Hi Bob,

"What germination % do you try to achieve for commerical zinnia seeds?"

Most commercial zinnia seeds are germination tested for 80 percent or more.

"Do they do better by soaking?"

A pre-soak is completely unnecessary. Zinnias usually come up in 4 to 6 days, and at a temperature of 80 - 85 F, they can come up in 2 days. In cool or freaky conditions they might take as long as three weeks. Just keep the germination medium moist.

"I only want to try several plants to see if they can withstand the bugs and disease in this area."

I would be interested in how they do in your area in Florida. I am sure that your conditions are much different from our environment in Kansas. If you have slugs, they like zinnias, so use a bait like Sluggo to eliminate them. I will be curious if your "love bugs" are a problem for zinnias. Post pictures of your Florida grown zinnias and any problems that show up.

"The seeds are 1000 for $3.15 ... This will probably be a 7 year supply for me."

Actually, an excess supply of seeds can work to your advantage. I have found that there is a significant correlation between seed size and geometry and the resulting plant. Incidentally, there are (at least) two types of zinnia seeds, floret seeds and petal seeds. There is even a correlation between the shape of the petal seeds and the shape of the petals on the plant that will grow from it. Long, thin petal seeds tend to produce flowers with long thin petals, whereas short, wide petal seeds tend to produce flowers with shorter wider petals. And there is some correlation with leaf shape, too. I prefer longer larger sword-shaped zinnia leaves, with pointed ends. But zinnia leaves come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

I recommend that you pick through your seeds to find a few of the nicest looking ones, and plant those. I think for your purposes you will want the biggest petal seeds you can find. Pour your seeds out on a clean white sheet of typing paper, and if you have a desk lamp handy, use it to get a good look at your seeds. Spread them out with your finger, and pick out the biggest, baddest, heaviest seeds you can find and put them one-by-one in a saucer or cup. Return the seeds that didn't make the cut to the package for later use. You can get exceptional zinnias from exceptional seeds.

Thanks for the link to Hem Zaden. I notice that they have the tetraploid cactus flowered zinnias in separate colors. And they have a lower growing strain of cactus zinnias.

ZM

Great Information! I really appreciate your detailed answers. I will select the seeds as you suggested and report back how they perform.
Thank you very much,
Bob

Would these be the same seeds? It's a more reasonable quantity that someone like me, growing just a few, would prefer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Territorial Seeds - Giant Cactus

Hi Eahamel,

"Would these be the same seeds?"

Actually, they are not the same. Those giant cactus zinnias in your link are diploid cactus zinnias, and are available from many sources. The Super Cactus zinnias that Bob is referring to are tetraploid cactus zinnias, which until recently weren't available in the United States. In fact, until Bob mentioned them, I didn't even know that tetraploid cactus zinnias were commercially available.

One of the advantages of tetraploid versus diploid is that tetraploid flowers can be larger in size. There are other pros and cons of tetraploidy. My zinnia breeding so far has been limited to diploid zinnias. But thanks for the link to Territorial Seeds.

ZM

ZM,
If I self pollinate the Zinnia Super Cactus tetraploids or (if I found it easy) cross between colors what is the likely result, inferior plants or possibly robust plants?

ZM and eahamel,
If you want to experiment with these Zinnia Super Cactus tetraploids I will send you 200 seeds each for a self addressed envelope(approximayely 200 seeds..I won't count them). ZM if you think I can send these with a regular envelope slightly padded and a single stamp, you two don't need to send me a sae. But if you want it in a special envelope send it to me. I spent half of my seed budget on sending out seeds last year...big padded envelopes, 2 stamps each; so I decided to slow that down this year. :-)
eahamel,
Geoseed is so extremely reasonable (they are a wholesaler, that you can buy from) and their shipping is $5.00. If you are considering ordering other seeds you may consider them.
I think ZM said that Zinnia seeds can be kept up to 7 years. Is that correct, ZM?
Bob

Bugbite, Thanks for this offer! I'd really like to try them. I had no idea there were any tetraploid zinnias around. I'll contact you for address to send an SASE to. I think they need to be padded, since the seeds are so large. You shouldn't have to pay for that if you're giving seeds away!

Bob,

"I think ZM said that Zinnia seeds can be kept up to 7 years. Is that correct, ZM? "

I have kept mine for 7 years. Hill Gardens says 5-6 years in "ideal storage".

Thanks for offering to share your tetra zinnia seeds, but I won't be needing them. I have more zinnia breeding projects than I have time for as it is.

"If I self pollinate the Zinnia Super Cactus tetraploids or (if I found it easy) cross between colors what is the likely result, inferior plants or possibly robust plants?"

You will probably get some of each. Zinnias are full of surprises. With corn, F1 hybrids are always superior, but that is between inbred strains, which tend to be a bit weak. It is actually quite easy to cross zinnias. I did some cross pollination today, which was a bit tricky in the high winds we were having. Basically, you just take the pollen bearing florets from one "male" zinnia flower and rub it on the stigmas of the "female" flower. The pollen bearing florets are the five or six armed fuzzy yellow things that appear, and the stigmas are the yellow forked tongue objects at the base of the petals.

You can use tweezers, twissors, or forceps to grasp the pollen bearing florets and use them as pre-loaded "brushes". Or you can use a small artist's brush to transfer the pollen from the florets to the stigmas. This picture shows getting pollen on the brush tip.

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And this picture shows applying the pollen to the stigmas of the female plant.

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Unlike some flowers, the flowers of zinnias are easy to cross pollinate, because the flower parts are easily accessible.

ZM

ZM,
Excellent explanation and pictures.
I crossed many petunias last year and achieved some success, using brushes. I will see how the petunias germinate in the spring, if at all.
Long time ago I hybridized roses for many years.
But I like what you showed; a female plant and a male plant. Could not ask for anything better.
Beautiful flowers in these two pictures!
Thanks again,
Bob

I said "I crossed many petunias last year". I meant earlier this spring. Wow, how time flys.

ZM,
I received the Zinnia Super Cactus tetraploid seeds yesterday. I planted 3 trays on a new variety of rose seed (yes, rose seeds..recently developed in France) and thought I might as well plant a flat of these zinnias. So I emptied out the 1000 zinnia seeds to pick out 18. :-) There was a lot of variation so I picked a mix.
Geoseed continues to amaze me with their prices. This new rose seed is being offered as "new" in 2013 by several major seed sellers. They are getting about $5 for 20 seeds. Geoseed sells 100 seeds for $3.80 I love that company. I attached a link to their pricelist below.
Bob
Ps. Anyone interested in Geoseed... They will sell to us but they are more of a wholesaler ( a middleman). You won't get growing instructions on their envelopes. And if I mess up a planting, I have never had the nerve to ask for a refund. They probably expect their commerical customers to know what they are doing. They do germination tests on all their seeds and they know they are viable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Geoseed