Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 6, 1 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
[quote=\"Mipii\"]...I was wondering if you do anything to protect a specifically pollinated bloom from being cross pollinated again by other pollinators that might be hanging around in your garden? Are Zinnias promiscuous?[/quote]
Hi Robin,

Zinnias are promiscuous, as you say, because they are open pollinated by a variety of insects, including honeybees, bumblebees, carpenter bees, and several other bee species. There are butterflies and day flying moths that sip zinnia necter, as do hummingbirds, but those all hover above the bloom and access the nectar with a long proboscis (moths or butterflies) or bill (hummingbird). And the nectar sippers don\'t usually carry any pollen with them like the bees can..

The zinnias that are presenting pollen florets usually get self pollinated, but the zinnias that are not presenting pollen florets occasionally get cross pollinated by bees but that is very \"hit and miss\" so they frequently don\'t get pollen. I very rarely protect a zinnia bloom from insect pollination, but when I do I use a homemade \"hairnet\" like in the first photo. Most of the time when I deploy a hairnet it is to protect the bloom from seed eating birds, like finches. Sometimes I protect the whole zinnia plant by draping nylon screening over its zinnia cage and securing it with safety pins, like in the second photo.

Incidentally, I think I have mentioned this before, but you can frequently improve your view of a Dave\'s Garden photo by right-clicking on it and select \"View Image\" from the pop-up menu. Depending on the file size of the photo, you will get a larger view of the image. And then, for the best viewing, you can then make your full screen available to the image by clicking your F11 key, which will hide your browser\'s heading material. Not all photos will get larger from the F11 key, but most of mine do. Hit F11 again to restore your browser\'s heading and hit the back arrow in the browser heading to get back to your \"normal\" DG view. All of this sounds a bit complicated, but after you do it a few times it becomes \"second nature\".

I am headed to my zinnia garden now to do some pollinating and planting.

ZM