How to Save Zinnia Seeds

Do you want to have a garden full of flowers for just pennies? Do what your grandparents would have done. Learn how to save zinnia seeds!

Some reasons to save zinnia seeds

To be honest when I started gardening I did not grow any flowers. I didn’t think there was any point in growing flowers and I thought that they were difficult to grow.

I then read some books that explained all of the benefits that flowers offer to a garden. So I planted a few flowers in the garden including bachelor buttons, nasturtiums, and zinnias.

To my surprise they were super easy to grow and there were so many benefits. I had more pollinators which then pollinated more of my vegetable plants and led to higher yields. These flowers also attracted many beneficial insects to my garden which reduced my pest population.

Here are just a few benefits to saving zinnia seeds.

• Free seeds
• Large amount of seeds so you can grow more zinnias
• Benefit of having more pollinators and beneficial insects

What type of zinnia seeds can I save – not hybrid

This step is super important. Read your seed packet to see if you are growing hybrid or open-pollinated seeds!

If your seed packet shows a F1 or states that the seeds are hybrid, then you cannot save seeds from these plants. Hybrid plants will yield either sterile seeds or seeds that do not grow true to type (weird off type plants that do not look like their parent plants).

On the other hand, if your seed packet shows that your seeds are either open-pollinated or heirloom seeds, then you will be able to save seeds from these plants.

Don’t skip this step, because it is very disappointing to save seeds from plants that will not grow.

Let your plants go to seed

While flowers are usually grown to be cut and put in vases you should not cut off all of your zinnia flowers. Leave a few flowers on your healthiest plants so that they will go to seed.

The flower petals will eventually dry up and you will be left with a seed head. Just know that once you let your plants go to seed they will die.

I will harvest zinnia flowers from my plants until mid August. After this is when I let the flowers stay on the plants and go to seed. You can also just save seeds from a few plants, so you can continue to cut the flowers.

When to harvest the seed heads

Zinnia seed heads are ready to harvest when they are completely dry and once all the petals have turned brown. But make sure to harvest the seed heads before they drop the seeds on their own.

You will want to watch your plants closely so that you don’t let you plants drop their own seeds.

How to dry the seed heads

Once you have picked your zinnia seed heads it is time to dry and process them. You can rub the seeds out of the seed head and separate the seeds from the dead petals.

I then dry my zinnia seeds on a window screen. It is also a good idea to use a fan to keep the air flowing around the seeds.

After a week or two of drying your seeds they are ready for storage. Make sure that your seeds snap when you try to bend them; this means that they are dry enough for storage.

The optimal conditions for drying seeds are dark, dry, and cool. My basement has these conditions so that is where I dry my seeds. Some people ask if they can use a dehydrator to dry their seeds with.

Most dehydrators lowest setting is 95^oF. If you heat your seeds past 90^oF you can kill them, so don’t use a dehydrator to dry your seeds.

How to store zinnia seeds

You can place your zinnia seeds in either a paper envelope or a glass jar. If you want to know the best way to store your zinnia seeds read this article.

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