Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 4, 0 by RickCorey_WA

RickCorey_WA wrote:
Interesting thought about the silicates. "Clay" soil might or might not offer sufficient silicate - I don't know what kind of clay I have.

I would be quick to assume the crummy soil it has under it was a problem, but reading suggests that the roots won't go deep in bad OR good soil. I do provide a little fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 'lawn food' higer in nitrogen, and water it.

But I've never bought or added a silicate-rich plant food ... hmm.

Since it is at the top of a slight slope, and in a 6" raised bed above that grade, I think it has fair drainage despite the clay.

It is in rather a lot of shade - there are trees here and there, one quite close, and a Rhododendron taller than it is quite close. (I have too many big plants in a small yard!

I've been hoping that "it's just young yet", and "I'm just impatient". But it has had almost 4 years since it was in a 1/2 gallon pot from Home Depot. At least there is hope: the culms are a little longer each year: perhaps 4-6" longer. becuase of the gracefull "droop", it is not getting much taller!

If the culms keep getting longer and thicker, eventually I will be able to use them as weak hoops, without bending them!

I found a photo of him shortly after he came out of his pot, and it seems that he's only 2 1/2 years old, not almost 4!

I must have planted him around July 2009. So there is hope yet. I'll look into a silicate supplement, maybe the farm co-op in Snohomish would stock it.