how about a pic????

i would hesitate to drown plants in fertilizer.. in the heat of july/august .....

you are not going to make up 2 months of less than superior growth ... by juicing them ...

and i would hesitate to compare my plants.. to ones in other gardens ... perhaps yours are just a few weeks behind... your premise.. that all plants should look alike ... dismisses too many variable besides fert ... to some to any conclusions about fert ...

use whatever you decide.. according to the label ...

and dont get greedy on result ... there is a lot of growing season left ....

ken

ps: but at least.. with your asking the salesperson ... she got you to buy product.. even if that wasnt the answer ....

Thanks Ken
I'll send a picture tomorrow when my camera battery is charged.. I've checked out images of the State Farm and my li'l darlins look nothing the same. The woman at the nursery didn't know what the fertilizer is/was. I'll go back and ask.
I won't bombard the Zinnia with fertilizer but when I do start should I be using a 2-3-1 vs. a12-15-12?

Hey Ken

Can't manage to upload a picture.

What do you think about the low number fertilizers vs. the higher number ones?

Thanks!
Dale

cant talk you out of it.. eh?? ... lol ...

go with any CHEAP water sol fert ... at 1/4 strength.. and use it every time you water ...

we are talking the wallyworld 50- pound bag stuff ... we dont need to go all science on numbers ....

think of it this way.. a greenhouse.. grows them early.. by ferting with every watering.. why not try it ...

but i would NOT go full strength every time ...

i have a gal milk jug out front.. with 30 year old kmart water sol fert ... one teaspoon per gal .....ready to dump on a few things i am trying to lightly suggest.. grow faster... lol ... apparently i dont use alot.. very fast anyway ...

ken

I'm assuming that you are growing State FAIR (not State Farm). When you say that your garden center was growing the same type, do you mean that they said what they were growing was specifically State Fair? I'm not buying into the whole "fertilizer issue" as being the the difference that you are seeing. State Fair Mix is an old, open pollinated variety, and I have seen a lot of variation in the bloom colors. If your garden center is really growing other varieties of zinnias, that may explain the difference in what you are seeing

You got me Ken..I'm a numbers junkie LOL. As far as their plants looking better then mine...I don't get it. Their flowers are doubles (is that what a ball like flower is?). Their colors are red, yellow and orange. Is it just bad luck that I only got pink singles?
goblugal, is it possible, as you say they are pollinated, that I've go a version of what the Zinnia has become?
I'll ask again but I'm pretty sure that they're growing the same thing...maybe not.
Never the less I'm going to try fertilizer..
thanks!
Dale

If your flowers don't look like theirs both in color and petal count you are NOT growing the same thing. Fert. As Ken suggested.

I have one plant, a State Fair, that may be as you describe but I clipped it last week for the table. When it reblooms I will post a pic.

SCG