The zinnia may be the best flower for indicating the start of summer. This annual that thrives in heat has vibrant, eye-catching spherical blossoms that provide color to any garden.
Cream, yellow, red, gold, orange, pink, rose, lavender, purple, plum, scarlet, white, and salmon are just a few of the many hues that zinnias may be found in. The bloom comes in a variety of sizes, from a few inches to three or four feet tall.
“May is a terrific month to plant zinnias,” said Gary Hayakawa, general manager of Fountain Valley’s Three Star Nursery, a wholesale producer whose plants are sold at numerous nurseries around Orange County.
Before the summer heat hits, zinnia roots have a chance to establish themselves in May, he said. ” They really take off once the weather warms up. In hot climates, zinnias thrive.
There are a lot of medium-sized types of zinnias in the nursery that grow 10 to 15 inches. The Pulcino, Dreamland, Dasher, and Peter Pan are a few popular medium-sized kinds.
Dwarf zinnias are also available; one example is Thumbelina mix, which blooms at 3 inches. State Fair and Dahlia-flowered are two tall kinds that reach heights of two to three feet.
Consider the following advice to successfully grow zinnias:
* Because zinnias are susceptible to fungus, choose a position with full light and no overhead sprinkler watering.
* Before planting, thoroughly amend the soil with homemade or bagged compost. Zinnias prefer a soil that drains well.
* Unless the plant is tall and unstable, plant zinnias at the depth they are in containers. Plant it a little lower than the current soil level in such instance.
* Give zinnias room to spread out so that air can circulate, which reduces the risk of fungus and leaf spot issues. Smaller kinds should be placed 6 inches apart from large types, and vice versa.
* After germination, transfer zinnia seeds into the ground or place them in tiny containers first.
About six seeds should be spaced evenly in a 4-inch pot for planting in containers. After they sprout, divide them into four plants. When they are about 2 inches tall, transplant them in the garden.
Work the soil well and amend before direct seeding. Then dig a shallow ditch with 3 to 4 inch high sides. When you irrigate, this will keep the water within. Place the seed exactly where you want the flowers to grow inside the ditch after leveling the soil there. Gently pat down the seeds after covering them with a quarter-inch of potting soil. Till the seeds sprout, mist the bed twice daily.
* To avoid fungus, water zinnias at ground level. Depending on the weather, water them deeply once or twice a week once they are 3 to 4 inches tall. Zinnias prefer slightly drier soil than most plants, but they are not drought-tolerant. It shouldn’t always be raining on the soil.
* Reduce irrigation if the month of June is cloudy. This will stop fungal illnesses. Once July’s warmer days arrive, fungal issues should go away.
Can you bury leggy zinnia plants?
Turn the heat mat down or off if your seedlings appear to be getting lanky when you are using a seedling heat mat to start seeds inside. Warmth can stimulate seedlings to grow more quickly while also accelerating seed germination, which is fantastic. Let’s not encourage seedlings to grow even taller when they already appear to be on the lanky side. Naturally, this suggestion is in addition to greater lighting.
These seedling heat mats with an integrated thermostat control and temperature probe are something we personally adore using. We programmed our heat mats to activate only when the soil temperature falls below 65-70F after germination. In the winter and early spring, when it may get pretty chilly at night but also extremely warm during the day, this keeps our heat-loving summer crop seedlings (tomatoes, peppers, basil, flowers, etc.) happy in our greenhouse. The similar setup works well for growing seedlings indoors, in a garage, or anywhere else.
(3) Restart
Please bear with me on this. I’m not referring about beginning a fresh batch of seeds after your zone’s seed-starting season is already underway by several weeks or even months. However, starting fresh may be preferable to fussing over leggy seedlings for the remainder of the season if you have enough of seeds and things are already looking sluggish a few days after germination.
As an illustration, the other day I began a couple 6-packs of bok choy seeds in a dark spare room on a heat mat. As soon as they sprouted, I was going to move them to the greenhouse (and under a grow light) and check on them periodically. Well, I neglected to check on them for more than a day, they grew, and they already appeared to be much too tall for my taste. In order to use the leggy seedlings as the “poor example” for this piece, I simply started more bok choy seeds.
4) Strengthen them.
You may very well be able to sow your seedlings even if they are lanky! But first, they must be considerably fortified in advance. They won’t be strong enough to plant outside for a while. Additionally, young, leggy seedlings are typically too delicate to bury deeper in soil without the risk of the stems becoming rotten.
Within a few weeks of sprouting, be cautious to thin your seedlings to just one sprout per cell or container. Thinning lessens competition for nutrients, available area, light, and water, and enhances airflow. Instead than yanking and plucking out undesired sprouts, I always advise cutting them off. The following three methods can help you transform your leggy seedlings from tiny to mighty:
Add movement
Introduce a gentle wind using an oscillating fan to fortify seedlings. Turn it on just loud enough to cause some light shaking and movement, but not too loud. Leggy seedlings benefit from movement by developing stronger, more durable stems. Similar results can be obtained by tickling seedlings with your hands. A fan, however, has numerous advantages! Additionally, damping off and fungus are avoided by enough airflow. Whether or not indoor seedlings are leggy, I always suggest using a fan.
Use mild fertilizer and “water from below
The act of feeding lanky seedlings is another technique to improve their health! You can start feeding seedlings with a very mild liquid fertilizer once they have grown their first pair or two of real leaves (the ones that appear after the first two, which are frequently heart-shaped). Since they do not require or care for fertilizer much younger than that, the seedlings should be at least a few weeks old at this time.
Seaweed extract is what we prefer to feed our seedlings, while fish emulsion is also a common option. Whatever you choose, make sure to dilute it according to the bottle’s directions. The lower tray that the seedling containers are sitting in should then be filled with the liquid fertilizer/water. Whatever the soil need will be absorbed from the bottom. We always advise watering seedlings in that manner, especially the lanky ones. Pouring water in from the top doesn’t give evenly distributed moisture and carries the risk of tipping them over. By encouraging their roots to develop deeply when you water from below, you can grow stronger plants.
Finally, before moving leggy seedlings outside, always harden them off. The process of gradually exposing seedlings that were grown indoors to the environment is known as “hardening off.” This typically entails moving the seedlings outside daily for a week, initially placing them in the shadow for a short period of time before progressively exposing them to more and more direct sunshine. This strengthens the seedlings and better equips them to withstand difficulties like wind, rain, hot sun, or low temperatures. Instructions for hardening off in detail can be found here.
Can you bury leggy seedlings deeper in the soil?
In general, you can put leggy seedlings farther into the ground to help make up for their excessively long stems! When they are still extremely young and sensitive, resist the urge to plant them deeper right immediately. When buried in wet soil, weak, thin, and small stems are susceptible to decay. After completing the above-described procedures to strengthen and/or harden off the lanky seedlings, wait at least a few weeks.
You should be able to bury a piece of the lanky seedling stem once the stems are stronger and more resilient, either by potting them up or moving them outside. Or you could try both! For instance, we use four-seedling pots to begin our tomato plants. The seedlings are then potted up into bigger 8 nursery pots after about a month, and the stem is buried by a few inches at that time. We can bury the stem a few more inches if necessary when we transplant the plants into the garden.
Can zinnia seedlings be planted deep?
One of the simplest gardening activities of the year might be starting zinnias from seed. Where spring arrives early, don’t directly plant zinnia seeds outside until after the final frost. The seeds should only be sown around 1/4 inch deep. Within four to seven days, seedlings will begin to emerge. To promote air circulation, which is essential for maintaining zinnias in good shape all season, thin the seedlings once they are approximately three inches tall, spacing them 6 to 18 inches apart.
In colder regions, plant seeds indoors four to six weeks prior to the typical last frost date in your region. Before you plant the plants in your garden, harden them off by leaving the trays outside for a few hours each day.
If the zinnia plants you purchase at the garden center are already the size at which the blooms bloom, you can make the transition to your garden easier by cutting the plants back by one-third. After that, relax and watch your zinnia patch develop and thrive.
When planting zinnias, how deep should they go?
One of the simplest flowers to plant, zinnias grow quickly and provide a lot of blooms. Additionally, they will continue to bloom right up until the first fall hard frost. Consider trying zinnia flowers this year to add a huge splash of color to your yard.
About Zinnias
Since zinnias are annuals, they will only produce blooms and seeds for one season before dying. The original plant will not reappear the following year. They are excellent for use as a cutting flower or as food for butterflies since they have vivid, solitary, daisy-like flowerheads on a single, tall stem.
Types of Zinnias
Zinnia elegans, the most widely grown zinnia species, has been developed to produce a large number of distinctive variants.
Single, semidouble, or double zinnia blooms are the three most common varieties. The number of petal rows and whether or not the flower’s center is visible serve to distinguish between these forms:
- A single row of petals and the center are both visible on single-flowered zinnias.
- Petal rows abound on double-flowered zinnias, and their centers are hidden.
- Between the two are semidouble-flowered zinnias, which have several rows of petals but discernible cores.
In addition to these shapes, zinnia flowers also occur in “beehive,” “button,” and “cactus” forms. Additionally, the plants themselves come in various heights: taller types function best as a garden bed’s background, while shorter varieties are useful as a border. There is a zinnia for every garden, in fact!
In an annual or mixed border garden, plant zinnias. Smaller zinnias work well as window boxes, edging, or in other containers.
To have a lot of flowers all season long, choose a place that receives full sun (6 to 8 hours of sunlight every day). Additionally, later in the season, foliar diseases like powdery mildew can be avoided by planting in an area with good air circulation.
Although zinnias can grow in a variety of soil types, they prefer organically rich, well-draining soil. The optimal pH range for soil is between 5.5 and 7.5. The flowers will grow more quickly if compost (humus) is added to the soil. Find out more about soil improvements and getting the soil ready for planting.
When to Plant Zinnias
- Because they dislike being transplanted, it is advised that you start your zinnia plants from seed directly in the garden bed. If the correct circumstances are present, they will develop quite quickly from seed.
- It should be noted that zinnias can be grown from seed inside if you like. Just make sure to transfer them gently and young.
- Because zinnias are delicate to frost, wait to plant them until after the last frost in your area. See the frost dates in your area.
- Zinnias can tolerate daily temperatures as low as 60F (16C), although a range of 7484F (2328C) is ideal.
- To prolong the flowering time, sow a new crop of seeds every week or so for a few weeks.
How to Plant Zinnias
- Depending on the kind, place plants 4 to 24 inches apart. (Many common kinds are planted 2 feet between rows and 6 inches apart within the row.) For information about each variety, consult the seed packet’s back.
- Plant zinnia seeds no deeper than 1/4 inch.
- The majority of zinnia cultivars will produce seedlings in just 4 to 7 days, but it may take up to two months or more for blooms to appear (depending on planting site and climate).
- To promote air circulation, thin seedlings when they are three inches tall, spacing them 6 to 18 inches apart. As a result, powdery mildew is less likely to grow.
- To promote development and blossoms, keep the soil’s moisture level moderate and apply a mild fertilizer.
- Deadhead zinnias once they have finished blooming to facilitate the development of new blossoms.
- Since zinnias are annuals, they will perish with the first fall hard cold. Let the final blooms of the season fully mature before dispersing their seeds if you want them to reseed.
Zinnias still not your thing? In your garden, try them out for the following six reasons:
- With cultivars from the Dreamland Series, you can have a full-sized flower on a little plant. These zinnias are compact and dwarf, with stems that are 812 inches tall and totally double flowerheads that can be up to 4 inches across with a variety of colors.
- The dwarf, spreading cultivars of the Thumbelina Series have weather-resistant, solitary or semi-double flowerheads in a variety of hues. Their stems can reach a length of 6 inches, and their petals are 1-1/4″ wide.
- One of the largest and tallest of them all, the State Fair Series has huge, double flowerheads that measure 3 inches in diameter. Stems can reach a height of 30 inches.
- Typically, it takes zinnias 60 to 70 days from seed to flower (though it depends on conditions and variety). They are fantastic in a bunch of flowers!
- The tiny, narrow-leafed zinnias are great for hanging baskets and also make lovely dried flowers.
- Zinnias are considered to represent memories of those who have passed away. Discover more about the significance of flowers here.
- Zinnias may be harmed by bacterial wilt, powdery mildew, and bacterial and fungal spots. To prevent illness, keep leaves from getting too damp and correctly space your plants.
- Problems can also be brought on by caterpillars, mealybugs, and spider mites. Spraying should be avoided unless there is a real infestation because some leaf damage is not a problem.
- Thanks to their resistance to deer, zinnias may be able to prevent surrounding flowers from being eaten.