Thanks! I have a good set up with lights, seed starting mix, plastic cells, etc.. How many weeks before LFD should I get started?

I aim for around two months, at the least. With bottom heat, the seeds will germinate in just a couple of days, after which I turn off the heat mat, and transplant the teensy seedlings into their cell packs with a much coarser potting mix than what I use for germination.

do not use peat pots ... if plants overgrow.. you can not get the plant out ... and they are real hard indoors ....

in my MI .... 6/1 is sure fire go outside date ... but you have to start hardening them off about 2 weeks prior ... maybe the garage for a week.. then full shade for a week, taking them in if cold temps around .;..

but the base question ... is whether they bud according to the sun.. or age ... if sun ... it might not matter how early you start them ... if they are tuned into the sun ... [but not according to rhiz]

i am sure zen will be along to be much more specific ...

have you grown things indoors under lights??? .. do you have forced air heat?? ... if so.. humidity will be hard to control ... will you do this in a basement.. if so ... temp constancy will be an issue .... etc ...

i'm in adrian.. give me a big city name.. so i can understand where you are ...

ken

ps: bleach all your hardware ... and sterilize your media .. to avoid bugs and stuff

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4DMG/Soil/sterile.htm

Hi Jillian,

" How many weeks before LFD should I get started? "

Zinnias can bloom in 6 weeks from seed. I have had a few open a bloom in as soon as 5 weeks. I start my zinnias in 3.25-inch square "clear" orchid pots (one seed per pot) and they usually need to be re-potted to larger pots in 4 weeks. The orchid pots are a fraction deeper than "regular" square pots.

They won't die if you don't repot them, but they will get very rootbound and be stunted for lack of rootball volume if you don't. Rhizo suggested about two months, but i suspect she grows smaller varieties, and she does have hers in full bloom when she sets them out. I would suggest starting "regular" larger zinnia varieties indoors about 4 to 5 weeks before the Last Frost Date.

If you are planning to repot them (I repot to 5-inch square black plastic pots) then two months (or more) is doable.

As it happens, I am planting some zinnias today, and my LFD is sometime in late April or early May. But I have a lot of zinnias in bloom indoors now in 5-inch pots, and I will be re-potting some of them to 8-inch pots soon. I have been saving seeds from some of my first indoor generation of zinnias, and I am starting my second indoor generation now.

proper repotting is done.. by tipping a couple plants out of the pots ... and repotting.. when the roots just get to the pot edge ...

rather than waiting until the roots are all wound up ...

back in the day i used ... 6, 8, 12 and 16 oz solo cups... for the progression ... when growing hosta seeds ...

ken

I'm in zone 3 and I start my zinnias in my greenhouse the first of May. The same time as I start my marigolds and other plants that need to be started 4-6 weeks early. I start planting in my flower beds at the first of June--weather permitting and it continues into the end of the second week of June. Somewhere in that time frame the zinnias go in. Starting under lights will give you the same head start as my greenhouse.

I start all my seeds in mushroom boxes that I've burnt holes in the bottom with my wood burning tool. They are then transferred, when they get their second leaves, into 6 packs and left there until they are planted out.

I don't start them inside, just scatter the seeds outside. It takes about 6 weeks to get blooms from doing that.

Thanks for all the good info! I have one of those inexpensive mini-greenhouses that I plan to set out in the spring (with lots of reinforcement!) I may try half inside and half outside in late April/ early May. I have been collecting a variety of containers for potting up, but will quickly run out of light space if I do them all indoors.

Zen is right about my choice for zinnias.....small varieties. I am also growing them in a pretty cool location, which slows them down quite a bit and keeps them stocky and sturdy.

I may try half inside and half outside

==>>> brilliant.. experimenting is the best way for you to figure it out.. and cut your odds of failing ...

good luck

ken

I start mine indoors around 6 weeks prior to planting-out date.

That is good that you are using the concept of a planting-out date rather than a Last Frost Date. I do take frost probabilities into account when deciding on my planting-out date, but the two dates are indeed separate things.

ZM

I have done both indoor and outdoor seeding. I find the outdoor seedlings to be less leggy than indoors. And of course, zinnias can be prone to damping off indoors, this is not a problem outdoors for me.