Zinnia Cosmos seeds

10 years ago

Do I need to soak these before direct sowing? I have peat pots. Should I go this method instead? My first time trying anything by seed and I bought a lot of them. Hoping to have a garden full so I want to try to do it right for best germination. They will only be getting about 4.5 hours of direct sunlight so I'm already challenged I'm guessing.

Featured Answer

zen_man

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

Hi Sandra,

I don't think you need to soak Cosmos seeds, either. But after you plant the seeds, sprinkle the seed beds daily (unless it rained) to keep them moist until the seedlings emerge.

" Hoping to have a garden full so I want to try to do it right for best
germination. They will only be getting about 4.5 hours of direct
sunlight so I'm already challenged I'm guessing. "

Zinnias prefer full sun (8 hours of direct sunlight), but I have grown them successfully in less light. When the conditions are less than ideal, I foliar feed my zinnias with Miracle-Gro and I also include a little table sugar (sucrose) in the foliar feed. No more than a tablespoon per gallon of either Miracle-Gro or sugar. Some plants, including zinnias, can absorb sugar through their leaves and use it in lieu of photosynthesized sugar. That can help compensate for less sunlight, or even a prolonged period of cloudy weather.

" My first time trying anything by seed and I bought a lot of them. "

If you are like me, you bought too many seeds. That gives you the opportunity to select the best seeds to plant. Simply pour some seeds out on a white surface (like a sheet of typing paper) and pick out the better looking seeds to plant. If you prefer larger zinnia blooms, simply pick out the biggest seeds to plant.

Then this Summer take notice of which zinnias look the best to you, and mark them in some way (tie on a piece of string or yarn could work) so that you can save some seeds from your favorites to plant next year (or later this year). That may also help you develop your own "strain" of zinnias that are better adapted to your limited light growing conditions.

I am a zinnia hobbyist, and I too grow a lot of zinnias. I also breed my zinnias for fun. It is quite easy to cross one zinnia with another, and thus create your own home-hybrid zinnias.

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Comments (6)

socalgal_gw Zone USDA 10b Sunset 24
10 years ago
I know you do NOT need to soak zinnia seeds.
Sandra Matula thanked socalgal_gw Zone USDA 10b Sunset 24
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Sandra Matula
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you so much for the info! One more thing if you are still up....I bought Burpees and Ferry-morse seeds from Home Depot. Tonight I was reading reviews for both and I'm not too thrilled. Is there a better seed company. Someone suggested Stokes. ?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
this time of year ... seed stocks should be fresh ... if you bought them last fall on bargain .. then they were probably sitting in the store, and not so fresh ... ... etc ..

neither of these are foo foo plants.. just plant the seed ... save half to direct sow outdoors ...

i did not read zens reply ... i am positive.. its spot on ...

moisten your media for use ... before you put the seeds in it

i have never had much luck with peat pots.. indoors ...

ken
zen_man
10 years ago
Hi Sandra,

Stokes is one of my favorite seed companies. They have a good selection AND they also have larger sizes of packages for lower per-seed costs.

I do buy from Burpee, and have ever since I was a kid. Burpee has a few "exclusives" that really are exclusive. For example, I buy seedless tomato seeds from Burpee every year. And this year we are trying their Meatball Eggplant and Better Boy tomatoes. And I bought 5 packets of Burpeeana Giants zinnias from them to grow out, looking for a few extra selected examples to include in my zinnia gene pool.

I also like Swallowtail, Harris, Johnny's Selected Seeds, and Hazzards. I think Hazzards has the widest selection of online ornamental seeds. Them and GeoSeeds. Check out Hazzards just to see how much variety is available.

All that said, I have bought more seeds from Stokes than all other seed companies combined. I have bought several one-quarter-pound packages of zinnia seeds from Stokes over the years.

I tend to shy away from in-store seed-rack seeds. They are in paper packets, and in-store relative humidities are usually too high for good seed storage. And a paper packet is no protection against humid air. That said, I do on occasion buy some off the rack, and I have had good germination from them. They probably don't spend enough time in the store to be hurt.

ZM (not associated with any product or company mentioned)
Sandra Matula thanked zen_man
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
but zen ... in store racks.. are usually the near bulletproof plants ... and rather cheap ...

you and i are so beyond those common offerings .. that we would mail order the more uniques and harder to grow plants and seeds ..

i wouldnt dissuade newbs from using such.. in their learning curve ... better to lose a buck or two... learning ... than to waste 10 bucks on one pack ..... on shipping.. handling.. etc .. that can all come later ...

ken
Sandra Matula thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5