How to Get More Flowers on Zinnias With One Flower to a Stem

Colorful, blooming zinnia plants will brighten your garden.

Zinnias have long been a favorite of gardeners for their ease of care, bright, colorful flowers and long bloom time. Native to Mexico, there are now more than 100 types of zinnias, from dwarf to tall, available in a multitude of colors, flower shapes and sizes. A zinnia plant initially will grow a single flower on a long stem, but you can promote multiple blooming stems from the original stem for a long lasting display of color in your garden.

Things You'll Need

• Garden shears or pruners
• Fertilizer, 12-6-6 slow release or poultry manure

Instructions

1. Select a sunny location with well-draining soil to sow your zinnia seeds or plant zinnia bedding plants. The more sun a zinnia plant receives, the more flowers it will produce. If you grow your zinnia plants close together, 6 to 8 inches apart, the plants will have longer flower stems which are more suitable for fresh cut flower arrangements.

2. Fertilize your zinnia plants every 3 to 4 weeks with a time release 12-6-6 fertilizer, or use poultry manure. A study conducted at Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam in Pakistan suggests that applying these fertilizers to zinnia plants encourages growth and flowering. New flowers grow from the leaf joints on the original, single flower stem of a zinnia plant. Increasing the foliage, or leaves, on your zinnia by feeding it a fertilizer with a higher nitrogen level, will increase flowers and stems developing on the single stem.

3. Clip spent and dying flower heads from the stems. Deadheading your zinnia plant throughout the blooming period will allow the plant to direct its energy toward producing more flowers, not seeds. Clip the dead flower off just above a leaf joint, where you see a new flower bud and stem beginning to emerge. Continuing to deadhead the zinnias will result in a bushier plant, with more flower stems growing from the original stem.

Tips & Warnings

• Discontinue deadheading toward the end of the blooming season to allow the flowers to develop seeds. Once the flowers have gone to seed, either harvest the seeds for next year or let the zinnia self seed.

References

• North Carolina State University; Deadheading; Carol Weaver; Aug. 29, 2005
• University of Illinois; Zinnias; Jennifer Schultz Nelson; June 1, 2008
• Journal of Agricultural Technology 2010 Vol. 6; Effect of NP fertilizers on the growth and flower production of Zinnias; Baloch, Q.B., Chacha, Q.I. and Panhwar, U.I.; Nov. 3, 2009
• Pennsylvania State University; Selecting and Growing Zinnias; Amy Rolph, Steve Bogash