Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 2, 0 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
EM,

"I was wondering if you use the peroxide."

I haven't been, but it definitely sounds like something that I want to experiment with. Thanks for bringing your encouraging experience with it to our attention.

"The percentage of germination is really good with zinnias, isn't it."

It is good, typically about 80% with commercial seed. My home-saved seed don't do so well, averaging maybe 50%. So I plant twice as many. You can easily get more than 50 seeds from just one zinnia flowerhead. As you have discovered, zinnias are quick to germinate, although one-day germination is kind of unusual. Normally I get 2 to 4 days with mature dried seed and 6 to 12 days with green seed. The really good thing is that zinnias grow very fast and usually bloom in 6 to 8 weeks, and I have had some come into bloom in less than 5 weeks. So amateur plant breeding with zinnias is very fast-paced, and suitable for people like me, who want "instant gratification". I have already planted some green seeds for what will be my second generation this year, and it isn't even Spring yet.

"I bought some Red Spider Zinnia seeds. I planted them and watered them with water and hydrogen peroxide mixed. They came up overnight."

The Red Spider zinnias are members of the Z. tenuifolia species, which are a different species from the most common "garden variety" of zinnias, which are members of the Z. violacea species, also known as Z. elegans. I also am growing some tenuifolias with the idea of experimenting with crossing them with my regular zinnias. That is somewhat risky, in that the crosses may not "take" or result in viable embryos. Even if they do succeed in producing interspecies hybrid plants, the hybrids may prove to be sterile, like a mule. The Red Spiders have rather small single flowers, and there are lots more impressive zinnias that you could experiment with, if that is your intention. But don't let me discourage you. I am growing them, too, to experiment with.

"Is there a seed strain of echinacea flowered zinnias available?"

No, there is no commercial strain of echinacea flowered zinnias yet. However, there are several commercial sources of the scabiosa flowered zinnias that I am using as parents to get my echinacea flowered breeders. The scabiosa flowered cultivar has much shorter "guard petals" and small to medium sized blooms. But their plants are well-branched and crosses involving scabiosa flowered zinnias and regular "giant zinnias" can produce some amazing results, including some with rather huge central floret mounds. Some of those I have referred to as "sunflower flowered".

"Your echinacea zinnia posted on March 8th is definitely your best echinacea zinnia I've seen. It's very important for that cone in the middle to be huge. Have you thought about crossing that one with some which have longer ray petals?"

The Echinacea flowered specimen that I pictured back on January 26, 2009 10:20 AM had fairly long petals, although they sloped upwards. Its center filled in rather well with age. I have had a few with longer ray petals. But, yes, I am trying to get the ray petals longer, by several techniques, including simple selection, crossing between other echinacea flowered specimens, and back-crossing to "regular" long-petaled zinnias. The attached picture shows one of the long-petaled breeders that I am currently using. It's irregular shape makes it a bit tricky to measure, but it is over 6 inches in diameter, which is pretty good for an indoor-grown plant in a 5-inch pot. Now I kind of wish I had put it in a bigger pot.

ZM