I am growing SUNFLOWERS for the first time this year, so I have some really stupid questions ... sorry.
I bought some varieties that are suppose to be 12' tall. I want to grow my cucumber around the sunflowers.
Some of my sunflowers already bloomed at 4' tall.
You can see in the picture that the heads are spent and going down.
What do I do?
Shall I cut the flower heads?
or do I leave them there?
Will my sunflower keep growing up to 12'? or that is it ?
Any help will be appreciated.
I think they only have the one stalk and the one flower.
Mine are droopy as well, but I think that is indicative of all sunflowers because it's a lot of weight on top of a skinny pole - I could be mistaken, though - it's my first year growing sunflowers. I'm growing them primarily as companion plants to help my corn and also to get pollinators (and because they're just really cool to look at).
Here are mine. I *THINK* they're 'lemon queen'. One is about 6-7' tall, the other one is about a foot shorter.
oh, yea - and they lean like crazy, too.
Perhaps someone with more experience in sunflowers can be more help.
....and perhaps they can tell me why one sunflower is facing one way, and the other the opposite way, when they were both facing southeast only two weeks ago.... :)
thanks ... I hope somebody with more experience will answer.
My sunflowers are also facing different directions.
I heard sunflowers are supposed to follow the direction of the sun. I grew Mammoth last year and the tallest one was about 12' and growing up through my utility wires! The other one was a few feet shorter as you can see. I guess there's no guarantees!
Toni
Here's a pic of the heads when they were done.
Thanks Toni5735, so your sunflowers made just one head ! ouch !
Every few years I'll try sunflowers for fun. Some cultivars produce multiple blooms, others single (it should say on the seed pack). The larger, the taller varieties seem to make huge single heads. For me, the sunflowers are two seasons, early spring and fall. Just like most other things in Texas, they seem to hate the high temps and stall out and go to seed once summer hits.
As long as the stems are sturdy, you can still use them as support for your vines. The birds will start harvesting the seed from them for themselves. Or you can cut and hang the heads upside down for drying. Just make sure they're drying where the birds can't reach them. Cardinals especially love sunflowers :0)
Thanks so much Cocoa_lulu.
You gave me hope
drthor, I only grew 2 sunflower plants. They were of the single head variety, Mammoth. One grew taller than the other as shown in the picture. Both plants produced heads. I only posted a picture of the taller one. Here's a pic of both heads after harvest.
Thank you cocoa_lulu. I grew these on a whim and then dried the seedheads to give to the birds. I cut them down after the taller one got nailed in a bad thunderstorm and broke in half. It was soo heavy and thick. Unbelievable how something can grow so big from a small seed :)
Very nice, I'm seen some of the Mammoth down here get about 8" maybe 10" at best, but never a foot! Don't they know things are suppose to be bigger in Texas.lol
We feed a lot of black oil sunflower seeds to the cows and chickens. It's getting costly at the farm supply. So, I think I'm going to try a plot of them next year. Keeping fingers crossed :0)
Wonderful discussion about sunflowers. They are one of my favorites!
Here in the desert, my sunflowers don't get nearly as tall as the packets say. It seems like, as soon as it gets HOT, they start to form a flower at whatever height they are at. Once they start forming a flower, then any upward growth seems to stop. (I don't know if this is a scientific fact, but that's what appears to happen to me.)
As for where the flowers face... when they are young, they will track the sun, but when they get close to ripening seed, they face decidedly East. One needs to take this into consideration when planting them. I didn't know the first time I planted them, and they all faced into a fence and all I got to see was the backs of their heads, LOL!
Also, the seed packets all say to wait until after frost to plant, but we always get a warm spell around late March, so I plant in late Feb. My seeds usually germinate during that warm spell and survive several frosts before the frost free weather settles. They will sit around and do nothing on cold days, and put on some growth during the sunnier days. Then, when the weather settles, they take off - until it hits about 100. I stagger the plantings and have something in some stage of bloom all summer and fall. The ones planted later (when it's warmer), grow faster and almost catch up with the ones planted extra early - but not quite.
cocoa_lulu, do your chickens shell the sunflowers? Our song birds do, but my chickens don't. Also, my chickens love the leaves of the sunflowers. Want to see something hysterical? Bend the stalks of the sunflowers down about a foot above the chickens' head and watch them flap-jump-almost-fly to grab the seeds and knock down the head. They didn't know that the sunflowers held the seeds at first, so the first few heads I cut and put on the ground for them. Now, of course, they know ;-)
I have a difficult time preventing the wildlife from harvesting before I am ready to feed them to the chickies. Anyone have any ideas about keeping the critters away? I have little four footed critters and the winged kind who like to dine on the seeds.
My mammoth heads rarely get more that 6 or 7 inches across here. Maybe because they are grown in almost pure sand (and I always forget to fertilize them). The veggies get the organic chickie-poo composted stuff, but the sunflowers are regulated to new plots because they are about all that will grow there. Maybe I will try planting some in some good dirt and see if that improves size and height.
That's a great point about getting them seeded really early! I've noticed mine that reseeded themselves are always bigger...must be that early start.
The chickens don't shell them. I think they're too greedy, swallowing them whole gives more time to race to the next seed.lol
I wonder is a 'scarf' of tulle would help protect the heads from birds...the four footed animals will be much harder to guard against!
I garden in sand too. Your garden sounds like mine. I always feel I'm in short supply of compost. It has to be used for food..my food, not the chickens :0)
has anyone grown the sunflower variety "sunzilla" i finally did get some..
supposedly they are hybrids that are huge.. which is what i want.. tall ..and big flower heads..
has anyone tried them? what were your findings?
thanks
The black oil sunflower will grow well here. This sunflower also has multiple blooms. They stay shorter and do well when started early. I had some volunteers that were just setting buds when the deer mowed them down. The bagged black oil sunflower seeds seem to germinate well.
question:
I grew two sunflower seeds in my daughter's garden to attract pollinators for the rest of the garden in that side of the house.
I kid you not - I saw a whopping THREE bees early on, and some sort of elongated black and white insect - kind of looked like a fat and long bumblebee, but perhaps a wasp. Did not see any butterflies, or birds approach this puppy.
Rachel (daughter) ended up lopping off one of the heads and putting it on a tray in the middle of the yard for the birds to get at.
did i do something wrong? thought everybody (pollinators) loved sunflowers.
My sunflowers loved half dirt/half horse manure soil, were so hvy I was glad of the rails I planted nex to em to hold em up, some bees are attracted to scents I believe, maybe they couldn't smell them? I always planted other flowers in aroun them as well, think the birds try to wait to eat them when they look like they have seeds, and I believe mine were a multiple headed red Delta Queen? cant remember the name exact and dont have that pic on puter...
drthor, Texas grows a lot of sunflowers as a commercial crop, the city of Hearne, Tx claims it is the sunflower capital of the states, they have to wilt to speed up maturation of the seeds, farmers force that wilt to happen all at once by defoliating, like cotton at pickin time, but I dont think the area is growing as many as they once did as a commercial crop
well, getting ready to plant an 8' x 4' section solely for sunflowers. was going to tie them to the chain link fence around my property.
Any suggestions for plants to compliment sunflowers? (please keep in mind I'm in 10a-b zone).
thank you for all your help.
Plants that vine away from under,or need partial shade!
thanks. i have some spindly sunflowers that've been in jiffy pots way too long - about 10 inches. think i'll plant them in ground now and throw some seeds down.
I found some interesting reading regarding the sunflowers production. http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/programs/agronomy/publications/sunflowers/index.php
Incase you don't want to read all that, the parts I found useful:
They need well drained soil.
Fallow soil will have enough nitrogen, but they have high phosphorus and potassium needs....makes sense that they like manure.
They are sensitive to nitrogen salts.
Black oil seeds in commercial feeds and bird mix are hybrids...but like Podster, mine seed just fine from them.
This article says maturity at 85-95 days, but other articles say up to 120 day, but I've been mostly looking at the black oil types.
To store them they need a moisture content of no more then 10 percent during winter and 8 percent summer.
SoFlacommercial, The article say "as many as 47 different insect species were recorded visiting sunflowers. Some 14 to 15 of these insects were considered potential major pests." I don't know why your bees didn't like them.
I found a pic of a bee on one of the sunflowers. It's on the lower left.
cocoalulu..LOL yea.. i didnt take that in consideration..heheheh
i want the bees in the garden..dont want them to pass out though...
:)
im anxious to see if they grow as advertized..
mostly i grow the sunflowers for show.. something really tall and attractive in the garden..
Bees love my sunflowers - as well as some type of syphid (sp?) fly (they look like wasps, but are flies). And, the prize is when I am out in the evening and hawk moths (aka hummingbird moths) visit them. I find mine mature faster with hotter weather.
What a great thread! Thanks, drthor, for starting this one. I've got some sunflower seeds to plant, but didn't realize I should have planted them by now. All things in the garden seem new after moving up 3 zones! LOL! I think I'll just use those seeds for plant out when I put the second tomato crop out.
My grandmother's neighbor used to grow sunflowers. He would climb up on a ladder and put used panty hose over the face of the heads to keep the birds out just before the seeds ripened. Looked kind of weird because he used to just leave the feet hanging there--not knot them up and cut off exess--but it worked.
I can hardly wait to get started w/sunflowers. Think I'll get some watermelon and corn going in the next few days! =)
Terri took the words right out of my mouth- great thread. I, too, am growing sunflowers this year-- mammoth grey stripe, I believe. Perhaps Russia Giant (?), but I can't recall right now. I am growing these for effect! I think they will look great along my fence and will hopefully be an excellent conversation starter. Plus, I outta get lots of seeds. Another benefit would be as a natural screen for my backyard neighbors.
Like drthor, I am concerned that my sunflowers will stall and produce a head at 3' or so.
Ohh, I love the sphinx moths, Kmom! I've been trying to attract more of them, but I have those parasitic wasps and they do them in :0(
Terri, the uses of pantyhose in the garden never ceases to amaze me.lol We've had corn in for a few weeks. Today, I noticed I have a sunflower that has come up in the corn patch. Going to keep my eye on it and see how well it produces.
Good luck, John. A short sunflower, is better then no sunflower at all ;0)
