Message Boards

Unfortunately, I threw out my zinnia seed envelop and can't recall what kind of zinnia these are:

-- tall (3 feet or more)
-- very curly stalk

I've grown zinnias before so I know they get tall, and stand pretty straight.

But.... these stalks are curling, and so crooked with "S" curves they're like 'walking stick' crooked-- and the flowers that would be three feet in the air if the stalk were growing straight up -- are only a foot above the top of the plant. ..... also these stems are a little bit thicker than the straight tall zinnia stalks.

The stalks seem to be growing all over the place, in crazy directions.

I'd like to know which zinnias these are -- so I DON"T buy them again.
Lesson learned: I MUCH prefer the straight tall growers.

I'm sorry, without a picture, it's hard for me to imagine....might be a new variety that you purchased this spring or it might be some sort of virus causing the crookedness. Not familiar with this at all. I bet they are interesting anyway. Are the blooms pretty?

ve

Blooms are fine. Leaves are fine, it's growing great....just with an "all kinds of crooked, meandering" kind of stem:.

It could be like a problem I have...they are reaching for the sun or brightest direct light all day as the sun moves...they are following. If mine are planted in FULL, all day sun they don't do that but they will when they only get direct sun part of the day. It doesn't matter what size they are...I have small & giant & they both do it.
Also, the weight of the plant as it gets older can pull it one direction while the top is reaching for that light. I've had to prop some of mine up this year with a stack of bricks to keep them in the beds instead of out on the grass.

Yeah, I thought about that as a possibility.

I do have other Zinnias in another pot just two feet over, that lean toward the sun -- so that, I certainly understand.

But these stalks curl like a mountain road with "S" curves. It's like a zinnia shaped like a "walking stick."

In three summers of having zinnias these are the first to do this. Oh well.....

Thanks all.

I THINK I got TWO kinds of zinnia seeds this year.

I just went and looked -- these are bright red -- with a yellow button of shorter yellow pistils inside

do you recall the company the seeds came from?... look here at the last one on the page... was yours like this?..

http://www.dirtworks.net/Flower-Seed.html

have you inspected them closely for sucking insects?.... that's the only thing I can think of that could do damage to the cells in the walls of the stems that would maybe leave them weak so that they tended toward the side with the weight of the bloom.... just a thought, got no proof....