Growing sunflowers (1 Viewer)

I get my sunflower seeds pretty cheap, about £1 per kilo but of course free is always better.

However I know next to nothing about growing plants. I just stick plants in the ground, water them and they tend to live or die.

So firstly, can I use seeds taken from bird food or have they been treated in any way? Secondly do they need to still be in their husks? Thirdly, is it too late to start growing this year?

am going to try sowing a large bed of Black Sunflowers next month, have been looking for info myself but not found much.

dont see why you can't use the seeds bought as food, I had some germinate under my feeders last year which am sure came from the bird food, they should be in their husks.

am going to sow some in pots this week to see if they'll germinate, from what I did find they do best in a sunny position once soil has warmed up, about mid April, so not too late.

Luca's Ade said:

I get my sunflower seeds pretty cheap, about £1 per kilo but of course free is always better.

However I know next to nothing about growing plants. I just stick plants in the ground, water them and they tend to live or die.

So firstly, can I use seeds taken from bird food or have they been treated in any way? Secondly do they need to still be in their husks? Thirdly, is it too late to start growing this year?

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You CANNOT go wrong with sunflowers LOL They really are one of the easiest flowers to grow...probably why they use them to show young kids in schools about how plants grow (unless they've stopped that in case the kiddies get injured LOL).
Sunflowers are hardy annuals which grow, flower, set seed and die in the course of one summer...and wildlife love them!
I've often had them sprouting from spilt seed so they aren't treated in any way. Yes, leave the husk/outer seed case on...don't split it or anything.
And no, it's not too late to start growing them. You could either put a few seeds, about five, in a 4" pot on a windowsill in some basic seed compost and keep them indoors until the risk of frost has passed or wait until later, about late April, and plant them directly outside where you want them to flower.
They are a very thirsty plant once they get going so don't be too shy with the watering can and once you see flower buds I always used to mix a bit of liquid tomato feed with the water...the potassium encourages more flower growth!
One other thing I used to do...when they first start to flower I would cut off the fading flower heads BEFORE they set seed and this would encourage the sunflower to keep producing more...and more for the bees & butterflies! Then, about mid-September I would let them run to seed so the birds could then get their share! I always used to leave the seed heads on the plant so the birds could help themselves but some folk do prefer to cut them off and put them in a PAPER bag...NOT plastic as it will just go mouldy...to collect the seed.

Hope you get a good show....I ALWAYS have them in my garden as I just love them! And they come in so many colours and sizes to suit any size garden!
This site has more about them....

http://www.gardenersnet.com/vegetable/sunflowr.htm

GILL :bounce:

Easy peasy! Just pick them out of your seed (pick the plump heavy ones)
Just pop them in yoghurt pots of soil and start inside, or plant them in situ. Plant lots because the black ones don't grow very big. Lots will get eaten by slugs and snails, but when they flower it will be lovely.

Thanks for the info, I will dig some seeds out of a feeder tomorrow and give it a go.

I empty my feeding trays onto some waste ground,and last year had some huge sunflowers growing.

Hi Christine,

Did your birds appreciate your sunflowers? mine didn't I had a beautiful large flower left dead head on for ages but they preferred to use the feeders. I let teasels grow wild as well and only saw one Goldie use the seed heads. My birds are too darned fussy, I think I must spoil them

Ann

Considering the wad of germinated sunflower seeds under my feeder, you should have no problem using the bird seed variety

Did your birds appreciate your sunflowers? mine didn't I had a beautiful large flower left dead head on for ages but they preferred to use the feeders.

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I was hoping the birds might feed from the heads in the ground, but if it's easy enough to harvest them it should save me a few ££'s in seed.

I planted some seeds in trays just over a week ago, they started sprouting a couple of days ago so I transferred them to individual pots today. The root is so long!! I doubt they'll be able to stay in the pots for too long, but I want them to be a good size before they go in the ground or my hens will just eat them |^|

pic below of the bed at work, quite pleased with the result but the plants are much taller than I expected and have needed a lot of staking, unfortunately just discovered someone has been using them for cutflowers :h?: so wont have the crop I was hoping for.

I have 3 Russian Sunflowers growing as we speak. They are supposed to reach 12ft!. So far they are about 7ft.
I will try to get a picture off this weekend to post.

Thanks to the birds!

I live in a block of flats and feed the birds in the communal gardens.
I recently found two seedlings in my window box which turned out to be sunflowers planted by 'my' birds from the seeds I provide! They are now about 2 feet tall and I've planted them out in large pots so 'my' birds can feed themselves when their plants mature.
It's such a natural and cheap way to feed them.
Long live birds!!!

My sunflowers are now 9ft tall! The biggest head is about 9 inches across. When they fully bloom i will take a photograph. I still have about 8 heads to come out.