Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 6, 3 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:

Loretta_NJ wrote:Thank you, ZM. That is good advice not only for zinnias but dahlias which I do grow from seed. I can apply all that to my dahlias and going after green seed would be easier and I would be deadheading at the same time. Perfect!

Hi Loretta,

It is possible that many techniques that are useful for zinnias can be useful for dahlias. One technique that hasn't been discussed here lately is growing your plants from embryos, instead of from seeds. I discovered this by accident while "breaching" my green seeds to make them sprout quicker.

The green seed coat on a green seed is alive and impervious to water and it won't sprout until the seedcoat "dies" and becomes water permeable. That can take 10 days to 2 weeks to occur. So I take an X-Acto knife and open the seed coat in some way, so that water can immediately access the embryo and cause it to germinate immediately. In the process of doing that I accidentally freed an embryo from a seed coat, so I planted the naked embryo, and it came right up with no delay. I have since deliberately extracted naked embryos and planted whole flats of them successfully. I have added a small amount of Physan 20 to the water I watered them with, as protection against any bacteria attacking the naked embryos, but the Physan 20 might not be necessary. The attached pictures show some details of green seed "breaching" and embryo extraction. The graph paper used was graduated in tenths of an inch. The embryo technique might be useful for "jump starting" a dahlia seedling.

"Now as for zinnias, as a beginner zinnia grower, I like the larger full flowers with pretty centers, probably too "Florist Industry" for you. How would I improve on what's out there by collecting seed for that?"

Right offhand, there are a couple of things you could try. For bigger more impressive zinnia blooms, pour your zinnia seeds out on a convenient white surface (e.g. a sheet of typewriter paper or a large dinner plate) and simply pick out the bigger, better looking seeds to plant. That assumes you have more zinnia seeds than you actually need. Once your zinnias bloom, look each of them over with a critical eye and pick only the very best to save seeds from. Tie a piece of string or yarn on them, just so you don't forget which are your favorites.

ZM


This message was edited Mar 21, 2016 2:10 PM

This message was edited Mar 21, 2016 2:15 PM