It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 46
zen_man
6 years ago
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zen_man
6 years agosamhain10 - 5a
6 years agoRelated Discussions
It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 25
Comments (106)Hi Desirai, With respect to your zinnia that died unexpectedly, I have had that same experience from time to time. I usually "perform an autopsy" to see what went wrong, and I have found that usually the problem is a bacterial stem infection that started from a small wound in the stem near the soil line. In a few cases, I have found that a stem borer larva entered the stem, so I split the stem to find the borer (and killed it). Fortunately this sudden death problem is fairly rare. "Do you think I could plant now and get some growth before winter? " I do. Zinnias usually form a main stem flower bud in about 6 weeks from the time they come up. Green seeds are slower to germinate because their living seed coat is impermeable to water, but the coat will die and become permeable in about two weeks. So your green seeds could be starting to bloom in about 8 weeks from the time you plant them. That's about 2 months, so they should be in "full bloom" in about 3 months, which would be some time in September. I don't know when you can expect a first killing freeze, but since you are Zone 7b I would guess that your first killing freeze would be in late October or possibly in November. In other words, if you plant your green seeds now there is a good chance that you will be able to see their blooms, pollinate or cross-pollinate those blooms, and harvest viable green seeds from them before your growing season ends. As I mentioned before, you can speed up the germination of green seeds by "breaching" the seed coat to allow immediate contact with soil water with the embryo inside. I use an X-Acto knife to cut the seed coat to do the breaching. My favorite method is to cut the petal off of the seed and then pull open at least one of the "side wings" of the seed. I prefer to use a curved blade like in the picture. First I cut the petal away, closer to the seed embryo than in the picture. Then I place the knife into the edge of the seed so as to just "miss" the embryo (grin, X-ray eyes could help here) and, letting the knife blade anchor the seed, I use my fingernail to pull the seed a little ways from the blade. The knife blade holds the side wing stationary and my fingernail pulls the seed open a bit. It takes a bit of practice to get the hang of it. Any technique that gives the embryo access to water works. If you should accidentally cut the root tip off of the embryo then it can't grow, but if you accidentally nick the cotyledon part of the embryo, it probably will grow with a small missing part of the cotyledons. Whatever you do, be careful not to cut yourself with the X-Acto blade. It is razor sharp. And work on a surface that you don't mind nicking. A cutting board, plastic or wood, would work. I use an inexpensive folding TV tray from Walmart that has a plastic surface. It cost less than a good cutting board, and is handy for a lot of things. If you have questions about any of this, don't hesitate to ask. ZM...See MoreIt can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 29
Comments (110)Hi Squishy, "When the seedlings come up how will I tell the difference between them and any weeds that grow?" This is a picture of a couple of zinnia seedlings just after they have emerged. If you look closely, you can see a few very tiny weed seedlings, as well. This next picture shows a row of young zinnias that have gotten their first pair of true leaves. Some tiny weed seedlings are also just visible. Since I cull my zinnias heavily (I am trying to improve them), I plant them much closer together than is recommended, because I know I am going to remove a lot of zinnia plants at first bloom. The picture below shows a row of zinnia seedlings with some weeds present. Can you pick out the zinnias? It can be a little tricky telling a zinnia seedling from a weed. The zinnias have two cotyledons (seed leaves), but so does about half of the plant kingdom. That is why it is a good idea to plant your zinnia seeds in a straight line. That way the zinnia seedlings will be on a straight line among the weeds, which will be somewhat randomly spaced. That will help you distinguish which are the zinnias and which are the weeds. "Also how much space will the full grown zinnia plant need? I have a small garden. " That depends entirely on the variety of zinnia. Thumbelinas and Zinnitas only grow about 6 or 7 inches tall, so each plant could need a comparable amount of space. Benary's Giants grow 4 feet tall and would need 2 to 4 feet of space, depending on whether you wanted to crowd them or not. Some cactus flowered zinnias can grow to 6 feet tall if they are a bit crowded. so you might want to give them 3 feet or more of space. Zinnias will tolerate quite a bit of crowding, but they then get into a height race with each other, competing and reaching for sunshine. "If I run out of space, is it possible to grow zinnias in pots? " Yes, with adequate pot size and a good potting mix. A single Thumbelina plant or Zinnita plant might do well in a 5-inch or a 6-inch pot. Large zinnia varieties would need a much larger pot per plant. Zinnias resent becoming root bound, and they develop large root systems in open ground that are as big or bigger than their mature above-ground bushes. Their pot volume should be comparable to their bush volume. "My garden likes to produce weeds at a colossal rate " So does mine. Declare war on your weeds with a good sharp hoe and a companion hand hoe. And pull weeds that are too close to your good plants. If they are really close, you can snip them at ground level with scissors or a hand pruner to avoid upsetting the root system of the crowded zinnia. ZM...See MoreIt can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 54
Comments (112)Hello Fred, " ...is there a good way to separate out viable seeds to keep and discard those that look like they won't germinate? I'm just yanking out a dozen petals and pinching them, discarding the thinnest ones. And the florets seeds look quite different, thinner, and many look like they can't possibly germinate. " Good question. There is a learning curve here, but you can gently squeeze a green zinnia seed between your thumb and forefinger to "feel" the embryo inside the seed. Seeds with undeveloped embryos will feel flat and empty. The embryo is not really a seed within a seed, but it feels a little like that. The embryo is actually just the baby plant with a pair of tiny cotyledons (seed leaves) and a tap root stub. As an experiment, you can remove the embryo from a green seed and plant just the embryo. I once planted a whole flat of embryos. This is a photo of some viable green seeds that have been dried, which turns them brown. This is a photo of some chaff with mostly floret seeds. This is a photo of some fairly freshly picked green seeds. The green seed technique has been invaluable to me in my zinnia project. I learned it from Jackie_R in a much earlier part of this "It can be fun" message series. ZM...See MoreIt can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 56
Comments (112)Hi Cindi, Actually, I do have a few "newish" zinnias, because I have been growing some zinnias indoors throughout these cold late Fall and Winter months. I have taken some photos and I need to process the photos for upload here. I processed this photo this morning. That is a variation on my "exotic" zinnia flower form and in the juvenile stage, the petals resemble the "Woolly" zinnia petal form. The "Woolly" petals are closed at the end. The Woolly zinnia petals are "strong" by virtue of their totally enclosed structure. However, this means that the enclosed stigma cannot receive pollen unless the zinnia also has enclosed pollen-bearing anthers, which many of the Woolly zinnias do not have. Those Woolly petals can produce a seed only if the petal is surgically opened and pollen applied to the internal stigma. I concede that the "Woolly" zinnias are questionably attractive. I realize these details are of interest primarily to someone who is actively engaged in breeding zinnias. I have several zinnia photos in my camera which I will transfer to my computer so that I can show them here. I have really been enjoying my indoor zinnia activities. I am even considering continuing an indoor activity in parallel with my outdoor zinnia activities this coming Spring and Summer. There are advantages to indoor zinnias. For one thing, you have control of the photoperiod of indoor zinnias. Zinnia elegans is a facultative Short Day (long night) plant. More later. ZM...See Morezen_man
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