Saving Zinnia Seeds?

[GardenGeisha]

Well, the wind did my coral zinnia in just now. Toppled it over, severed at the crown. Is there any chance the flowers remaining on the stalk will go to seed? How can I help them do so? I'd love to save seeds from this plant. I'm so glad I got a picture of it in bloom (see my previous post entitled 'Coral Zinnia.' I have the flowers in a bucket of water with aspirin and 7-up in it, trying to prolong their life.

When does one gather zinnia seeds, anyway? How do you know when they are ripe? I always thought it best to wait right until before the frost. Do you just let the flower heads die on the plant and then cut off the head when it's brown and save the whole thing in a paper bag?

 

[Ridgerunner]

How I do zinnias is to let the flower dry on the plant, then let the entire flower dry more in my workshop. When the flower is extremely dry so I know it wont rot I shred it with my fingers, put it in a glass jar, and screw the lid on to keep insects out.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Thanks for the info, Ridgerunner.

Can anyone answer this for me:

Will the flower heads remaining on zinnia plants dry and form seeds more quickly if you cut off the already dried seed heads? I'm never sure whether the seed heads are ready to cut off and tend to leave them on the live plant as long as possible, but I'm wondering whether it would be better to cut them off as soon as they start to look pretty brown, in order to encourage other flowers to dry faster and thus form additional seeds, maximizing my supply of seeds for next year?

Or does it not make any difference? I know with many plants if you deadhead flowers, new flowers will form more quickly, but I'm not sure whether this deadheading process would also result in seeds forming faster via remaining flower heads drying up faster, if you deadhead.


Does anyone know?

 

[Smart Red]

I'm with Ridgerunner on saving zinnia seed. Indeed with most of the annuals I have grown. When I am tired of them or they look tired themselves, I pull the plants and hang them upside down in a sheltered place to dry. Usually I will put a brown grocery bag over the flower heads so any overly dry heads will drop their seeds into the bag.

I don't think that dead heading will speed up seed production or drying time. That is pretty much set by local conditions and genetics. All I've heard dead heading does in encourage the new growth of flowers.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Does anyone use this green seed method for zinnias?

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/annuals/msg1013054425264.html

 

[GardenGeisha]

This answer in the link below indicates that zinnia seeds that have been subjected to their first fall frost are still viable, but I doubt that is true, since they are tender annuals. Does anyone know for sure? Also will the birds still enjoy eating zinnia seeds off zinnia plants that have been frozen at 35 degrees F? I know birds enjoy eating sunflower seeds off sunflower heads that have been subjected to freezing weather:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061012060331AAQ2FOp

 

[Smart Red]

I have had zinnias freeze. That's when I gathered the seed heads. They were planted and grew the next year with no problem

 

[897tgigvib]

Yep, being an annual does not mean the seeds can't be subjected to a light frost, and, each species has different tolerances.