The amazing plant morning glory sweet potato, which is used not only for decorative purposes, but also as an edible root crop, has only recently appeared in garden plots and in apartments of residents of the CIS countries. The flower has a very aesthetic appearance, which is important to maintain with proper care.
What is morning glory sweet potato?
The botanical description of morning glory sweet potato suggests that the plant belongs to the Convolvulaceae family. The appearance of the weaving culture is peculiar:
- A low-growing plant up to 30 cm high, it has long vine-like shoots about 2 m, capable of both spreading along the ground and entwining supports.
- The heart-shaped leaves, about 15 cm long, are especially decorative. Their color can vary from green to scarlet and yellow. There are variegated varieties.
- In July, morning glory produces inflorescences of small white, lilac or pink flowers in the shape of gramophones. New selective varieties do not bloom.
- Another distinctive feature of the morning glory sweet potato is the spindle-shaped tuberous root system, on the lateral shoots of which edible sweetish tubers are formed. At home, in Mexico and Central America, such tubers are eaten by the local population.
Origin and appearance
Morning glory is a member of the Bindweed family. The plant is native to tropical and equatorial forests. Bindweed has two varieties - bush and vine. In the Russian climate (outdoors) it grows as an annual. The indoor version of the flower is a miniature copy of a tropical giant.
What does a flower look like
Description of the appearance of morning glory:
- the vine can entwine any support, as it has a flexible thin stem that can reach a length of 5 m;
- buds in the shape of a gramophone head of different diameters and colors, it all depends on the variety;
- the leaves are shaped like droplets of bright green or emerald color with a weakly defined vein structure.
Note! The plant grows quickly. In two months, the vine can weave a base of 25 m². If you want to decorate your home, then morning glory is an ideal option for decoration.
Morning glory will help create an original landscape design. This versatility is due not only to the way the stem grows, but also to its appearance: simple-shaped flowers and many green leaves easily combine with any type of plant within the same flower bed.
Bush-like varieties and some liana-like varieties are often planted in a pot. This technique allows you to create elements of living decor for a terrace, balcony, veranda, loggia. The plant is often planted near gazebos, fences and other tall buildings.
The rapid growth and density of shoots will allow you to quickly form a decent composition. Culture goes well with:
- hops;
- capsis;
- wild grapes;
- ivy.
Use in landscape design
Experienced flower growers make curly arches and supports, which the stem later entwines. The result is living art objects. In such compositions, it is better to combine the flower with low-growing plants or ornamental shrubs.
When morning glory blooms, the garden begins to play with new colors. Such a riot of colors is possible thanks to the coloring of the buds. Flowering begins at the end of June and ends at the end of September. Morning glory flowers can come in different colors and produce different scents. Usually the buds are not of a single color, but of a transitional color: from more saturated to lighter.
Varieties of morning glory sweet potato
Among the decorative varieties, the most popular varieties can be distinguished:
- Light Green
. A decorative liana, distinguished by light green leaves that resemble elongated and pointed blades collected in a bouquet. - Sweet Caroline Bronze
is a decorative variety similar to the previous one, the only difference is the bronze coloring of the leaf blades. - Sweet Caroline Purple
is a purple sweet potato morning glory loved by many gardeners with rich lilac-purple leaves and a stem length of up to 8 m. - Indoor morning glory sweet potato Burgundy
, which can be cared for in the summer on open terraces and balconies, is notable for the formation of large bright red tubers and fragrant flowers. At home it is cultivated as an annual.
Sweet Potatoes - Description
Sweet yam is a herbaceous vine with creeping vine stems up to 5 m long that easily take root at the nodes. The plant can reach a height of 15-18 m. The strongly thickened lateral roots of the sweet potato form tubers with edible yellow, orange, white, cream, pink, red and purple pulp. Sweet potato tubers weigh from 200 g to 3 or more kg. Sweet potato leaves are palmate-lobed or heart-shaped, on long petioles. The axillary, funnel-shaped flowers with a large corolla can be pink, white or pale lilac, but many sweet potato varieties do not bloom in temperate climates. The sweet potato fruit is a capsule with four brown or black seeds with a diameter of 3.5-4.5 mm.
Conditions for growing morning glory sweet potato
In order for a garden plot to be decorated with climbing sweet potatoes, specific features of the area are not needed. Culture prefers:
- Light and loose nutritious soils. It can also grow on poorer soil, but then flowering and other decorative properties will be less pronounced.
- The culture is thermophilic. It develops well at temperatures from +20℃ in bright sunlight, protected from the midday summer heat.
- The houseplant Ipomoea sweet potato does well on south-east and south-west windows. It is often planted in hanging pots and cache-pots as an hanging plant.
- The flower does not like drafts. Perennial varieties require mandatory pruning and shelter for the winter.
- The culture needs regular, but not abundant watering.
- It blooms and bears fruit better if the gardener follows the fertilizer application schedule.
Reviews from gardeners
Natusik, Zaporozhye
I also cut mine and put them in water. Morning glory is already taking root in the water. Then in a pot and on the window until spring. Last year, no matter how much I dug, I didn’t find any tubers :] Maybe I’ll have better luck this time.
Source: kievgarden.org.ua
Nimeria___
Morning glory is a “sweet potato”; the leaves of plant varieties are also added to salads, after being pre-treated with boiling water. The plant is rich in vitamins. Some species are used to produce food coloring. I myself have not tasted the leaves and tubers, I just read about it.
Source: irecommend.ru
Planting morning glory sweet potatoes
The rules for planting morning glory sweet potatoes often include the seed planting method, which is carried out according to the following scheme:
- Self-collected planting material is stratified in the refrigerator for several months, after which it remains viable for about 3-4 years.
- For sowing seedlings, seeds are planted in separate pots in February-March. It is also possible to sow in open ground in May, when there is no threat of return night frosts.
- Soil preparation consists of choosing a soil mixture or digging the plot and adding a small amount of humus to it.
- Before planting, the seeds are soaked for about a day in warm water, after which they swell.
- Each seed is placed at a distance of about 20 cm from each other, sprinkled with earth.
- Plantings are watered regularly.
- In the garden, many gardeners recommend immediately building supports so that young seedlings can climb along them.
Soil for morning glory sweet potato
It was already mentioned above that the morning glory sweet potato plant needs loose, well-drained and breathable soil of neutral acidity. To do this you can choose:
- Universal soil
for garden flower crops, sold in any specialized store. - Prepare your own soil mixture
. To do this, you should mix garden soil disinfected in a microwave or oven with humus and a small amount of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. If the soil is too acidic, lime or crushed furnace ash is added to it.
Morning glory sweet potato - care
An important feature of how to grow morning glory sweet potatoes is strict adherence to all the rules of agricultural technology for the crop. Although morning glory is considered unpretentious, its decorative effect directly depends on the efforts of the gardener. Care activities include:
- Regular, but not frequent and not abundant watering.
- Timely application of organic and mineral fertilizers.
- Mulching and loosening the soil. Sanitary pruning of weak and diseased shoots or shaping of perennials.
- Ipomoea sweet potato in compositions will look advantageous only in well-lit areas at temperatures above +20℃. If the temperature outside is lower, then it is better to keep hanging plants in the house, greenhouse or on a closed balcony.
Watering morning glory sweet potatoes
For many busy gardeners, the perennial morning glory sweet potato is a godsend because of its drought-tolerant traits:
- Ipomoea sweet potato does not like excessive soil moisture. When there is an excess of moisture, whitish blisters appear on the leaves of the plant, which go away on their own after the watering regime is normalized.
- It is recommended to water the flower outside about 1-2 times a week in hot climates.
- Indoor flowers are watered mainly through a tray.
- There is no need to spray morning glory, but indoor specimens are wiped with a damp cloth once a season to remove dust.
Feeding morning glory sweet potatoes
Like other garden crops, morning glory sweet potatoes in the garden require regular feeding to stimulate growth and flowering:
- An affordable and budget option for spring fertilizer is wood ash, a glass of which is diluted in 10 liters of warm water and watered over the plantings.
- Varieties that are valued for their beautiful decorative leaves can be fertilized with ammonium nitrate in the summer and before winter, the preparation and application of which is carried out according to the instructions supplied by the fertilizer manufacturer.
- During the flowering period, experts do not recommend fertilizing morning glory sweet potatoes with nitrogen-containing additives, which reduce the number of discarded buds.
Ipomoea sweet potato indoors
Unlike outdoor varieties grown as annuals, indoor sweet potato morning glory requires more careful care for about 5-7 years:
- The culture is considered to have come from warm countries, and therefore loves sunshine and fresh air. In the summer months, it is better to place the flower pot in an open area: balcony, terrace, porch.
- In winter, when the air in the room is very low, morning glory can shed all its leaves. Because of this, it is recommended to keep it in a warm room on a south or south-east window, where diffused sunlight is constantly present.
- A strong draft in the room can harm the plant.
- Water an indoor flower through a tray or using the usual method no more than once every 1-2 weeks, depending on the air temperature. Spraying is not carried out.
Reproduction of morning glory sweet potato
In order for morning glory sweet potatoes to grow on a plot or in a room, you can use one of two methods of propagating the plant:
- The seed method is considered the most labor-intensive and time-consuming. It is often used only for breeding purposes to develop a new variety. However, many gardeners successfully use the seed propagation method. The planting material is first soaked for a day in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, pierced on one side and planted in light, loose soil consisting of turf soil, river sand and vermiculite in a ratio of 2:1:1. The seeds are laid out on moist soil and sprinkled with earth, covered with film. After 2 weeks, seedlings appear, which after another month can be planted in a permanent place.
- Growing morning glory sweet potatoes is also possible using vegetative methods. In this case, both cuttings of old shoots and obtaining young shoots from tubers are used.
Cuttings of morning glory sweet potato
The simplest method is the propagation of morning glory sweet potatoes by cuttings:
- Cuttings 10-15 cm long are separated from the mother plant using a clean, sterile pruner, with the obligatory presence of several leaf nodes.
- Planting material is placed in a container with water in a warm and bright place. After about a week, the cuttings form developed roots.
- Cuttings with sprouted roots are planted in prepared pots. When the seedlings become even more elongated, they are pruned again to stimulate branching.
- Ready seedlings can be planted in open ground at the beginning of summer.
Reproduction of morning glory sweet potato tubers
Many gardeners wonder how to grow morning glory sweet potatoes from a tuber, considering the method complex and time-consuming. However, experienced breeders claim that the procedure consists of several simple steps:
- After wintering, healthy and strong tubers are selected.
- Each of them is placed in a light soil mixture, similar in composition to the seed propagation method, and sprinkled on top with a layer of earth of about 1-2 cm.
- Young shoots that have hatched and become stronger are carefully cut off and placed in a container with a weak Kornevin solution.
- When young roots form, the seedlings can be planted in pots or in a permanent place of growth in open ground if the weather is warm outside.
Plant propagation: methods
- From tubers. In autumn they are dug up and placed in a cool place. When buds begin to appear (beginning of winter), the tubers are placed in a container with soil. The shoots that grow back are separated along with the roots and planted. With proper care, 1 tuber can grow up to 20 plants.
Morning glory propagates well by cuttings - Cuttings. This is the main method of propagation of ornamental morning glory. In February, cuttings are taken from the grown shoots. Each of them must have 2 internodes. Even without special care, the shoots take root in water in 3-5 days. In moist soil, roots appear from internodes. These shoots are also used for propagation of ornamental crops.
Advice. It is possible to propagate morning glory by seeds and seedlings.
Ipomoea sweet potato - diseases and pests
By its nature, the morning glory sweet potato flower has a very strong immune system, so it rarely gets sick or is attacked by pests. Infection from neighboring plants can only occur:
- Root rot
. This is a dangerous disease that affects the root system and leads to the death of the plant. To combat it, damaged morning glory is dug up, the root system is washed and all diseased roots are cut off. Healthy residues must be treated with a solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture, or the drug “Cytoflavin”. - Spider mites
, passing from neighboring plants with less stable immunity. To combat such a pest, spraying with any available insecticide, for example, Actellik or Envidor, is used.
Why doesn't morning glory sweet potato bloom?
There are several reasons why the sweet potato vine does not bloom:
- A non-flowering variety was selected. Modern selective varieties are notable only for their ornamental foliage.
- Landed in an inappropriate place. The plant may be located in a draft or in deep shade, as a result of which it lacks warmth and sunlight.
- The agricultural technology for growing the flower has been disrupted. For example, morning glory does not like excessive soil moisture, but it will survive short-term drought without losing its decorative properties.
- The flower may be affected by root rot or spider mites, measures to combat which were written above.
Morning glory sweet potato in landscape design
Gardeners use morning glory in various forms of home and garden decoration:
- The most popular method is hanging flowers. Compositions with morning glory sweet potatoes can consist of different varieties that differ in the shades of the leaf blades, or be combined with pelargonium, Coleus Blume, ampelous petunia, loosestrife and other crops.
- In its homeland, morning glory is often used as a ground cover plant in rocky and mixed gardens and on alpine hills. It grows quickly in the area due to its ability to take root in internodes.
- If desired, the gardener can easily lift the vine from the ground and tie it to a support. Braided arches, gazebos or canopies look impressive.
Beneficial features
Morning glory tubers are popularly called sweet potatoes due to their similar taste. In addition to starch, it contains many useful elements for humans:
- Iron.
- Carbohydrates.
- Squirrels.
- Phosphorus.
- Potassium et al.
Tubers can be boiled, baked, or eaten raw. It is ideal for dietary dishes due to its low calorie content and huge amount of vitamins. If you use it often, the body will increase its resistance to almost all diseases. It also helps fight cancer cells in the body; for this, tubers need to be consumed almost every day.
Its beneficial properties:
- Cholesterol removal.
- Improving the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Strengthening the nervous system.
- Building muscle mass.
- Increasing female libido.
