I have a great tip for growing zinnias naturally in your garden with out starting seedlings. Toward the end of summer I take the dead flowers( must be completely brown) and cut them off. Fill a gallon ziplock and and store in dry place over winter. In the fall or early spring, pull of dead flower petals and find the tip which looks like a spear head. Generously spread these spearheads all over your garden. Loosen soil with rack so they in ground( they don’t have to go deep. Maybe 1/2-1/4 inch. Water or let natural rain this you see sprouts. With this method they will grow like weeks everywhere. The zinnias grown in ground are so much more healthy than starting from seedling indoor. I’m no pro but this is what I do and it works great. This only my 3rd year with zinnias
My first time growing last year they hit about 7ft with constant blooms...they looked like elmo heads crazy and I entered them in a nearby fall fair and I got the blue ribbon it was so fulfilling!!!
I'm in Illinois. I harvested some seeds last year from an old man's garden. I took all kinds of colors. My favorite was the red and white candy cane striped.
Great video, Scott! Our Blueberry garden has been taken over by volunteer Zinnias. The blueberry bushes don’t seem to mind. And the butterflies are all over them!
Scott thank you very much for the info. I live in California and have a whole area out front of the house that is California Giant Zinnias sown straight in the ground. I highly recommend that you experiment with a section of Zinnias where you don't Foliage Spray and compare the difference after a couple of weeks. I think that you will find less Mildew in the non sprayed plants. I only feed the roots on my Zinnias. This is the only thing in my garden that I don't feed the Foliage . Thanks Again
I am able to grow prolific, beautiful zinneas in sandy soil with a Miracle Grow boost at planting. They grow like gangbusters, even without pruning. My plants orginated from seeds I first saved from my mother's garden many years ago. Each fall I'm able to harvest more seeds than I could ever use!
@@rainbowsandkittens1537 In mid-May, I scatter the seeds very thick along the perimeter of our vegetable garden fence. As the seedlings come up, I thin them out a bit. After that, I just keep them weeded and let them go- I never dead head. They start blooming in mid-July. They grow to about five feet and there are always more blooms than you could ever want, right up until the first frost. We have had a very hot, dry summer here in the upper Midwest, so I've had to water them a couple times a week.
What a helpful video, thank you. I'm nervously (I don't have a green thumb--that's why I have cacti!!) starting my first garden of Zinnias so I have been looking at videos on how to start. I ordered some seeds--Purple and Gold but I'm in MO and have to wait a while to make sure there's no more frost coming. This garden will be in memory of my fiance and soulmate Perry who took his life last month. He was a huge LSU fan so that's why I ordered purple and gold. I want to eventually have a wonderful supply of flowers to take to his gravesite often. Wish me luck! This is so important to me to have this garden thrive!
My zinnias have all mixed together and I get different colors and varieties on each vine. My favorite flower for easy breezy landscaping. This is the first season I haven’t had to replant anything because my perennials are all coming back ❤
I love Zinnia's. I live in Albuquerque New Mexico and I typically grow them every Year. Our Growing Season is much shorter than yours so I can't plant them outside until late April into early May. This Year I have Carousel Zinnia's and Cactus Mix.
I plant mine in window boxes, so even the giant varieties may only grow to 16-20" tall... but I usually buy the mid sized ones because the dwarf varieties are just alright... but the wind can be a killer - especially a heavy rain+wind combo. (We get that a lot in Houston.) I have found that if you under plant with portulaca, the portulaca will form a mat of roots in the top half inch to inch of the planter and help hold the zinnias in place. When the heat of the summer really kicks in, I already know I am going to start losing them to root rot. That's usually when I pull and start over. With the portulaca under planting though, I can just remove dead plants and the portulaca will beef up and bloom away. So it is a nice way to get a lot of colorful impact. And the portulaca is really good at reseeding itself.
Thanks for the tip on fungicide. It’s such a bummer when I lose beautyful zinnia plants to powdery mildew so I’ll use the fungicide as long as it doesn’t hurt animals and birds. I try to water at the base which helps to fend off mildew. I’m sure the drip system is even better.
I grew zinnias for the first time this summer in the awful Phoenix heat. They are doing wonderful!! So glad I found zinnias for my low desert flower gardens. Daily watering is the key.
Do you keep them in direct sunlight all day long? When mine are in direct sun all day here in Dallas during our intense summer heat (100°+ every day), by the time I get home from work they're a wilted mess, even though I drenched their soil with water in the morning before work. I grow them in terra cotta on my third floor balcony/patio and their soil is already dried out by early evening. I'm starting to situate them in an area of my patio that gets sunlight till about 1 o'clock and then is shaded to keep them from the intense afternoon sun.
@@michaeldj5 I keep mine in 2 raised beds. They get two good deep waters a day sometimes 3. Their soil is super rich and I’m always adding more amendments. Lately I put mulch down. I really helps! Even in pots.
... love cut fresh Zinnias... a piece of charcoal in the the fresh water seems to help...and ... strip off most leaves ... the more you cut the blooms off ... the more flowers you get ...
New subscriber from North Texas 🙋🏾♀️. I planted zinnia seeds to my cutting garden for the first time Mother's Day weekend. Going out to pinch them this evening. 🌼😊🌿
I have recently discovered zinnias. They have become a new love of mine 😊 I’m growing them here in Hawaii . They have given me such pleasure and the blooms are very beautiful! Thank you for making this very helpful video 👍🏼
Love this video....im in TN and I sowed my first seeds April 17th....i have plants now about 3 inches tall....this year I'm trying to grow queen cherry lime queen orange lime and cactus zinna....the seeds are a little pricey but I'll save a lot of seed for next year and won't have to buy any....
@@newgardenroad I'll let you know how well that turns out....the 3 packs of seed came to 16.97 on eBay but I got free shipping on that so it wasn't too bad....i have to grow annuals to fill in because if I want a good season of bloom 9 rose bushes and a few dahlia s just don't cut it.. ..
I want to know also what is a good pesticide for succulents, especially for mealy bugs. Also for other flowering plants is it ok to use pesticide when flowering ?
Hello! For mealy bugs on succulents I might consider manual removal using insecticidal soap and either a rag or cotton swab if possible. When applying any pesticide it is best to avoid spraying the flowers directly. This will insure the best protection to beneficial insects.
Liked the video but what's with all the jerkiness? I mean I seems deliberate because I saw many places where there was no cut but it appeared to be cut and spliced. It's nauseating.
Hi Scott. Thank you. Is there a certain variety of Scarlet Zinnia you get seeds for? I just googled this and there’s a lot of different companies selling them. As always thanks for the great video.
Hello Laura! Thanks for asking, I have been planting the scarlet zinnias from High Mowing Organic Seeds. www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-red-scarlet-zinnia.html
Hi I m newbie I love Daisy family ,zinnias , cosmo is that easy to grow from seeds, how many hour for under sun ? Is that better to grow on the ground or pot as they tend to grow tall ...Tq hope my question will be answer 😜
I have a question. How can I encourage a larger bloom? I love zennias, always have but I'd like bigger blooms. Any suggestions? Thank you for sharing your tips. I appreciate them.
Hello! There are so many varieties of zinnias, make sure you're growing a giant variety (blooms 3-4 inches across). Growing from seed has always yielded me the healthiest, most productive plants. Be sure to grow them in 6-8 hours of full sun ☀️
New to drip systems but i have dahlias and zinnias in my raised beds. Can you recommend anything? also thanks so much for this video it was really helpful for both of my plants and the system that I should put in place (feeding, watering etc)
Hello! Thank you very much for your comments. I have been using the submatic irrigation system (www.submatic-usa.com) for several years and it has held up very well. It can be a little challenging at first, but once you get some hands on experience it will become easier. Have you seen this video that is an overview of my system? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QMWVgFjqDC4.html
Where did you get your seeds? Are they California Giants? I saw some huge 4" double blooms in a garden in Oregon today. They are gorgeous - I've never seen such huge zinnia blooms.
Having terrible trouble with powdery mildew,,,, didn’t have this problem last year…I grow Giants mainly..but husband mixed a different variety this year..could this be problem?
Is the spacing appropriate between the plants? Poor air circulation can quickly lead to powdery mildew. I space my giant zinnias about three feet a part and prune up the leaves to about eighteen inches.
Great video! I've heard of using a dilution of milk in water as a foliar spray for powdery mildew. Have you tried this? I've got the worst powdery mildew, so next year I plant to use your tips and also a milk spray to combat the mildew, and I'm going to try to use a drip line.
Hi! I have heard of that, but I have never tried that. It’s worth experimenting with. I always recommend the Monterey Complete Disease Control. Apply it weekly as a preventative once your zinnias get growing. 👍🏼
i tried some zinnia seeds for the first time this year. i got good germination but they seem kind of stalled. it's been about 3 weeks and they haven't really grown that much. i was careful to space them so they're not all on top of each other. i have some direct in the ground and some in pots. all are doing about the same. do you fertilize your seedlings? any other thoughts?
I prepare the planting soil with compost and fertilizer ahead of planting. Once they form a second set of leaves I begin regular foliar applications of fish emulsion and liquid seaweed and continue throughout the season. If your plants are slow growing the two things that I would look at are sun exposure (6-8 hours) and soil structure. Heavy clay soil can stunt plant growth. If you have enough sun, I might recommend adding some compost or worm castings around the base of the plant and a granular fertilizer. In this case the I would probably use a fertilizer higher in nitrogen such as 8-2-4. The nitrogen could help to get them growing and you could push blooms later as they develop. I hope that helps!
I’m in San Antonio... Is it too late to plant zinnias? I guess I should say more zinnias as I’ve already started four varieties lol. Thank you for the video!
I live in Houston, I do two or three plantings of zinnias per year depending on how I am feeling. I have planted some in September and had them go up until the first frost.
This year my 50x5ft section of.zinnia had some sort of virus. They LITERALLY just turned black at about a foot tall..and moved across the bed in just a few days... ive grown them there about 7 years...no rotation is probably the biggest problem.....so i started a few around other areas..no problem...so beware...im so bummed..it was so beautiful people would take pictures.
That's horrible. I would have been so stressed out if that happened to me. When there's something wrong with my plants, I carry it around with me all day.
That's a great question! A lot of times it's moisture that attracts insects to tender seedlings. Once seeds germinate, let the soil dry out in-between waterings. If there is mulch, pull the mulch away from the base of the seedling so that ground dwelling insects are more exposed. Monterey brand Sluggo Plus is a pelletized bait that I use to control pill bugs, cut worms and snails. I find it very helpful in my direct seeding applications. You could also try making a physical barrier with an empty can of tuna (or something similar) by cutting out the bottom and placing it around the seedling.
Most of the giant zinnias that I grow are in that range. Mine only get taller after a long growing season and some staking to keep them upright. You can always prune them to stay in a specific range.
Hello. That does sound like it could be too much nitrogen. If you're using a fertilizer, check the NPK numbers. The first number is nitrogen (bigger leaves), and the middle number is phosphorous (bigger blooms).
Hello! Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is one of recent favorites. I also like High Mowing, Seed Savers Exchange, Botanical Interest, Baker Creek, & Renee’s Garden.
