It won't post. So, at what point can I put the potted seedlings in their own pots? Is it best to put more than one in a pot? I'll make sure the pot is adequate size.

How close can the Zinnias in the ground be? I don't want any spaces.

try again in a reply.. and wait for the pic to become clear ...

never hurts to throw in big city name ... im curious where you have 3 day storms ... lol ... it helps us understand whats going on ... the location.. not the storm part ...

ken

The pic didn't appear in a reply I made earlier, and now the little green thing is spinning away.

Before that the picture would appear but it wasn't clear. No matter how long I waited it simply wouldn't clear up. I could hit submit and then it wouldn't show up.

Sorry, z7, central OK. Tornado season and all that. :) We've had wonderful cool weather, the past month, wore a coat last week to get the mail! And the seedlings thrived in the cold. I couldn't believe it.

Hi Oakley,

I'm sorry you can't post your photo. I usually upload photos as JPEGs (name.JPG) but I think Houzz will also accept the PNG format, and possibly others. I should experiment with that. There may be file formats that Houzz will not accept, or file sizes that are too great. The files directly from my Nikon camera are very large, so I resample them (and sometimes crop them) smaller.

" So, at what point can I put the potted seedlings in their own pots? Is it best to put more than one in a pot?"

I actually plant seedlings in small square 3-inch pots, and when they have obviously outgrown that pot I re-pot to 5-inch square pots. So you can probably put your potted seedlings into your larger pots now.

" Is it best to put more than one in a pot? "

From the standpoint of what looks good, it is probably better to have an odd number, like 3 or 5, in a pot. From the standpoint of the zinnia plant itself, just one per pot because a zinnia is its own worst weed, because they need the very same things.

I have grown Lilliput zinnias in the past, but their blooms were just too small for my taste. I do like Cut and Come Again zinnias like the Oklahoma variety, because they have medium sized blooms and potentially large well-branched plants.

" How close can the Zinnias in the ground be? I don't want any spaces. "

Lilliputs have smallish plants, so you could put them maybe a foot apart. There might be some cultural recommendations on the seed packet. I confess that I don't take into account how my zinnia patch looks from an artistic standpoint. For example, I grow many of my zinnias in home-made zinnia cages (smaller versions of tomato cages) because we have some occasionally fierce winds here in Kansas, and the cages give them some protection. Since my hobby is breeding zinnias, I grow them like a crop, rather than for esthetic looks.

As an experiment, I will upload a 1500 pixel-wide JPG file here. Click on the photos to see larger versions. The file size of the JPG is only 124 KB.

This next picture is the same photo as a GIF file format. Its file size is considerably larger at 717 KB.

Those are currently the only two file formats I have tried here. I suspect that Houzz will accept other formats, but I haven't experimented with them.

ZM

I don't mind the smaller flowers on Lilliput, I like that they can get up to 30" tall, which I know mine won't. I think they'll really compliment the Cosmos behind them.

My flowerbeds face the road so I need the asthetics so I can be a show off. :)

The six seedlings are in a clay pot. 9" diameter, 8" high. They're definitely not root bound but starting to get close to each other because the seedlings on the other side didn't come up. I'm afraid I may hurt their roots if I take some out until they get taller.

I'm using the same Canon camera I've used here for the past ten years. Never had a problem until I got a new PC in 12/19, with the updated Windows and their picture app.

I'm going to do an experiment to see if it still works. If I can upload the picture to my FB page, then download it back to my PC, it should post here. Maybe. All the pictures I had to download from FB (I lost them on my old pc) to put on this PC will upload to Houzz just fine.

Let me see if I can do it. Be back soon.

Well I'll be. Thank you Facebook! lol

Hello again, Oakley,

Well, I don't understand how the round trip through Facebook solved the problem, but it did and those are good photos. I sympathize with you wanting your zinnias to look good in your landscape because it faces the road where it can be seen by passersby.

From those photos it is apparent that you have got a lot of zinnia seedlings in the ground much too close together. You probably could dig some of them up, separate them, and plant them farther apart. There are, in my opinion, alternative varieties of zinnias, possibly looking better than Lilliputs for looking good in landscaping beds.

Swallowtail has a category for Landscape zinnias(that is a clickable link.)

The Harris Seed site has a picture showing Magellan zinnias in a border(another clickable link).

This is a link to a whole bunch of Magellan zinnia pictures.

Dreamland is a similar zinnia variety to Magellan.

This a link to a whole bunch of Dreamland zinnia pictures.

The Lilliputs do have a charm with their small blooms.

ZM

Below is a picture of Zinnias DH grew for a few years, can you identify them? They look like Lilliput. He can't remember the name.

I'm sure I did something wrong in Photos, but OTOH, it could be Houzz. I have no clue. It only happens when I download a pic from my camera.

About digging up some Zinnias, I had planned on thinning them when they got a tad bigger, and especially when our possible storm threat for this week is over so they can support each other. Same with Cosmos.

I'll probably put them in pots. Should I wait or do it now?

Hello Oakley,

" About digging up some Zinnias, I had planned on thinning them when they got a tad bigger, and especially when our possible storm threat for this week is over so they can support each other. "

Well, while you are thinning them you could be a little careful about digging up the ones that need to be removed and replant them somewhere else. Transplant does "shock" a zinnia plant and slow its growth temporarily, but it looks like you have the opportunity to transplant some zinnia plants rather than just pull them up. Actually, the "pullups" might live if you stuck them in holes in the ground and watered them.

" I'll probably put them in pots. Should I wait or do it now? "

It's probably OK to do it now. Weather permitting. It rained all day here yesterday, but today it is just cloudy and almost warm.

" Below is a picture of Zinnias DH grew for a few years, can you identify them?"

They probably came in a packet that said "Cut and Come Again". Their blooms are considerably larger than the Lilliput blooms. The German seed company, Benarys, has an improved strain of them named Oklahoma (a clickable link) available as a mixture of colors or as separate colors.

" ...and especially when our possible storm threat for this week is over so they can support each other. Same with Cosmos. "

Apparently we up here in Kansas are subject to the same storm systems. It rained here all day yesterday, although today it is just cloudy. But more rains are predicted for this week. I am still planting some selected zinnia seed in my favorite 3-inch square plastic pots. They germinate better indoors on heat mats than they would outdoors in cool weather at this time.

ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)

Thank you! I'm in central OK so we get the same systems you do. I love this cool weather, but the humidity today nearly killed me while working outside.

One last question, a two parter and then I think I'll be done.

Do you fertilize the Zinnias, and if so, when and how often, and more importantly, what do you use?

Do zinnias need something for pest control?

I'd like to get a pest control spray for both Zinnias and Cosmos. Cosmos get attacked by grasshoppers, the bane of my existance come summer.

BTW, are you over flowing with baby toads like we are? This has been going on for three years now. I have to watch where I step.

Hi Oakley,

I fertilize my outdoor zinnias with MiracleGro soluble Tomato Food, applied with a hose-end sprayer as a foliar feed with plenty of runoff for the root systems.

For pest control we have chickens and guineas. The guineas are also invaluable for controlling ticks in the entire area around the house and grounds. When we first moved here we didn't have poultry yet, and the ticks were a serious problem. Thanks to our guineas, last year I didn't see a single tick. We live in a rural area, so the poultry is not a problem with our neighbors. I am personally also part of the pest control--I will pick off a woolly worm from a zinnia whenever I see one. I also have a couple of big bug zappers that will keep pressure on the moth and mosquito populations as the weather warms up. I have special mosquito baits for the bug zappers. We have hummingbird feeders, and the hummers will eat mosquitos. As it gets warmer we will have an amazing population of fireflies.

I haven't seen any baby toads yet this year. Later this year we will have a variety of toads and frogs. We have a great variety of wildlife in this area, including the occasional mountain lion. We are too far north for fire ants and killer bees. And too far south for black flies. Oddly, we have a few armadillos, but I haven't seen a live one yet. Just an occasional road kill.

ZM

Thanks for the info. When do I first need to fertilize? I'll figure the rest out as the season progresses.

Great pest control you have there! You and my husband would be great friends, he loves standing at plants and pulling off cut worms and such. No thank you.

Do you see signs of Armadillos? They come in the yard at night digging for grubs etc, and making tunnels under the ground. They haven't done much damage but I did read they are the only animal that carries the bacteria that causes leprosy. Hmmm...I might have to find a gun and sit up all night. Just kidding. :)

We just had a big gully washer. Hope the babies are alright! :) Thank you for taking time to answer all my questions.

Hi Oakley,

" When do I first need to fertilize? "

Now would probably be a good time to start. The runoff improves the soil. I water my indoor zinnias with dilute (1 teaspoon per gallon) soluble Orchid food instead of the MiracleGro, because the Orchid food does not contain Urea as a nitrogen source. Urea requires soil microbes to break it down and my ProMix doesn't contain microbes. But the Urea is fine outdoors. Lots of microbes out there.

" Do you see signs of Armadillos? "

I don't think so, but I am not certain. I do have what appears to be mole tunnels and I have set a mole trap on one of them. We have a gopher problem in our large front lawn, but apparently not in my zinnia gardens. My mole traps usually get a few moles, but where to place the traps is tricky. At least nine out of ten trap settings fail to be on an active tunnel. Moles feed on earthworms, and the bad thing is that when I plant a row of zinnia seeds outdoors I water the row, which attracts earthworms, and it is not at all unusual to then have a mole tunnel track right down the row, damaging or killing the seedlings, simply because earthworms are attracted to the wet sandy soil in the zinnia row, and moles are attracted to the earthworms.

I am still germinating zinnia seeds indoors and setting them out as plants in order to be less vulnerable to mole damage. And my indoor germinating conditions take advantage of a heat pad, while the outdoor soil is still much cooler than the indoor ProMix. When I finally do resort to outdoor planting, I plan to put a mole trap in the middle of some of my seedling rows. I don't have nearly enough mole traps to do that for all of my seedling rows.

" I did read they are the only animal that carries the bacteria that causes leprosy. "

I heard the same thing. I wonder if they have a vaccine for Leprosy.

ZM

I have a newish bag of Better-Gro Orchid Plus water soluble orchid food. I didn't find Urea listed, so would it be okay to use it on the outdoor Zinnias for now until I find another fertilizer, or can I use it all summer?

Do you only pour it on the soil around the plant? HOW OFTEN?

One t. per gallon for outdoors too?

We also have moles and I heard it's grubs they feed on, and you have to spray or whateve for grubs and then the moles will leave the soil alone. But living on acreage would be different, IMO. It would be impossible to get rid of all the bugs.

LOL on the Armadillo vaccine. Just don't try to pick one up and you'll be fine. If you scare them they'll waddle away. :)

I forgot one important question, when do I pinch them back for a fuller plant?

Hi Oakley,

" when do I pinch them back for a fuller plant? "

Since I am breeding zinnias, I always wait to see what the first bloom looks like, and I will keep it or cull it based on how I like the bloom. You don't need to cull your zinnias if you don't want to, but you could simply snip off the bloom (or the bud) and let the plant put out a maximal number of side branches. Or you could pinch the growing point out sooner for a smaller number of side branches. If you want really branchy plants, pinch the first side branches as well. Keep pinching if you want some extremely branched plants.

It is definitely OK to use the Better-Gro nutrients outdoors. I use the MiracleGro nutes outdoors because they cost less. I use Better-Gro Orchid Plus 20-14-13 indoors because it is urea-free, and hence doesn't require the presence of soil microbes (my Pro-Mix doesn't have any of those). I also have Better-Gro Orchid Better-Bloom 11-35-15 that I also use. My indoor nutrient mixture uses 1/2 tsp of each per gallon of Reverse Osmosis purified water as a sort of compromise. My indoor nutrients also contain some Calcium nitrate, Magnesium sulfate, and added minor elements with a little added Boric acid because zinnias have a higher appetite for Boron than most plants. I also include some additional trace elements that include Cobalt, Nickel, and Silicon in addition to the standard traces that are already in the Better-Gro products. I use the MiracleGro nutrients outdoors because they cost considerably less than the Better-Gro products.

" so would it be okay to use it on the outdoor Zinnias for now until I find another fertilizer, or can I use it all summer? "

You can use it all summer, but it is considerably more expensive than the MiracleGro nutrients. If you don't mind spending the extra money, then fine, the zinnias will enjoy the expensive stuff.

" One t. per gallon for outdoors too? "

That would be fine, although you might get away with as much as one Tablespoon per gallon. But the label on the package says one Teaspoon per gallon, so that is advisable indoors or outdoors.

" Do you only pour it on the soil around the plant? HOW OFTEN? "

I spray it on the plant, to take advantage of foliar feeding. A lot of it runs off onto the soil where it can also be taken up by the root system. How often depends on a lot of things. I would shoot for once or twice a week. If its raining or I am busy doing something else, then an application might get skipped. If you are feeling gung ho, then you could spray the foliar feed on daily.

ZM

LOL about your last sentence. Not too gung ho in this high humidity. I use a half t. when I water my Orchids, all three of them, so I have plenty to use on the Zinnias for now.

It's raining now and we get a decent rain every day, so I may feed them a tiny bit if it dries out some later today.

Culling, that's pulling a plant out and throwing it away? For the Z's that need thinning and are super close to each other I snip the base of the plant instead of pulling.

Pests. They eating the plants. I need to order something today or get it at Walmart on Saturday. What do you suggest? Is there a homemade remedy I can use with ingredients I have? Dawn dish soap? ;)

Hello Oakley,

" For the Z's that need thinning and are super close to each other I snip the base of the plant instead of pulling. "

I do the same thing.

" Pests. They eating the plants. I need to order something today or get it at Walmart on Saturday. What do you suggest? "

Well, first of all, you need to identify the pests. If they are slugs or snails, then the product called "Sluggo" is what you should get. It works great and is safe to use. But it is effective only on slugs or snails, and won't harm your grasshoppers. If the damage is occurring at night, the culprits might be earwigs that are living in your mulch. The vaudevillian joke that "if hurts when you do that, don't do that" applies to organic mulches. Do you happen to have a Game Camera? It would help to catch the culprits in action. Maybe just go out to your garden at night with a flashlight. And hope you don't meet up with a Chupacabra (a clickable link) We do need to identify your enemy.

ZM

The other night when all was quiet, I had my window open and heard a sound I'd never heard before. I bet it was a Chupacabra! :)

Just now I took my readers outside, got on my hands and knees hoping no one would drive by, checked under and on top of the leaves, no pests. A couple of plants have tiny holes in them, a couple looks like a little pest with human teeth took a little bite, then another little bite near it. A rounded zigzag if you will, taking up half of a leaf.

Is there an all purpose something I can put on them? Would a chemical spray be okay since they're not even close to putting buds on?

No mulch yet, I'm waiting for the plants to get bigger and I also haven't bought any yet. :)

Hello Oakley,

" Is there an all purpose something I can put on them? Would a chemical spray be okay since they're not even close to putting buds on? "

All's fair as far as I am concerned. And since I am not an organic gardener, pretty much everything is a chemical. But until we know what the pest is, I don't have any suggestions that I would consider as good ideas. Normally zinnias don't have to be sprayed with anything, other than foliar feeding or possibly something to control Powdery Mildew, and that isn't what is leaving those odd bite marks. See if your flashlight can spot anything on your zinnias tonight. Maybe take a flash picture or two. And maybe daytime photos of the damage.

If you don't discover anything tonight, we will try something tomorrow. If we wanted to spray some sugar water on your zinnias, do you have some kind of sprayer you could use to do that?

ZM

I'll figure something out but I'm NOT going out there in the dark. Bobcats, coyotes, snakes, armadillos!

Does sugar water kill pests? Won't the leaves get hard and caramelize in the sun? :)

Question. I have a very large ceramic pot that would be perfect for the six potted zinnias that are growing like crazy, except the pot is 18 inches deep. That's a no no isn't it?

Hello Oakley,

" ...but I'm NOT going out there in the dark. Bobcats, coyotes, snakes, armadillos! "

If you were carrying a light it wouldn't be dark. But if you don't want to go out in your yard after dark, that is your prerogative. Hopefully you can figure out what is harming your zinnias without taking your life in your hands. But I confess your fear of the dark caught me by surprise. I enjoy sitting out in a recliner in the evening with a decaf coffee or a hot chocolate (at least one of my meds prohibits alcohol), watching planes fly by with their flashing lights, fireflies, the occasional meteor showers. And it is not at all unusual to hear several different packs of coyotes tune up in different directions in the distance and the neighbor's dogs answering back. Various birds have their contributions to the nighttime chorus, and as do several species of frogs and insects. And a plaintive train whistle in the distance. Good times. And it's dark.

" Does sugar water kill pests? Won't the leaves get hard and caramelize in the sun? :)"

No, the sugar water would be very dilute, in the teaspoon per gallon range, and it would be absorbed by the leaves and used by the zinnia plant. However, the plan was the sugar would also change the flavor of the leaves enough that whatever was eating them wouldn't like the new taste, and would leave the sweet zinnias alone. Or it might not stop the pests, but it would nourish the zinnias and make them grow faster. We might also try some hot pepper spray. Season the zinnias so that whatever is eating them won't like the new taste.

ZM

I have good porch lights but our land has quite a few trees on it, and we're surrounded by pasture and wheat fields with a creek nearby. I've seen a bobcat sunning in the backyard, a badger walk up the driveway, that was a first and only time I've seen one, and snakes. We've had snakes on the porch at night trying to cool off, right next to the front door.

Sitting outside on the porch with a little light is one thing, we do it all the time. But my flower bed is about 12 feet further from the porch. Nope. Can't make me.

You should have seen me when DH had to go out of town a couple of nights when an ice storm caused us to lose power for three weeks and I had to gas up the generator in the dark before I went to bed. DH gave me a huge spotlight and even that didn't make me feel safe. I remember singing quite loudly while putting in the gas trying to scare any human eating animal away. :)

The plants looked good this morning. What about the giant pot question? The plants in the smaller pot are growing like weeds.

ETA: The pot isn't ceramic, it's clay.

Hi Oakley,

Your singing probably made you seem more delicious to any human eating animal. Your situation with respect to wildlife isn't that different from mine. I haven't seen a badger here, but we have raccoons and possums galore. And a few bobcats and feral housecats. In addition to coyotes and the coyote hybrids with wolves, dogs, or whatever, we apparently have such a thing as a feral dog. The bad thing about a feral dog is that it obviously hasn't had its shots, so it is a potential rabies threat.

" Question. I have a very large ceramic pot that would be perfect for the six potted zinnias that are growing like crazy, except the pot is 18 inches deep. That's a no no isn't it? "

18 inches isn't optimal, because zinnia roots normally go deeper in good soil, but it should work fine for a few zinnia plants. 18 inches is deeper than a lot of pots. The key will be to have good potting soil in the pot. It may already have that. I use ProMix as potting soil, which has the disadvantage of containing a relatively weak dose of included nutrients.

Our rainy situation continues, and I suspect yours also does, because we both are under the influence of the same weather systems.

That leaves the identity of your zinnia pest or pests as still unknown. This ongoing rain may delay the progress on that front. But we do need to identify the pest or pests. If the rain lets up maybe you can take some photos.

ZM

I always use Miracle Gro potting Mix I get from Amazon. It's a good mix because the potted Zinnias are thriving, and that's from last years potting mix.

I am so sick of this humidity, it literally makes me physical sick if I work outdoors more than 15 minutes. Age does that to a person. :)

Checking in. The plants are fabulous. No sign of anymore pests. The one's in the pot are getting so big I had to divide them yesterday, 3 to a pot. They're even bushing out at the bottom! No sun in days, but they don't mind.

I just finished ordering insectiside soap that also kills fungus and powdery mildew. Good to go I think.

Here's a sad story. I thought of you immediately. lol We're in the country and have a good size of our acre fenced in with dog fencing panels because of our two large dogs. Sometimes a small critter can get in where two panels meet at the bottom, but not often.

Yesterday afternoon I looked out the kitchen window and saw a pretty little possom. Thankfully my dogs were inside or it would have been their dinner. When I went outside it immediately played dead and I didn't want to get close to it, so waited for it to go back the way it came in.

While watching it from inside, it got up and limped pretty bad. Found some leaves near the fence and laid in it. Later I noticed it got up and was limping along desperately trying to find it's way out. DS was over and he took a look at it while it played dead again and said it had two puncture wounds on it's side, pretty close together. Never heard our dogs barking which they generally do, so I don't know what happened to it.

I opened a gate close to the little one and instead of going out he crawed further into the leaves and passed away. It was right before dark so I left him there.

This morning he was in the middle of the backyard. LOL Dogs didn't eat him, they just got him out which made it easy for me to lift him with the shovel and lay him under a tree outside the gate.

May he rest in peace. Amen.

Hello Oakley,

" Later I noticed it got up and was limping along desperately trying to find it's way out. DS was over and he took a look at it while it played dead again and said it had two puncture wounds on it's side, pretty close together. Never heard our dogs barking which they generally do, so I don't know what happened to it. "

Yikes! Maybe those two puncture wounds were from the fangs of a poisonous snake. Possums do "play possum", but maybe that little guy wasn't playing. Possums are one of our several kinds of varmints that prey upon our poultry, eating eggs or chicks.

If your possum is dead, it might attract things like vultures, and/or it might just smell bad. I don't know if you could dispose of it in the trash, but I suppose you could bury it. And hope your dogs don't dig it up. If you have a local Animal Control, you might discuss it with them. The vultures take care of our dead animals in this rural area.

ZM

Not a snake bite. Vultures live down at the creek and they usually get road kill. We're on a dirt road.

It definitely was playing dead. It's funny because when they feel threatened they go kaplump on their sides really fast. He did that several times. We've had many other who do the same.

We're in the country, no animal control. He was a small possum and so cute. :(

Zen Man, do you plant zinnias in pots? One of my plants in clay pot wilts a bit early afternoon, and I checked all three pots of Zinnias, and while still moist the soil was warm The pot wasn't hot though. In the 80's today. Not sure plastic pots would make a difference. What is the least amount of sun potted Zinnias can get to still bloom well?

Do you by any chance have the same horrid humidity we have? OK gets it from the gulf, and it's really baaad.

Hello Oakley,

I start zinnias in 3-inch square semi-deep pots, sometimes re-pot them to larger pots, but eventually I transplant them to my outdoor garden. Unless they are part of my indoor Winter zinnia project, in which case they spend their entire life cycle in my basement utility room under fluorescent lights. Zinnias require "Full Sun", which is usually defined to be at least 8 hours of direct sunshine per day. They need the 8 hours of sun whether they are in a pot or in the ground.

I guess we do not have the same "horrid humidity" you have. Our weather here in east-central Kansas is reasonably pleasant and varied. However, I was born and grew up in northwest Oklahoma, and we did not have a humidity problem there either. We did have a lot of winds, but we have those here in Kansas, too. Our south winds are undoubtedly from Oklahoma, and you guys get your wind from Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. You may be more sensitive to humidity than the average person is. Do you have a refrigerative air conditioner? They remove moisture from the air. I have heard the phrase, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" all of my life. But, when it is excessive, the wind is what I most don't like about weather. However, most of the time our weather is tolerable, and frequently enjoyable.

ZM

I've become humidity intolerant as I've gotten older, but the humidity the past couple of days has been stifling. We've had a lot of rain, no sunshine, the mold count is high too. Even my cat who likes to play outside for a few hours at a time only lasted for 30 min. then wanted in, and then she went to the ac vent on the floor. lol

It's nice and cool inside, no humidity. It's the outside that bites.

Had I known how long zinnia roots get, I would have sowed them in deep pots. They're doing good, it's only one plant in the pot. I'm a helicopter mom I guess. :)

I'm too exhausted to take a picture but I have two buds on two of the plants in one pot. :) I did notice a couple of leaves at the bottom of one are yellowing. Too much water?

Hello Oakley,

" ...but I have two buds on two of the plants in one pot. "

That is some rapid development.

" I did notice a couple of leaves at the bottom of one are yellowing. Too much water? "

Maybe. If the medium in your pots were reasonably porous and your pots had reasonable drainage holes, it would be impossible to have too much water. The excess water would simply run out the holes. People who grow zinnias in a hydroponics setup are growing their zinnias in water.

My first suspicion about yellow leaves is a nutrient deficiency. When was the last time you fed them some of that Orchid Plus food? Incidentally, plants need Calcium and there isn't any Calcium in commercial soluble nutrients. So where are your pot-grown zinnias getting their Calcium? I feed mine Calcium Nitrate.

ZM

Will they take milk? :) I have some Burpee plant fertilizer, let me check on it. I fed them last week and today.

More buds this morning. Some on the plants in the ground and a few more in pots. They're all branching out from the bottom so I'm not pinching them yet. Probably will eventually.

It's been in the low 50's the past couple of nights, I've been wearing a jacket outside in the mornings, and I think these plants prefer cold weather over hot. Just saying...

Milk would be an experiment, and the fat content might be harmful. Granulated Gypsum can be added to the soil to supply Calcium without making it too alkaline like Lime would. Gypsum is Calcium Sulfate. I think Plaster of Paris is also Calcium Sulfate. There is a Gypsum that also has some Magnesium content, which is beneficial. Zinnias prefer hot weather. I like the cool weather we have been having.