really LIKE crappy soil or if they TOLERATE crappy soil and like everything else do much better in good soil? 2. I found this thread while looking for info on how to get them to spread - it seems like some are throwing off secondary growth tips so I am wondering what is typical??? If I can get them to spread sideways I won't plant as many/close. Using string for support but after reading the above stuff I realized I have poly bird netting in the garage that would be easy to pop up with a few staples. Narrowing the question - right now the vines are mostly one growing tip racing for the sky - will they start throwing off more growing tips I can angle off to the side then up to fill in the gaps? Looking to cover the fence. When they get to the top will they grow back down (trailing)??? 3. On those moonflower seeds, I soaked them overnight and they were swollen and split - still viable or did I blow them up? 4. Anyone else have tips chewed off and do new growing tips emerge pretty fast? Turns out we have roof rats that run along the fence rails and it must be them but boy was I pissed. That 'path' is now spiked with nice sharp nails but rats are resourceful - anyone try hot pepper spray or anything that doesn't bother vines but makes rats unhappy? 5. I have several vines growing out of hanging baskets and they ran straight to the top of our pagoda over the patio... will they spread along the roof or does growth stop when they can't climb? Some of each vine here - MG, Hyacinth, cypress, cardinal climber and cup/saucer. Tips, advice, lessons learned appreciated. Right now I am feeding and watering frequently - don't mind if I get a lot of foliage and few blooms until the patio and fence get covered. Appreciate any advice of the "well if you want vines to go entirely little shop of horrors on you then just...." sort.

As Hoovb says the fan spread will work and be easier to do. Some climbers like Pleasant Hill Cemetery can be trained like either of your upper diagrams with the green lines because it has very pliable canes. My larger bourbon roses are trained with the canes in a fan shape, they sprout laterals easily this way. Lance

yes, wire is great. I have a Golden Showers up a corner of a porch, but I've only gone up to the railing and up the post to the ceiling of the porch (the porch is raised up a bit so the rose is planted about 3 feet under the porch floor. I just trained some laterals to go along the railing or arched them over the back railing. It looks nice and gives us shelter from view from the street. View from the base: View from the front: View from the porch I was able to secure the canes to the railing, but you can use wire if you want them to go across the top

There's no big mystery to it. Just tie the longer shoots in horizontally, or slanting, or arched. Once you have a number of well-anchored canes, you can just tuck other shoots in and they will stay. Keep in mind that the growth will tend to migrate to the top of the fence, so start lower. With true climbers, you can ignore the weak shoots that come before the strong shoots start coming. They are never going to develop into climber-like canes. The best time to bend may be just after flowering.