ZG,

I see this is your first day here. Welcome to the GardenWeb. White powdery spots are probably Powdery Mildew, perhaps the most common zinnia disease. Prevention is the best cure. Powdery mildew likes to grow in a cool shady dry place. This time of year you can't do much about cool, and the days are getting shorter. Next year, plant your zinnias in those locations that get the most sun. Wet foliage does promote several zinnia diseases, but it's a myth that wet foliage promotes powdery mildew, so don't hesitate to spray your zinnias with something like GreenCure®. In the Fall, frequent sprayings are justified.

You can include a photo in your message by using the [img src="URL of photo"] HTML, but use angle brackets instead of the square brackets [ ] that I just used. In order for your photo to have a URL, you need to post it on one of the photo hosting services, like PhotoBucket.

For example, if I type,

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/MaineMan/986wides/100_4530.jpg">;

The result will appear as,

{{gwi:11204}}
I used a "trick" to keep the angle brackets from taking effect in the example above. There are several other image hosting services, but PhotoBucket is a popular one, and its basic service is free.

ZM

zen said: In the Fall, frequent sprayings are justified.

===>>>> i might have to disagree ... that any die to the ground ANNUAL needs repeated sprayings in fall ...

is it really necessary to be that retentive in the average garden ...???

how many times would you spray in sept ... when you will have killing frosts by oct??? .. in my z5 e.g.

of course... it might be moot.. since the poster fails to tell us where they are ... which would be very helpful so as to give precise advice

welcome

ken