Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 6, 4 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Hello Jai,

Welcome to this message thread. Growing zinnias indoors can be challenging, so good luck on that. Be on the lookout for an outbreak of small insects or foliage disease like Powdery Mildew. There are insecticides and fungicides that you can use to deal with those problems if they arise.

The appearance of three cotyledons is not uncommon, but the subsequent plan-of-three true leaves is much less common. I have always thought it would be nice to have zinnias on a plan of three, and I refer to the occasional specimens as \"threesies\" and abbreviate that \"3Z\" on my labels. So far I have not succeeded in getting a strain of 3Z zinnias, but I have had some with 3Z branches. A tendency toward 3Z is apparently a genetic factor, so 3Z is a viable goal.

\" I have never hand hybridized zibnias before. I don\'t quite understand how to find and then transfer of pollen from one flower to another. Can somebody break it down in simple terms? \".

The pollen in produced in the morning in the center of the flower in the pollen florets, which resemble fuzzy yellow starfish. The pollen should be rubbed on the stigmas, which are like little two-pronged forked tongues. They are also yellow, but are tendril-like, and there is usually a stigma at the base of each petal. The flower parts for Z. haageana are considerably smaller than their counterparts on Z. elegans, which makes it a bit more tedious to manipulate them. Good tweezers, Twissors, or small forceps are needed to manipulate the small florets. Basically, you just \"pick\" a floret and rub it on the stigmas. You can also transfer pollen with an artists brush. The zinnia pollen is a yellow powder, and it does not keep like some pollens do. You need to apply zinnia pollen soon after getting it.

Feel free to ask questions, make comments, or ask for clarifications.

ZM