Dave, "Zinnia grow so quickly and turn leggy almost overnight so most feel they are best direct seeded outside." I agree that it is generally better to plant zinnias directly outside when that works with your schedule. However, I think Dale was trying to get an early start with his zinnias, hence the attempt at starting them early inside under lights. I agree with everybody who identified Dale's problem as not enough light. I just want those who are considering starting zinnias indoors to know that they will not "turn leggy almost overnight" if you provide adequate light. With enough light they are quite docile and well behaved, and you can get an early start of a month or more if you have an adequate light setup. The shelf in this picture has four two-bulb T8 shoplights over it. The shelf measures 2 feet by 4 feet, and with a total of eight T8 fluorescent bulbs over it, the light on the seedlings is good. That picture was taken a couple of days ago and I will be setting most of those zinnias into the garden in the near future. There are a few "late arrivals" in the picture that will spend some more time inside. They would be just cutworm fodder if I set them outside now. All of those zinnias are hand-hybridized hybrids, so I give them better care than I would for seed-packet zinnias. ZM

I think a gallery of seedling pics is a great idea. Karen, Trudi does have a good gallery of them on her site and the seed site has quite a few as well. Problem is this. seed site doesn't have all the seedlings you might want to find and not everyone knows about the site. A gallery of seedling pics on the conversation side of WS forum, would have the pics right here for all to see and others can add pics to the thread. I will start a post on the gallery side with the pics that I have. Fran

Top picture = the Cherry Vine Bush Bottom picture = the Early Girl Suggestion: Give them a mild shot of fertilizer. The cotyledons are played out. Give them something with a high middle number (phosphorus) and a lower first number (nitrogen). A mild dose, nothing full strength. Then hold them under whatever light you've been using because it looks very sufficient, but submit them to cooler temps like 55 - 65*F to keep them stocky and not let them grow to fast and get leggy. Looking real good! Have a good growing season.

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