MM... I am a mess. LOL I have a degree in hort , green house and nursery management and productionand my minor is plant pathology . I grow for a living and for fun and th epure joy of gardening. Lot different tryign to grow in the groudn than in a gh. I did alot research projects for my directed studies and worked on the trial gardens and most classes all had research projects. Did the messenger and other grow enhancing products when messenger first came out and wanted to find out if it was as good as they said.
I dabble in alot of things. I am very a very curious person. Want to know why things do what they do in th eplant world and always thinking out side the box to try and improve on them if I can. School is a tool and a source of learning, but it doesn't compare to when ya have to get out there and actually have to try and grow the stuff yourself. Then reality sets in and then you need to pick the brains of all the folks with experience you can. After all they been there and done that.
Misktakes cost money. yes, you learn, but when thinsg are expensive and supplies limited, I have learne d that whiel I may experiment on alot fo thigs, I like to learn what I can . I hate havign to bury a seedling.
I took an advanced virolgy class and that was how I found out about the root and the plant shield. Then I had to find out if it was for real or not and did oen of my class rsearch projects on it.
I did find that it works better if you make a liquid btach of it up and use it as a drench on the seeds before planting. Mixed the power up with warm water. stirre dit good and took the seeds and placed them in a coffee filter and soake dthem in the shield mix for five minutes then planted. Did it that way, because their in every soil everywheres always diseases in the ground . There is no way your gonna get rid of them all. Aslo alot of seed are infected with fungi and bacteria even before they hit the ground and this stuff helps kill it off before the radical emerges and the plants are infected.
There lots of places that sell it. It is expensive, but it goes along way.
Kansas. You do have lot sof icky clay. Have a good friend that has gardens in Kansas. Amazed that she able to grow and still keep the blooms on her plants even with 60 mile an hour winds always blowign them around. I have the red hard clay and also sand. The groudn here the pits and so acidic that as fast as you try and fertilize the plants hungry for more. It a major challenge to try and grow here. I miss the nice rich sandy loam soil of Ohio.
I am a plant nut big time. If I don't have it I want it. If it says it can't be grown here, I gonna spend years trying to make it do it. I love hybridizing and I love watching seed sprouts. I am a big seed-a-holic. I not happy unless I playign with seeds and busy trying to grow something.
It can be fun to breed your own zinnias
MM--no need to change user name, just leave out the 'e'.
StarLight,
I was right. You are not the ordinary "garden variety" of gardener. You have an impressive gardening and horticultural resume. Glad to have you here and look forward to more interaction with you.
MM
Lucy,
Thanks for the implied compliment. I confess that when I chose the MaineMan moniker in Maine that I was aware of the possible double meaning. But since I can no longer hide behind the Maine residency, I think it would be a little egotistical to be the MainMan here in this forum. I am not really the "main man", except in my own household.
I changed from MaineMan to ZenMan in the GardenWeb forums, but I learned that the name ZenMan is already in use here in Dave's Garden. I am still considering a new name here. I considered KanMan, but am not too wild about it. ZinMan sounds a little like TinMan, but I haven't totally ruled it out. However, zinnias are not my only interest. I am not wild about using numbers in a name, but ZenMan2 is a possibility. It sounds a bit like "zinnia" and I get a Zen like enjoyment from being around growing things and living things, so maybe I will become ZenMan2. I did like the idea of having the same name in both GardenWeb and here, and ZenMan2 comes rather close to that. But maybe something completely different will occur to me "out of the blue", so I will stay undecided for awhile. It's actually not a very important matter. If I had a cape and could fly, I could be SuperMan, only, chuckle, that name has also been taken here.
MM
This message was edited Dec 16, 2008 7:07 PM
I chose irisMA because we grow irises & live in MA. I don't think we will move but their are certainly other iris growers in the state, many of them our friends. Certainly you are the main zinnia person here & give very interesting information. tough about the soil change.
MM. I the same as everybody else on Dg. Helping where i can and aking and learning right along with everybody else. You the Zinia expert and so I gonan be pickign yoru brain adn sharign my triumps and failures this year with you if ya don't mind.
We all have strengths and weakness and I love Dg cuz you can ask anything abotu any question and somebody will step up and lend a helping hand.
I just picked up the brug bug and now havign to try and learn to grow them. I just a play in the dirt girl. LOL
After reading this thread I feel in good company. I love doing experiments involving plants and dirt though I have no credentials other than sweat equity. lol!
Karen
I will stick to breeding irises & learning about their genetics & problems, which doesn't mean I don't enjoy information on other flowers. Growing conditions are important so I am in several 'robins' letter exchanges, 2 of them international.
This was a late season toothy specimen that has a light frosting of white near some of the petal tips. I used it as a breeder with the hope that its progeny might have more "toothiness" and a bit more white on the tips.
This one had great deep purple color, but was a single. It is my hope that if I grow more bicolors I will find a fully double specimen with color like this one.
Sitting here going oh! Oh! Oh! in a good way. I love em both and really love the form on the first one. Woudl love to have a small area filled with a mass of that one. Reminds me of the petals on a carnation or a large dianthus. I love carnations and tryign to see if I grow some of them. Thay another flower they say can't grow here.
StarLight,
Carnations and Dianthus are very closely related and they do prefer cooler growing conditions. They probably could be crossed with each other. I considered the Dianthus species as a candidate for hobby breeding, but couldn't find enough genetic material with yellow and orange colorations. With the right timing and variety selection, you should be able to grow Dianthus. They have some striking color patterns and plant habits. And their foliage seems to be resistant to problems.
Grin. I strongly suspect that you couldn't get a yellow/orange/light purple color combination, like in this Zig Zag zinnia, in a carnation or dianthus.
MM
Your so bad... ; ) Putting all them teasers up there. LOL That ok, I am loving looking at them can't wait to get some of my seed going. I just hope when I do get mine growing I cna at least get one that looks as good as yours.
You need to take that one and sell if for a fortune to Ball seed company. That one belongs in everybodys garden.
I up to my eyeballs in hostign the piggy swap for folks an dstorm surviors, but when I get to the part of the fridge that has dianthus seed, will let ya know what kinds I have. Maybe one fo them will be something that will tickle your fancy to grow and work with.
StarLight,
"...but when I get to the part of the fridge that has dianthus seed, will let ya know what kinds I have. Maybe one of them will be something that will tickle your fancy to grow and work with."
I might have some suggestions for you to grow and possibly to cross pollinate, but I don't really have room here to diversify in my plant breeding. Zinnias will pretty much take up most of my growing space. I plan to grow a few tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants next year, but only a very few, and they will be part of a modest "Victory Garden". These economic times are so bad that Victory Gardens are coming back, and it will even be acceptable to grow veggies in your front yard.
I guess it will be a bit "topsy turvy" to have veggies in the front yard and flowers in the back yard, but my zinnia breeding can involve some things that aren't exactly ornamental. For example, to protect my chosen breeders, I enclose them in strong half-height tomato cages. I refer to these as zinnia cages. I am attaching a picture of a zinnia cage. Caged zinnias would look a bit odd in the front yard. And, as I mentioned in a message somewhere above, I also install "hair nets" on my breeder blooms. Hence the topsy turvy veggies in front and flowers in back.
MM
Here is another picture of a zinnia cage in place. This breeder also had the benefit of a Water Spike to make it easy to feed and water it.
I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. I certainly did. The attached picture was one of my chosen "breeders" last year because it had almost no pollen, had a good plant form, and looked good. It was a Burpeeana Giant and it had a rich yellow color and good petal texture and substance. I hope that the little fly was of a beneficial kind.
MM
This message was edited Jan 3, 2009 2:41 PM
Wow those are just great, I never thought about someone doing this I guess I though Zinna's just "Happened"..........LOL
You really have some beauties there and I wish you luck on getting more going. I will plant some again this year they are just so colorful and make such good cut flowers that last and last..........
Best to ya
Willowwasp
Even though I work with iris, I enjoy the zinnia information. I don't always see it as I am having computer trouble & it is , with luck, being worked on. Burpee catalog just came--any information on the green ones?
Another gorgeous beauty. I got abotu another week only hopefully adn will have the Piggy swap all doen and shipped out and then gonna strain yoru brain. Been findign my Zinna seeds as I been goign through lookign for seed for the swap and survior victims. Then you can tell me about all the ones I have if ya dont mind and their forms and stuff and what would be good to try andbreed with.
I sure glad ya poste dthat pic today. I needed to see somethign beautiful and upliftign today being burie din seed and that sure did it. Thank you. : )
Lucy,
"Burpee catalog just came--any information on the green ones?"
I haven't done any crosses with the green zinnias yet. I plan to experiment with green crosses this year. I want to see what green looks like crossed with every other zinnia color. I had a packet of Burpee's Tequila Lime from last year that I never planted, so I planted 8 seeds from it indoors this evening. That should give me at least one decent specimen to experiment with before the Spring plant-out.
I notice that Johnny's Queen Red Lime zinnia is backordered.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?newatjohnnys=1&scommand=page&qstateid=03344eb1-698c-4c38-9973-e103c32ac513&sp=4&item=1856&category=58&subcategory=135
When it becomes available, I will plant a few to experiment with.
MM
Hi all,
As we reach the 100-message mark here in this message thread, it is probably becoming unwieldy for some users with slower Internet connections, particularly those with dial-up connections. So I am opening a Part 2 to this message thread, which you can access at this link: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/940238/
It would be preferable to leave your new messages in the new thread, although this original thread should remain accessible, if slow to access.
MM