Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 6, 1 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Hi Pistil,

" Someday I might do some hybridizing myself but for now I get my thrills by following this thread ! "

I agree with Brenda, that it can't hurt to do a little zinnia experimenting on your own. I notice you have a Zone 8a climate in Lake Stevens Washington, so your zinnia growing conditions would be significantly different from those here (zone 5b) in east central Kansas. I presume your climate has considerable maritime influence, which might be conducive to Powdery Mildew on zinnias, but there are several ways to deal with that. I use a systemic fungicide to prevent Powdery Mildew on my breeder zinnias, and it seems to be quite effective. Some people use baking soda.

On the "plus" side, you most likely have a significantly longer growing season than here in 5b, which could make it easier to grow two generations a year. You could grow some zinnias, cross pollinate them, wait 3 or 4 weeks for the green seeds to mature their embryos, and then plant those green seeds to grow a second generation. That would let you see what your crosses produced, make some crosses between them, and save green seeds of your hybrids between hybrids to make for an exciting second year of your zinnia project. Of course, you could skip doing all that and just grow a few zinnias for the fun of it and the enjoyment of your butterflies.

I am attaching a picture of one of my recent crosses between one of my Razzle Dazzle zinnias with one of my Exotic tubular petaled zinnias. That cross yields a flowerform with a "new look." It reminds me a bit of a pink Bachelor's Button, only a bit bigger.

I encourage you to at least dabble a bit with zinnias next year. You could start quite modestly, with just a few zinnia seeds. I find zinnias to be a fascinating hobby.

ZM


This message was edited Sep 29, 2015 12:41 AM