A few days later I noticed that some of the top leaves and stems of the plantlets had been eaten by some critter or bug.

This morning, I saw a sparrow eating the zinnias through the net that I had thrown over the pots for protection.

Is there any hope for the damaged plants? About one third of the 50 or so plants have had their tops lopped off.

Will the zinnias send up side shoots or a new leader/bud? I was hoping to plant them in my flower beds in a few days. Could I put the damaged plants in too or should I discard them?

Dianasan,

"Will the zinnias send up side shoots or a new leader/bud?"

With the central bud gone, your zinnias will put out side shoots from the bases of their main leaves. I've never known sparrows to eat zinnias, but maybe I haven't had sparrows around my zinnias. Some people routinely pinch out the central zinnia bud anyway, to encourage lateral branching. So maybe the sparrows have done you a favor. I have had seed-eating birds go after my zinnia seeds, so I use "hair nets" to protect my hand-pollinated zinnia seedheads.

I make my zinnia nets out of black fabric netting and black yarn with a large needle.

"I was hoping to plant them in my flower beds in a few days. Could I put the damaged plants in too or should I discard them?"

I would use the damaged plants. They could develop into nice looking zinnias.

ZM

I agree with zenman. Plant them they should be fine. Put out some of this earwig bait and see if it was really the sparrow.

Bait for Earwigs.
Equal parts of soy sauce, oil and (molasses or corn syrup). The molasses or syrup is bait to attract them--the oil doesn't allow them to crawl back out and the salt in the soy sauce finishes them off. Put it in a small container(small yogurt container, larger pill bottle, specimen bottle or anything that is fairly deep) covering 1/3 of the bottom with the mixture and bury it up to the brim in the soil. I like the smaller ones because it doesn’t take as much bait and they are easier to bury into the soil but my neighbor uses margarine containers. Prop a lid over it so it doesn't get diluted by rain and so it is a nice dark place for them to hide--ha. When you prop the lid, leave a small space for them to crawl into the container. You might have to wait a couple of days for it to work, but mine were full of them the next day. It does work.

You've also given me the idea that these little nets are not just good for saving seeds, they could also be used to protect young plants that are under attack by bugs or critters. Think I'll sew some up over the winter for use next spring.

Oilpainter, you've got a point. I didn't actually see if the sparrow was pecking at a zinnia or at a bug on the zinnia. But in any case, it couldn't have been an earwig because I had a lot of earwig damage on many of my plants this summer and it doesn't look like the type of damage that's been done to my zinnias. I've seen several grasshoppers in my yard lately. They might be responsible.

I actually did make up a batch of your earwig bait and it really does work.

Thank you both for your help.

Hello HearGodsHeart,

I see that you are a new member of GardenWeb, so on behalf of everybody, welcome. I am a zinnia hobbyist, myself, and I have never seen birds eat zinnia foliage like that. The damage to the zinnia plant in your picture is mostly just cosmetic, and no threat to the growth of the plant and its soon bloom. I have had seed-eating birds damage mature blooms severely, to get their semi-ripe seeds. They eat the seeds and discard the petals on the ground.

I picked a few nine-spotted cucumber beetles off of my zinnias today. They eat tiny holes in petals and leaves. But birds eating zinnia foliage is just bizarre. Keep us posted on this problem.

ZM