Germination Rates for Zinnias???

Hi, all,

I have a question you experienced seed sowers may be able to shed light on:

A week ago I planted a pack of Burpee Benary's giants Zinnias and got 50% germination. That seems very low to me and I wonder if that is operator error or a Burpee's issue?

I planted several other packs of zinnia seed from Parks and Renee's at the same time and in the same way (following the seed packet directions carefully) and got better results 70% or so. Still not so good.

Also, I have some zinnia seeds that are 2 years old, and I'm wondering how the quickly the germination rate deteriorates.

Any thoughts on this? What sorts of germination rates for zinnias do you typically get?

Thanks. t.

I've never had great luck with packed zinnia seeds. I start seeds inside and have low germination from store-bought seeds and have no problem at all with the ones I collect from my plants in the fall. They are easy to collect. I direct sow giant zinnia outside and don't even seperate the seed from the petals. I do start lilliput and dwarf inside because they take a little longer to flower than the giants, I do seperate the petals from those seeds because I don't want to cause mold or fungus. The zinnia seeds usually germinate very quickly, sometimes in as little as three days and at most usually seven. Collecting the seeds is another subject, just don't collect ones from plants that have powdery mildew.

Interesting. Thanks for the advice.

I never thought of collecting the seeds from zinnias. I guess I always thought they would not be true?

The ones I mentioned do. I'm not sure about other ones. I bought "candy-cane" zinnia seed packs this year, but I could not get one to germinate. If I had actually gotten them to grow, they may have not come back true-I don't know. The ones I have are beautiful and they are "true" to the plants I grew previous years. I think I started my giants around May 20 and they are starting to flower.
The great thing about collecting them yourself is can get a large quantity of seed very easily and can have large patches of zinnia.
Although I have great success with them, not everyone does. I gave my mom a couple sandwich bags full of the same seeds and they didn't germinate very well for her. I think it has to do with soil conditions, sunlight, water or something, because she never has any luck with them.

You definitely have the touch!

And free seeds are hard to pass up, so I'll be sure to collect some this summer and try your technique!