Hi Céline, " But as I remember zinnia florets, I guess that they have the both in the same flower right ? Can I use a paintbrush as I do with the zucchinis ? ( a special for zinnia ) " Yes, zinnia blooms all have the female parts (stigmas) and frequently also have the male pollen bearing parts ( pollen florets). The stigmas are attached at the base of each petal, which is attached to the seed jacket, which is attached to the central cone of the bloom. Botanists sometimes refer to a zinnia bloom as a capitula. and the petals as ligules. But we are not botanists, so we will talk of blooms and petals. The pollen-bearing florets arise in the center of the bloom. You can use an artists paintbrush to transfer pollen from the florets to the stigmas, thus accomplishing pollination or cross-pollination. You can load your brush simply by touching the pile of pollen that appears in the center of a floret. Then touch the brush to the stigmas to apply pollen to them. Not that you have control over it, but a single grain of pollen can be sufficient.A successfully pollinated stigma will shrivel and die within a day or two. Un-pollinated stigmas will remain yellow and receptive for over a week, so you will have several opportunities to get them pollinated. After the stigma dies the embryo in the seed jacket starts to grow and matures as a green seed in about a month. You can pick green seeds and plant them immediately to start a second generation of zinnias, or you can dry them and then store them for use at a later time. If you choose to start a second generation of zinnias immediately, you will need to "breach" the green seed coat, because it is still alive and impervious to water. You can use a hobby knife or scalpel to provide a water entry route to the green seed in several ways.You can remove the embryos entirely and plant just zinnia embryos. I have planted as many as a flat of zinnia embryos at a time, and the embryos will emerge in a day or two for a really fast start of a second generation. By also growing zinnias indoors during the Winter, I get as many as four generations of zinnias each year, which speeds up my zinnia breeding goals. Even if you aren't growing a quick second generation, the green seed technique has several advantages, including that it helps avoid losses to seed-eating birds. " oh... Do you pinch your plant to get them more bushy and have more flowers ? If yes, when do you do it ? " If you aren't in a hurry to do a first-bloom culling, as I usually am, pinching zinnias is good cultural practice. Be sure to have at least one pair of true leaves before you pinch the growing point. You can get different effects by pinching after the second or third pair of leaves, or even more. You could wait for the appearance of the central flower bud, and pinch it. And, for even bushier zinnia plants, you can also pinch some or all of the lateral branches that form. I do invite your participation and pictures over in the "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias" forum. ZM

See these links: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=16668 http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=83316 http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=83718 http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=19&p=96657 http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=19&p=120082 http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=14&p=17909 Hope this helps. Links are from a pumpkin site but same plant family, you draw your own conclusions. Mark

Hi everyone I just wrap the pollen in a bit of foil and place it in a small envelope with the details written on it. This is then put into an air tight screw top jar and into the freezer. I have used two year old pollen from the freezer with good results using this method. Just remember, once it's thawed out you have to use it immediately and you can't re-freeze it. Just for the record - I have stored Neo. seed in a similar method and found it still viable after three years. All the best, Nev.

Hi francis_eric, your question seems to have been answered by an excellent article from the renowned David_Zlesak on Thu, Nov 6, 03 at 16:57 under the heading "polen storage", you will currently find this thread on page 10. May I offer my personal admiration for the persistence that you have demonstrated in the pursuit of an answer to your question.