Susan, Zinnias aren't as good as tomatoes at putting out roots from their stems, but they can do it. Occasionally you will see a zinnia branch that is very near the soil putting out roots of its own. I have successfully grown zinnias from cuttings on several occasions. I breed zinnias as a hobby, and it can be helpful to multiply an extra good zinnia specimen several times in order to get a good seed yield from it. I use Physan 20 to keep the soft stems from rotting before they strike roots, and some rooting hormone. More details of growing zinnias from cuttings are to be found in some Parts of the "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias" message threads here in this Annuals forum. When I am setting out zinnia plants that have become too tall, I do set them several inches deeper, even when there will be leaves that rot off. That has worked for me most of the time. Your soil needs to be rather "open" for that to work well, because zinnia roots need to "breathe" oxygen. A good sandy loam is ideal for them. ZM

When my homies lean too much, I add a quarter inch or so of semi-dry seed starting mix to the base to prop them up. With peppers, I always end up potting them up a couple of times, too. By the time they hit the garden, they are in 4-inch pots. There was a study several years back on planting depth of peppers, I believe in Georgia. Planting to just above the seedling leaves increased yields. The explanation was that getting the roots deeper in the soil insulated them from daytime heating and dry conditions. Pepper stems don't develop roots on their stems the way tomatoes do, and only rare eggplants root from the basal area of the stem. Here is a link that might be useful: my website

This is why I was experimenting with the downgrafting of the seedling. Which is still looking good by the way. I'll have to post a new picture as soon as I can. Seem as though it's starting to produce new "claws" John

Just Google "Garden Insect Barrier" it is sold by many different seed and garden suppliers. Comes in a couple of different weights - Lite and Super-Lite depending on your climate. I use Super-Lite. You are quite right Floral that climate makes a difference in life span for harvesting and weather tolerance for them but the 200 days DTM indicates you wouldn't even get the first sprouts until 200 days after transplanting and that simply isn't accurate. Instead you can begin harvesting at about 115 days (+/-) 10 days and if the climate cooperates, continue to harvest for months. Igor is a good variety IMO, much better than Bubbles, but I'm not waiting most of a year to see my first sprouts develop. :-) Dave