Sow sunflower seeds
How to Harvest & Prepare Sunflower Seeds
Ever harvested your own sunflower seeds? I mostly give my sunflower heads to the chickens and birds to peck at, but you can also harvest and roast sunflower seeds to enjoy them yourself! Here’s how.
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are native annual flowers which come in many different colors and patterns. Some reach for the heavens with one thick stem putting all of their energy into a single giant flower. Others spread out with many branches inviting you to pick them so that they can “come again.”
Many single-stem sunflower varieties are really quick to bloom, needing just 60 days from seeding date to reach harvestability.
Isn’t it amazing to think that these giant flower heads start from one little seed?!
About Sunflower Seeds and Oils
Sunflower seeds contain many nutrients and the best seeds come fresh from the flower head. They’re packed with calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium. They are very fragile once they have been removed from their shells, so always purchase them in the shell or from a refrigerated source.
Sunflower oil is one of the few vegetable oils that is fairly stable. I use sunflower oil in my mayonnaise. The truly stable ones come in a dark bottle and are cold-pressed and unrefined. Once opened, the bottle should be refrigerated to avoid rancidity.
When to Harvest Sunflower Seeds
It’s important to be able to recognize when the sunflower seeds are close to harvest. Here are cues:
- The large heads begin to droop and turn down. The backside of the head should turn yellow-brown. If it’s still green, it’s not close to ready.
- The tiny petals covering the developing seeds have dried and fallen off, exposing tightly-packed mature seeds. If most of the petals are still attached, leave the sunflower alone.
- The seeds are hardened and turn black with white stripes. If the seeds are still milky white they are not mature.
Pull a few seeds to see if they have developed. - The foliage has turned yellow.
While you’re waiting for your sunflowers to mature enough to harvest, make sure you protect them from critters. Once you notice the petals wilting, cover the sunflower heads with brown paper bags, fine netting, mesh, perforated plastic bags, or cheesecloth. Use a twist tie or rubber band to secure the bag so the seeds don’t fall out.
Image credit: Hirurg/GettyHow to Harvest Sunflower Seeds
It’s best to wait and let the seeds dry completely on the stem. Then, just cut the stem a inch below the heads.
But some folks want to beat the critters and dry indoors. In this case, cut the stalks about a foot below the heads when the outer seeds are mature and hang the heads upside down a warm, dry place that is well-ventilated and protected from rodents and insects. Keep the heads covered as described above.
When the seeds are thoroughly dried (after a few weeks), dislodge them by rubbing two heads together, or by rubbing the seeds with your hand or by using a stiff brush.
Dislodge them over a big bucket. Allow the seeds to dry overnight on a paper towel.
Eating and Roasting Seeds
Once dried, you can eat the seeds alone, mixed with dried fruit, added to salads, or even used in place of nuts for baking. Store seeds in airtight glass jars in the refrigerator to retain flavor.
Roast the seeds to enhance their flavor, lightly brown on a cookie sheet in the oven at 300°F for about 15 minutes.
Seeds for Chicken Feed
I always give seeds heads to my chickens. As the seeds mature, I cut the heads off of the plants and, with a gloved hand, I rub the now dry brown “fuzz” off of the seeds. I then place them where they will dry. This includes my oven that has a pilot light and my picnic table when the sun is on it.
Image: Chickens foraging. Credit: Pixelprof/GettyOnce the back is truly dry, I place them in bags upstairs. These I give to the chickens when it snows. As they refuse to go outside during these storms, I give them some sunflower heads and a few pumpkins or squashes so that they will have something to peck on besides each other.
Sunflowers as Cut Flowers
Sunflowers also make excellent cut flowers. Many times, they do need to be wired in order for their heads to look straight ahead. Getting the wire from a florist, put it right through the thick neck bringing it into the middle then twist both sides down the stem. They generally like a prominent placement if you are going to put them in a mixed bouquet. They definitely have the ability to capture the audience’s attention!
Occasionally, a sunflower will act like it’s on steroids. I guess that’s what happened to this one!
Learn more about how to plant and grow sunflowers. See the Almanac’s Sunflower Growing Guide.
How to grow Sunflowers
Want to know how to grow sunflowers? This step-by-step guide will give you all the information you need to grow sunflowers from seed in your own garden or allotment.
About sunflowers
Sunflowers are one of the biggest and brightest flowers around. With beautiful, golden yellow petals they bring a feeling of happiness and a vibrant splash of colour to the garden.
They’re also very easy to grow and make an excellent flower for children to take care of.
First discovered around 3,000 BC, sunflowers were a source of food for American Indian tribes, harvested for the oil and nutrient-rich seeds which would often be ground and used as flour for baking bread.
Today, as well as the flowers making a stunning addition to our gardens, or cut and placed into a vase indoors, the seeds and their oil are still popular for eating.
When to plant sunflowers
When growing sunflowers, you can generally plant the seeds from early March to mid-May, but this will differ by variety so always check the seed packet. To give them the best start, the seeds will need to be protected until they’ve germinated, and seedlings are around 5cm tall; it’s best to do this indoors to avoid any damage from frost.
Growing sunflowers from seed
Sowing sunflowers in seed trays
What you’ll need to get started:
- Sunflower seeds
- Seed trays
- Multi-purpose compost
- Plant labels
- Waterproof marker pen or a pencil
Fill the seed tray with some multi-purpose compost to around 1cm below the top.
Add one seed per cell and push it down gently into the compost. Fill each cell to the top with more compost and then water well. Finally, add a plant label so you know what you’ve planted.
Position the filled seed tray in a warm, bright spot; a sunny windowsill is ideal for this.
Once your seedlings have germinated and grown to around 5cm (2 inches), they can be moved into individual pots around 7.5cm (3 inches) in diameter. Add a small amount of multi-purpose compost to each pot then carefully remove the seedling from the tray and place into the new pot. Fill with compost then gently push the compost down to compact it and secure the seedling. Water well and add your plant label. Position the pots in a warm, bright spot.
Tip: be gentle when removing the seedlings from their cells to avoid causing damage to the plant or roots. If needed, gently run a narrow, flat object such as a dinner knife or even a plant label, around the inside of the cell to loosen it.
Tip: from this point, you can start to use a liquid fertiliser to support the seedlings’ growth; the fertiliser should be diluted by 50% and used twice a week.
Once your plants have reached 30cm (12 inches) in height, you can plant them in the garden or move them to a bigger pot. Don’t do this any earlier than May to avoid them being damaged by any late frosts.
Planting sunflower seeds in the ground
Before you get started, you need to make sure that the soil in which you’ll be sowing your seeds is a fine crumbly texture and weed free; make sure you choose an area with full sunlight and well-drained soil.
It’s good practice to add some organic matter such as Gro-Sure Farmyard Manure to the area you’re planting in as this will help to nourish your sunflowers.
Create a drill (a shallow depression in the soil) for each seed with a 10cm gap between each one; the drills should be about 12mm deep.
Carefully place the seeds into the drill and cover with soil.
As the seedlings grow, thin the plants out so they’re around 45cm (18 inches) apart.
Once the sunflowers become taller, use a cane to support the stems by loosely tying the stem to the cane with some string. This will help keep the stem strong and the plant will be encouraged to grow straight.
Pinching out sunflowers
Pinching out is a technique used to encourage new stems to grow on plants.
Whether you pinch out your sunflowers will really depend on what you want to do with them when they’re in bloom:
- If you’re growing sunflowers for a competition and want to maximise the height of the plant, then it’s recommended that you don’t pinch out the growing tip. This is because the growing tip is what makes the plant grow tall and give you that extra height you’re looking for
- If you’re growing sunflowers with a view to picking them, pinching out the growing tip will stunt the plant so that it produces more flowers.
To pinch out sunflowers, remove the growing tip of the plant using your thumb and forefinger; this should be done once the plant has reached 20cm to 25cm (8 to 10 inches) in height.
The plant should grow to 1.8m – 2.2m tall, but you should expect 4x the amount of blooms you would normally see, giving you lots of beautiful flowers to cut and display.
How long do sunflowers take to grow?
There are various varieties of sunflowers, and each one will grow at a different rate. On average, though, it takes between 80 and 120 days for a plant to mature and develop seeds.
Sunflower varieties
| Variety | Approximate growing height | Variety notes |
| American Giant | 5m |
|
| Toy Shop | 90cm |
|
| King Kong F1 | 4m |
|
| Junior | 60cm |
|
| Giant single | 4m |
|
| Sunshine Giant | 2m |
|
| Jammie Dodger | 1. 2m |
|
| Solar Flash | 40cm |
|
| Moulin Rouge | 1.8m |
|
| Velvet Queen | 1.5m |
|
| Firecracker | 60cm |
|
| Starburst Panache | 1.8m |
|
| Ginger Nut | 1.5m |
|
| Sunsation | 30cm |
|
How to grow a sunflower in your garden
This amazing and beautiful tall annual plant with huge bright yellow flowers from the Compositae family can be found today on the plots of many amateur gardeners.
Its correct biological name is sunflower. And he has a lot of undeniable advantages. Firstly, the sunflower is so beautiful that it can become the main decoration of the garden.
Its bright yellow flowers up to 1 m in diameter with long petals and a huge seed basket, crowning powerful stems with large green leaves, tower even over two-meter fences and are always turned towards the sun.
Secondly, sunflower seeds contain a lot of vitamins and nutrients needed by the human body.
Previously, sunflower could be found only in the southern regions of our country, but now, with the creation of ultra-early, cold-resistant varieties that are not afraid of sharp weather anomalies, it ripens well in the north of Russia.
And the yields of tasty, large seeds in the northern sunflower are sometimes larger than in the traditional southern varieties.
Growing such a sunflower on your own plot is not at all difficult. This is one of the most unpretentious crops that does not require very careful care.
However, some of its biological features must be taken into account. Therefore, today we will talk about how to properly grow a sunflower on your site.
SUNFLOWER HISTORY
Several wild sunflower species are found in North America. But these wild plants are absolutely not similar to modern varieties.
Their plants are not so tall, and their seeds are small and tasteless. But it was they who became the progenitors of the cultivated sunflower, which even the ancient Indian tribes cultivated on their plantations and used for food.
Cultivated sunflower seeds were brought to Europe by the expedition of Christopher Columbus, who discovered America. From the annals we know that the first sunflower crop was obtained in the Madrid botanical garden in 1510.
The culture very quickly "settled" in Europe and until the end of the 17th century was planted exclusively as an ornamental plant.
It was at this time that sunflower seeds were brought to Russia, where at first they were also considered as decorative.
In the south of the country, the local population "tasted" sunflower seeds, and they became a favorite treat for both landowners and peasants.
In 1779, Dmitry Bokarev, a peasant from the Voronezh province, for the first time obtained sunflower oil from sunflower seeds in a manual oil churn. His experience was quickly picked up by Russian producers, who put the production of sunflower oil on an industrial basis.
After that, sunflower, as an oilseed crop, began to be widely sown in all the southern regions of the country.
BIOLOGICAL PORTRAIT
Sunflower is an annual oil crop. Its northern food varieties - Ultraran (ripening period 80 - 90 days, for example, Poseidon 625 , Oreshek ) and early (period of ripening 105 - 115 days, for example, School ).
Such tight deadlines allow already in August - early September to collect a full-fledged crop of ripe seeds.
The best sowing dates are the end of May directly to the garden.
The height of plants of northern varieties is up to 2 m. Their stems are straight, powerful, covered with stiff hairs. The leaves are bright green, large, oval-heart-shaped with serrated edges, covered with a delicate fluff.
Baskets up to 50 cm in diameter. In each, up to 1500 seeds-seeds can ripen.
Marginal flowers orange-yellow, sterile, median - bisexual very small. Ripened seeds up to 30 mm long, black, brown, purple or striped. They contain up to 60% sunflower oil.
Cake obtained after pressing the oil is a valuable feed for livestock and poultry. Silage made from sunflower leaves and stems is also used to feed farm animals.
Sunflower is a cross-pollinated crop. Therefore, we do not recommend planting varieties of different ripening periods nearby.
Do not grow sunflowers in one place for more than 4 years. After this period, pathogenic microflora accumulates in the earth, and the earth is depleted, first of all, there is a lack of nitrogen, since a culture needs a lot of nutrition for normal growth and development.
There are edible and ornamental varieties of sunflower. And decorative today are very popular with landscape designers around the world.
The most unusual varieties were first bred by breeders in the USA and Japan. But now European and domestic flower growers are not far behind them.
Among the most interesting decorative varieties, you can see bright multi -color (for example, Velvet and Formula of love ) and low terry (for example, Teddy bear and Orange Sun ).
Agrotechnics for food and ornamental sunflowers is absolutely the same.
HOW TO GROW A SUNFLOWER IN YOUR GARDEN
Choosing a location . The name itself suggests that for a sunflower it is necessary to choose the sunniest place on the site. The plant should be exposed to bright sunlight throughout the day.
Sunflower does not tolerate close groundwater.
Its powerful branched root system goes into the lower layers of the soil to a depth of 2.5 m and from there it gets nutrients and moisture.
When the groundwater is close to the ground, as well as in flooded lowlands, the roots of the plant may begin to rot.
Soils. The best soils for sunflowers are chernozems and fertile loams. But in the northern regions, it is necessary to create an artificial nutrient mixture for them in the garden, otherwise you will not get a strong, healthy plant.
For digging a plot for sunflowers per 1 sq. m, add: 2 buckets of rotted manure (or compost) and leafy soil, a bucket of sand, half a bucket of wood ash, 2 tbsp. spoons of double superphosphate and potassium sulfate.
Double the application rate on sandy soils.
Sunflower will not grow on heavy acidic clays. Such lands must first be deoxidized with dolomite flour (at the rate of 2 kg per 5 sq. M of the garden area).
Seeding Before sowing, soak the seeds for a day in a solution of Zircon and Cytovit preparations (4 drops per glass of water).
Seeds are best sown after 20 May directly into the garden. Make straight grooves in the garden, and in them holes 4-5 cm deep at a distance of 50-60 cm from one another and put 2 seeds in each (in case one does not sprout). Distance between rows - 60 - 80 cm.
The greater the distance between plants, the larger you will get both seeds and baskets themselves.
Level the furrows and water the entire bed very well (at least three watering cans per square meter). After that, cover the bed with a transparent film so that the seeds are warm, then they will germinate faster.
During the day, lift the film several times for 20 minutes to allow oxygen to reach the crops and water the bed.
Sprouts will appear in 7 to 10 days (depending on variety). After that, remove the film and mulch the bed with straw with a layer of 5 cm. The mulch will prevent the growth of weeds and retain moisture around the plants.
If you plan to plant no more than 10 sunflowers, you can sow their seeds between rows of potatoes, beets, peas and other vegetables.
Irrig. Sunflowers need a lot of water to grow quickly. Water it abundantly and regularly so that the earth in the garden is always very moist, but without the formation of puddles.
After each watering, loosen the crops and re-mulch with straw. Make sure that no soil crust forms on top.
In extreme heat, water sunflowers twice a day - early in the morning and in the evening after 6 pm.
Fertilizers . The sunflower is a very powerful plant, so it also needs good regular nutrition. Give your plants the first nitrogen fertilization in the 2-3 true leaf phase. It is best to use a solution of urea for this (2 tablespoons per bucket of water for one plant).
At the beginning of the formation of seed heads, apply potassium sulfate and superphosphate for loosening in the same doses as when sowing.
Bird repellent. Sunflower sprouts are a favorite delicacy for birds. Therefore, stretch white threads between young sprouts, tying them to small pegs.
After a couple of weeks the plants will be much taller and the birds will no longer be interested in them.
However, when the seeds begin to ripen, the birds will not miss such a delicacy. A whole flock of birds is able to peck out all the young seeds in one day. Therefore, we recommend that you tie the heads of plants with ordinary gauze.
Under it, the seeds will ripen faster and remain intact and inaccessible to birds.
Garter . Tall sunflower varieties with large seed heads are recommended to be tied to stakes, 1.5 - 1.8 m high. This will protect the stems from breakage.
Harvest . Start it when the seeds turn black, the heads lean towards the ground, and the extreme petals begin to dry out and crumble.
Carefully cut the ripened heads and place them in the sun in a dry, well-ventilated area for a couple of days. To extract the seeds, spread an old sheet or some other light-colored cloth over it, rub the heads against each other until all the seeds fall out.
THE BEST SUNFLOWER VARIETIES FROM OUR COLLECTION
We have told you how to grow sunflowers in your garden. In conclusion, we present the best varieties of this wonderful crop from our unique collection of seeds.
Our collection:
Food varieties:
Squirrel, Poseidon 625, Oreshek.
Ornamental varieties:
Velvet, Formula of Love, Orange Sun, Teddy Bear.
Read more about these varieties on our website or in the SEEDS 2021 catalog.
And you can buy them for May sowing from us today!
When to plant and how to grow a sunflower from a seed
11/18/2020
Learn how to grow a sunflower in the country. There are few people who would not like to click sunflower seeds. It's easy and tasty, and very useful too. I’ll tell you when to plant and how easy it is to care for this “sunny flower”.
Sunflower is a flower of the Astrov family. The correct name for the plant is sunflower. We will learn to plant a common type of oilseed; Few people know that its counterpart is the tuberous sunflower, better known as Jerusalem artichoke or ground pear.
When to plant and how to grow a sunflower from seeds
Variety
It is best to sow in our conditions early-ripening varieties (with a growing season of 84-86 days). For example: Umnik, Buzuluk, Nut. The next option is mid-season (90-95 days): Master, Flagship. The days indicated on the seed bags usually indicate the biological ripeness of the crop. Do not forget to add another 10 days - before the harvest days.
When choosing a variety, pay attention to hybrids that are resistant to downy mildew, rot and Phomopsis (gray stem spot) - the most dangerous fungal diseases of sunflower. Preventive measures will help protect against them: proper crop rotation, the use of high-quality fungicides, sanitizing the site and removing all plant residues after harvesting.
Site selection
Sunflower loves the sun! Its peculiarity is known - to turn its flower "head" behind the sun. Therefore, this tall plant (sometimes it can reach up to 3 m) must certainly be planted in a sunny place, followed by a garter to a support. Optimal landing next to the fence, lattice, pergola. Very often sunflowers grow along the fence. It is customary to plant them, decorating the wall of an old barn, a summer toilet, a compost heap.
Soil
The recommendations for growing sunflowers say that they need fertile soil with a neutral reaction.
- An interesting observation. I have seen sunflowers growing along the side of the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway more than once. It would seem, where? Well, it's clear that a seed flew out of the window or something. But why did she manage to germinate? Not only is the gas pollution along the route exceeds all permissible limits, but there is definitely no fertile black soil there. Mystic…
Plant a crop after cereals (winter wheat, corn).
And even better - after legumes, nightshade or beets, which "leave" a lot of nitrogen in the soil.
Preparing Seeds
Dress (soak overnight) the planting material using one of the methods described in the article Preparing Seeds for Planting.
Planting
For example, you can plant seeds immediately in a permanent place in May (in our climate from May 5 to May 20). Make a hole or groove. And put the seed to a depth of 5 cm, sprinkled and leveled with loose earth. Planting pattern, approximately like this - 30 cm x 70 cm, square-nested. For evenness, pull the cord lengthwise, then across - at the intersection point and there will be a landing site. At a temperature of 20-25 ° C, seedlings will appear in a couple of weeks.
Another option is to grow sunflower seedlings at home 20-25 days before planting in the garden. Be sure to find out if your variety can be transplanted in the future. It turns out that not all sunflowers tolerate this.
