its more than likely that they will not come true from seed ... generally speaking... unless you buy the seed in a package... but i might be wrong on that in regard to zinnia ...

no clue on thinking about a bug that hit your plants months ago .... next year snap a picture... cutworm comes to mind.. as do slugs.. depending on how small the plants were ..

ken

Alicia,

Since you are in Zone 5, there is probably enough growing season left for you to plant a few experimental Fall zinnias. They might not have enough time left to produce viable seed, but they probably do have enough time (6 to 8 weeks) to show you their blooms.

That experimental planting will let you address your first problem, that something eats your zinnia seedlings while they are small. Do some detective work to find out what culprit is getting your small zinnias. That includes going out with a flashlight at night to see if any nocturnal feeding is going on. Once you identify the culprit(s), you will be better prepared for them next year. Ken's idea of snapping a picture or pictures of the problem is a good one.

"...some of them didn't grow true, like my Red Lime Queens and Green Envy. Is it possible that growing last year's seeds harvested won't produce true flowers? "

It's possible that bees cross-pollinated them with some other zinnia variety. However, Queen Red Lime has a reputation for being rather variable right out of the seed packet. But zinnias can come reasonably true from your saved seed, as long as they aren't commercial F1 hybrid seeds. After all, commercial seed packets have saved seed in them. Saving seeds from F1 hybrids is an adventuresome thing. I do it all the time, and I get some interesting new forms of zinnias, like this one.

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I like its rather un-zinnia-like look, and its subtle colors. And I am crossing it with some other rather weird zinnias. Next year I will probably have some new interesting zinnias in my zinnia garden. I look forward to that.

ZM

Thanks to both of you! Some of my Zinnias ended up growing really well. I should get enough seeds off of them to grow them again next year and see if I have better luck; i.e. more flowers! I just love Zinnias. They're my absolute favorite.

The Queen Red Lime was purchased through a company, and they are NOT like they were pictured. I've got red flowers and lime-colored flowers. The red ones are beautiful, though, so I'm not terribly disappointed. But I would have loved to have seen the Queen Red Lime grow true. So I don't know if the company messed up with my order, or if they did, in fact, cross pollinate and I received cross-pollinated seeds. I'll try again next year. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!

I have yet to see any bugs/slugs on my Zinnias. It's mostly when I first plant them outdoors and they're small. Will have to observe that closely next spring. Once they reach a certain height, nothing usually bothers them. They mustn't be as tasty then! I used to get powdery mildew, but I've learned not to water them so late in the evening and that seems to have resolved that problem.

I also think I'll try starting more of my Zinnias indoors in the spring under my lights and then move them outdoors when they're a little mature.

Overall, I did get some Zinnias this year that are gorgeous, so I can't complain too much.

I thank you both for helping me out. Sorry I went MIA on responding. Like everyone, the summer months keep me very busy! :-)

Alicia

Hi, I purchased some Queen Red Lime seeds from Park seed and was very disappointed with the way the flowers looked. Most of them were an ugly almost brownish shade. A few that came out mostly red were ok and only one plant had flowers that look pretty much like the picture in the catalog. In my opinion these were the ugliest flowers I have ever seen.

Use some slug bait when the seedlings appear. I find that slugs are eating them. I think that I may also try planting the seed in a pot next year.

Alicia,

"I have yet to see any bugs/slugs on my Zinnias. It's mostly when I first plant them outdoors and they're small."

Slugs are nocturnal feeders so, unless you have checked at night with a flashlight, you probably wouldn't have seen them. I agree with Mantis_OH that slugs are a likely suspect. I don't know if it is available on "your side of the pond", but I have found that Sluggo is a safe and effective slug bait. It is based on iron phosphate, which breaks down in the soil to provide both iron and phosphorous as nutrients for your plants.

If it is not slugs, then cutworms would be my next suspect. But they usually leave some evidence of their work, like at least part of a fallen seedling. They, too, do their work at night. When I see a fallen zinnia seedling, I probe around in the soil near the plant to find a fat cutworm just below the surface. And I destroy it. That is a bit like "closing the barn door after the horse is stolen", but it prevents the cutworm from killing another seedling in the next night or two. You can kill cutworms in their juvenile roaming stage with a spray containing BT on all of the plants, including small weeds, in the immediate area of your zinnia planting. That kills them before they get big enough to kill your zinnia seedlings.

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

Here's another vote for slugs. In my garden (outside pots too), I sprinkle slug bait around them as I put the seed in the ground. Otherwise, the tiny seedlings will be eaten from the moment they break ground. You're right. Once they get a few inches tall, they can fend for themselves.

I think I'll have to invest in some slug bait next year. :) I have grown Zinnias in pots and they were very pretty, but they don't do near as well as in the ground. But I also didn't have a slug problem that way.

I think I remember reading somewhere that if you put beer in a shallow pan/lid, the slugs will be attracted to it, climb in and drown???
Here are my Queen Red Lime Zinnias:

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Alicia,

"I think I remember reading somewhere that if you put beer in a shallow pan/lid, the slugs will be attracted to it, climb in and drown???"

That is a commonly recommended slug control. I tried it and found that the slugs were holding onto the side of the pan, and stretching down to drink the beer without falling in. In my experience, the shallow pan/lid thing was a failure, except it did feed beer to the slugs. They did seem to like it.

I think that an iron phosphate based bait, sprinkled around liberally, is a better control, and it is relatively safe.

Your Queen Red Lime zinnias are not true to type, but that has been a common complaint with that strain of zinnias. They look good, anyway. I kind of like your over-sized pictures, even though they do cause some horizontal scrolling.

ZM

Thanks, ZM. I figured that method was too good to be true. :) I'll try what you mentioned next spring.

And I hate those big pictures. Wish I could figure out how to make them smaller. :) I hate having to scroll too. Sorry for all the extra work.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flower Pics

Alicia,

"And I hate those big pictures. Wish I could figure out how to make them smaller."

Most photo editors have a feature to let you resize a picture to pretty much any size you want. For example, I resized your last picture to 986 x 740 pixels and a file size of 99.25 KB (101,639 bytes) in Photoshop CS3.

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However, if you don't have Photoshop, your photos are in Photobucket, and Photobucket provides an online photo editor in which you can resize your photos. You probably want to keep your originals, so "Save a Copy" instead of "Replace Original".

ZM

Alicia, I must say these are extremely beautiful zinnias...

Thanks so much, ZM. I didn't even realize Photobucket had an editor like that. The only way I know how to put pictures on here is to upload them into Photobucket. But I'll take a gander at how to resize because I like it better when they're a tad smaller. :) I really appreciate your help.

Thank you, izhar. I was very pleased with the outcome of these Zinnias even though they weren't true. Especially after hearing what some others had to say about the Queen Red Lime and seeing some images online of other people's Queen Red Lime Zinnias. I think sometimes these companies that sell flower seeds Photoshop their pictures because they're so vibrant in the magazines! At least I had pretty flowers to enjoy while sitting on my patio this summer. And they're still going strong! :)

You can resize within Picasa and then transfer to GardenWeb. Try the test forum; people there are very helpful. In all frankness, I don't like many of the close-ups that people post. It's not the way I see a flower. I prefer at least a little distance to get some perspective other than that of a bee.