Hi all. I'm a beginner and I've planted sunflower a month back and they are still babies. No bud yet. However, iv noticed brown spots on few leaves. Not sure if its sun burn or something else.. Should i leave it as it is or do something about it?? Please help.. For ref i'm attaching pics.. They are in containers on my balcony since i don't have a garden..
hk919 How often are you watering them? Have you used any fertilizer on them?
I have an ongoing problem with aphids, white fly, mildew, and other leaf eating pests on my sunflowers however I wouldn't expect that many problems on a patio.
Sunflowers like poor soil conditions and its easy to over water them.
I water them once a day, it gets pretty hot here in the afternoon. The soil gets dry. I did use miracle grow liquid food, every 10 days.. Is it because of that?? I haven't seen any insects on them..
I suggest you try watering them less. Stick your finger in the soil to make sure it is dry beneath the surface. I'm not that far from you and I only water my sunflowers two to three times weekly in this hot weather. The soil may be dry on top but moist a few inches deep.
I know the miracle grow instructions tell you to use it every 7 to 14 days. Because sunflowers prefer poor soil conditions, I'd suggest using it no more than once per month.
Let us know how they progress. I killed a few of mine last year because I fertilized too often and over watered.
Thank you. I'l try that.. For now I've chopped off the few leaves that turned a bit brown..
Can you remember what type of SUN FLOWER you planted, some are small, some huge and some are grown to act as a bug trap as most bugs love the pollen even night flyers, moths ect.
Some also need a cane for support or they just flop over and after a few days you wont get them to stand up against the cane so IF these are the larger / taller type, stick a support in now and tie them onto the support as they grow taller.
Hope this also helps, WeeNel.
Thank you for the suggestion WeeNel. Yes i think these will need support as the packet said it grows 5' - 8' tall. I will do what you suggested this weekend. These are Helianthus Annuus (flash blend).. Also it says that spacing needs to be 18" and since i'm growing in pots, i have 3 plants in per container that is 18" (2 containers).. i hope i'm not making a mistake here but i just don't want those that look healthy to die & neither do i want many containers with sunflower ..
Hi hk1919, think your going to struggle with the plants in pots, I would have planted 1 single plant in that size of pot.
These very large plants / sunflowers are greedy feeder both plant feed and water, also I'm not sure that in a pot holding 3 plants you will be able to support the tall stems properly BUT hey, nothing lost / nothing gained eh.
Do remember there is a lot of fun to be had from these amazing plants, every time you move the pot once flowering has started, these plants will naturally twist / turn towards the sun, guess SUN flowers hit's the right spot EH.
Also more fun to be had with making funny faces on the flowers, what you need to do is take a pair of tweezers out to the plant, stand on stool / ladder, hold the flower-head against palm of one hand and remove the middle of the flower by plucking out individual Anther/ stamens, make eyes, nose, mouth either smiley or sad mouths, everyone will have a smile as they pass those. it does NOT harm the plant or flowers.
Take good care. WeeNel.
