I adore sunflowers! My maternal grandfather and I used to have contests each summer to see who could grow the tallest sunflowers. Since we both had access to barns and fields of manure, some of those plants got very tall. I have a picture somewhere of he and I standing next to a sunflower that must have been 12 foot tall it was twice as tall as Pappy and he was a 6-footer!
I didn’t get any 12 foot sunflowers this year. I would have palnted some taller ones if I hadn’t run out of space. Coming back from the feed store this week I drove past a field of dying sunflowers. I was so disappointed as I would have loved to see the field in brilliant bloom.
We have a sunflower farm nearby, they process them to make oil. The fields are so gorgeous when the flowers are in full bloom they defy description.You can never have too many sunflowers! The teddy-bears are my favorites.
I have a small patch of sunflowers, but had to yank a bunch so my other flowers in the butterfly garden could be seen and get some sun so I gave those to the neighbor. I have grown them for a few years now, but was never able to collect any seeds as the finches and sparrows ate them fast as they can. I wonder how anyone can harvest the seeds when birds eat them so fast!
Sunflowers, as I have observed from the pitlanngs of a Swiss friend,always drop some of their seeds into the garden soil beneath them, in front of her windows. Likely, the birds dislodge them. So it is a perpetual cycle. To avoid this, I plant Girasole instead, the Jerusalem artichoke, or “Native American artichoke” a tuber produced in the soil beneath the towering flower stalks that turn toward the sun. These again are never completely removed no matter what you think about having taken out every last one of them. They keep on recycling and actually growing larger. They are a recommended food for diabetics.
Sunflowers are not only pretty and brngis you hope, but sunflower seeds are good for you. Have a couple of bites of them will definitely do you good. Weddings and sunflowers are cool combination.
I had some precious sunflower seeds from a friend that I sowed on the ground. The next morning, I heard some happy, chirping sounds. I thought I would be overjoyed to see birds on my front yard but I had a jaw-dropping surprise. I found that almost all the seeds were gone, only empty shells left-behind! Anyway, I thank the birds for teaching me a valuable lesson. So, I’m glad it filled their empty stomachs. The funny thing is that they didn’t like the bird seeds I bought from a petshop.
I planted sevarel packets of these Sunny flowers and enjoyed them this past summer. Mine ended up being of the smaller variety and they gave me their sweet yellow smiles throughout the later summer on my patio ..thanks Albert .. I think it’s a good idea to soak them over night first and plant them in a large enough container to handle a good root system.
I think a horse got into my garden and ate the tops off my sunflower seedlings (they were about 6 inches tall). Will they grow or are we done for the summer?
I’ve had similar problems with a pig. If they are a multi-headed variety then potentially they may produce some side shoots which have flowers on them but otherwise I think you may be done with regards to seeing any blooms this year.
Yeah! 7ft tall? Same here buddy! Don’t worry the flower will come out! The spikes are already showing up on mine, so the flower is almost here! I’m lovin it.
Mine are well over 9ft and still not flower either I’m starting to wonder if there ever going to get anything I have 10 plants and none show any blooms
Sunflowers flourish with regular watering although if they get too much and are sat in standing water it can cause their stems to flop. They are also tolerant of dry conditions if you aren’t able to give them a regular drink.
My sunflowers have bloomed & are looking great!! But, I do have a question…when they bloom & start to shrivel up, what is my next move? Do I take that head off? Leave it to do what it’s going to do naturally? I don’t want the whole thing to shrivel up & I’m unsure of what to do.
Wait until the back of the heads turn yellow. Then snip the heads off and put them in an airy location to dry out for a week or two. Once they have dried out it is easier to get the seeds out if you’d like to save them to plant in the next year. Or you could just leave them out for the birds to snack on. Take a look at our harvesting guide for more information.
The link for more information has been removed. Are the remaining stalks also cut back or
pulled?… I have sunflowers growing in a planters. And was planning to plant new seeds where plants have bloomed and dried down.
BUGS!
They’re black, about a half inch long, maybe a quarter inch thick and they fly. They swarmed my sunflowers, the whole plant and were having the buffet of their little lives. I got rid of them, but What are they?
Hi Donna I am not sure where you live but I am in the uk and my sunflowers always have ants crawling up them to get to the Aphids that I keep having to wipe away. Now in an ant colony here anyway we have flying ants and this is what these little pests sounds like, they are bigger than normal ants. Have a look on google images for flying ants and see if they look the same. If so you can get some ant powder and sprinkle it around the nest just look around you will soon see where they are coming from. I have to put boiling hot water down there because of my dogs as I am not sure if the powder is animal or child friendly. Good luck 🙂
I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem. 🙂
If my sunflower is not fully finished but you could see the seeds under neath the stuff on top of the sunflower. If I rub the top of the head will it kill my sunflower and stop it from growing?
Hi Veronica. Rubbing the old florets off to expose the seeds won’t do it any harm. In fact if it rains, leaving the old florets on can sometimes cause the head to get soggy which can attract mould. I’d wait until the back of the flower head turns yellow before chopping it off and harvesting the seeds though.
I have large bags of empty sunflower seed shells from feeding my backyards birds throughout the year. What, if anything, would they be good to be used for or should they just be dumped in the garbage?
Keep in mind, sunflower seed shells are allelopathic (they inhibit plant growth/germination). You could use them mixed with mulch for walkways and such, but I would not mix them in compost that you intend to use as soil amendment.
You could use them to prevent slugs from coming around the plants. Just put them around as a barrier.
Hi. We started our sunflowers in a ziplock bag and now they are about 3-4 inches tall. There are 3 seedlings but they are only 1-2 inches away from each other.. how do I transplant them without damaging the roots? Thanks 🙂
It is best to hold them by a leaf and prize them gently from the soil with a pencil from underneath to lift them. You should then be able to drop them in to your new hole with the roots intact.
Keep the babies inside or in the shade for a while until they harden a bit, then gradually put them out in the sun for more hours each day. Once they are strong just let ’em grow!
Need help please!! I have aphids on my sunflowers. I am so confused on what to use to kill them. I made the solution in consentrate of saffron oil and dishsoap but after spraying once on my plants and leaves hey have started to droop so quit right away. Are here any other home remedies I can try?? There my favorite flower and I want them to be healthy and grow. Any help would be appreciated.
The best solution is spraying them with water which contains a small amount of washing up liquid in it. When you spray them they will fall off but don’t spray too much as it can damage the leaves in the short term, but will recover eventually as they grow taller. The other most effective and slightly messier method I have found is to use your thumb and forefinger to gently pinch them off the leaves and squeeze them until they pop. Finally anything you can do to encourage ladybirds such as ladybird houses can help as they are a natural predator for aphids.
I have to do this gently with my fingers and the Aphids are so small and nothing to them and no danger and hurting them with soapy water,although that is what my mum and grandmother used to throw on all their flowers years back
I’ve heard if you water them all over with a little washing up liquid and plenty of water it repeals insects, this worked for me, sounds a bit nonsense but give it a try.
I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
I have about 50 seeds in separate 3.5′ pots sowed in cheapy 1£ compost, in a cheapy pvc greenhouse . At night it gets down to about 45degrees and up to 90 in the day . Will the seeds germinate in these conditions ? And how long should I expect to wait? ? TU in advance.
Hi again, im pretty new to all this so sorry for daft qs. My seedlings have sprouted and I’ve just noticed that the pots are probs only about 2.5 inch cubes. Should I transfer them in to the prepared soil now . Or should I leave till the first true leaves form ? My reasons for asking is because I don’t want the root to be blocked from growing by the bottom of the pot. Thanks again .
We lucked out. The first year the aphids hit like a tornado and my sunflowers were GONE in 2 days. Sunday – we took pictures and wowed everyone with our 10 foot high giant sunflowers. By Wednesday, they were GONE. Drooped, leaves all dark green and dead looking. I was told to BUY lady bugs (why does this article keep calling them lady BIRDS???) I planted 146 giant sunflowers the next year because I had THOUSANDS of seeds I was able to salvage from my drooping heads the year before. The lady bugs just CAME. I didn’t have to buy any. But the aphids hit again this year (another 200 sunflowers line the side of my house and my circular driveway) and I was amazed – I even saw the lady bugs mating right on a leaf…so they must be lady AND MISTER bugs! Just lucky, I guess, but they really did their job. Hundreds of them were on the underside of my leaves – a sure sign there were aphids trying to destroy my sunflowers again. No problem with the lady bugs. I tried spraying with soapy water and wasn’t sure WHERE to spray. The leaves died anyway when I did this. SO – probably cheaper soap? Not DAWN 4x?!? I hope I don’t have to do that EVER – with the number of sunflowers I plant each year, it is impossible to spray them all. I also found they grew in clayish soil pretty well – we are retired. Our trees on our new property will never get big enough so I use the sunflowers for some SHADE in areas where the sun keeps burning my flowers to death. But some of the flowers I tried to protect didn’t get ENOUGH sun once the 10 foot sunflowers grew (and they grow faster than ANYTHING in your garden). I could NOT get them to transplant. I do NOT try to grow them inside or in plastic bags first. I was puzzled by that.
in reply to susan ‘ladybugs’ as you call them are known as ‘ladybirds’ in the UK (I think it’s a prettier name for these cute little beetles anyway!)
Which am I better off doing ? Leaveing them or potting off?
I grew my first sunflowers from seeds and just days ago they bloomed when hail hit! Now the leaves are shriveling up and the flowers turning white, what should I do?
My sunflowers were growing well till I started to notice Brown patches like rust on the leaves. I have cut off the rusty leaves and applied soapy water but still notice this infection.
My seeds have grown into a bunch and. I didn’t want to tear the roots. Should I just put them in the ground as they are or is it ok to rip the roots?
I’d definitely separate them by loosening the soil around them and then pulling the seedlings apart by holding on to them only by their leaves.
I started growing my sunflowers around 3 weeks ago they have just started to get leaves on the top but I have snapped the stem,will it still grow normally or will I have to start again.
It depends on the variety and how tall they had got. If they are a multi-headed variety and you are lucky they might branch off and grow out from side shoots. But if I’m honest I’d just start again, they’ll soon catch back up.
My sunflowers have been growing beautifully here in Oregon and then we had a major hail storm two days ago. When I went out today I noticed most of the leaves are damaged with rips and holes in them. None of the plants had flowered yet. Can I save them or are they a total loss?
Someone told me to put vinegar and water on my sunflowers to kill ants…I almost killed them…leaves were brown and crinkled. I watered and rinsed and prayed…They came back, and I just cut off the dead leaves as new green ones have grown. Just stake them loosely, leave them alone and I bet they will recover.
Hello.
I got as a present a sunflower “irish eyes” in a pot. They were fine but I don’t know why the central flower (the other ones have not started to flower yet) is starting to “close” and dry up…
I water it everytime that the soil is dry… The pot might be too small since the roots are growing through the holes under it, should I transplant it to a bigger pot?
Should I water it more often?
I don’t want my sunflower to die!!
Thanks for your help.
xx.
It does sound like the pot might be a bit small if it the roots are coming out the bottom and it is constantly dry. I’d pot it on into a bigger pot or into the ground. It should require watering less then too.
I’ve had a couple sunflowers this year get vertical splits in their stems that are a 2-3″ long and they fall over. Been a few days and the plant still seems okay (except for the part where it can’t support its weight. Is it caput, or can I bamboo stake it and have it supported that way?
We have all critters of all types in our yard. Birds, squirrels and chipmunks. I built a cage to keep the newly sprouted seeds from being dug up by the birds. Plants got too big to keep surrounded by the cage. Something has now snipped the sunflower plants – some at 6 inches above soil level, some at soil level. Not eating just snipping and leaving. Any idea what the culprit might be and how to stop it? By the way the dearly departed sunflowers were in the ground and I used the pepper type granules around to attempt to protect them. I have some in pots that as of yet has not been touched.
It IS squirrels. I have the same problem. Yes, squirrels snip off leaves, stems and buds of many kinds of plants. Sometimes they just leave it on the ground. Very evil those squirrels.
Dogs! My dogs eat the leaves off my sunflower plants big or small. They love them and they know how to bite a small bit off a little leaf, crazy id never seen anything like it but all my dogs eat them and any other part of theplant for the matter.
I was having this same problem. We have small rabbits, birds, squirrels and chipmunks around. I put up a rabbit fence but that only worked for a week, then I put up bird netting. When the plants got too tall for the net on top I removed it and then something still kept getting in and chewing the stems, not eating! So I think it’s probably a chipmunk, they are small enough to get through the medium sized openings in the rabbit fence which are a few rungs up. My guess is they are climbing up until they can squeeze in. I noticed this week that one of my thicker plants got chewed as well, about 6 inches off the ground. Seems none are safe and I’m just hoping most of them survive until they can bloom. I have a bout a 2 foot by 20 foot long bed they’re in. Lots of varieties. I planted them mid May here in the southern USA and they are finally getting buds on them. So exciting.
Wed have a lovely sunflower about a foot tall with a healthy flower head. Well it was healthy until the yellow flower petals started turning white. Do you know what this could be? We don´t think it´s powdery mildew as it just seems colour pigment is dissapearing.
My sunflower seems to have the same issue. I just repotted in a larger pot and all 5 other flowers are doing well except for the largest, which is turning white, and the petals seem to be shriveling up. Any ideas?
I have this one sunflower plant that is around 2-2 1/2 feet tall. It has already started flowering.. and the stem is only about a quarter in. to half an inch thick. Is it too early for it to flower?
My 6 year old and I planted a sunflower seed back in May. It is now almost six feet tall! It has looked like it is about to bloom for the last week, but hasn’t yet. My husband is freaking out about the root system. I did not realize it would get so tall, so I planted it next to the house. Is it too late to replant it in a huge pot? I don’t want to mess it up since it is about to flower.
It probably won’t do very well if you tried digging it up. I wouldn’t worry about the root system. Sunflowers are annuals so it will die after it has finished flowering and won’t cause any damage to the house.
Last year my daughter brought home a sunflower from school for Mother’s Day. A week later we planted it behind our mailbox. It turned out to be a mammoth sunflower and was about 7ft tall with a 15 inch flower head by the beginning of August ready to harvest at the begging of September. We saved some seeds and planted about 30 this year right before Mother’s Day. They grew from seeds quickly just as I expected but once I planted them in the ground in our backyard (in 3 rows about 3 feet apart from each other) a lot of them died and the ones that lived have been growing very slow 🙁 Only one of them is about two and a half feet tall right now and the rest are only about 6 inches!! The leaves are all nice and green and I don’t see any bugs or anything around them. Is there something I could be missing? Is there anything I can do to help get them growing so they will flower and be ready for harvest before the winter hits??!
I have some beautiful Sunflowers the past few days the yellow flower is drooping and looking bad and the stalks have a lot of ants all over them how do I get rid of them. Will they do harm?
Ants don’t eat the leaves, but they “farm” aphids on your sun flowers which can do a lot of damage. I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
i have recently bought a small potted sunflower from a local store and it has two developed heads on it and two heads which have never opened, now the two developed heads are dying off and i can’t revive them. the plant is about 10ins tall, it is well placed in the sun and has been watered everyday. Also, it has some leaf miners on it so would they be affecting the growth? is it beyond revival?
Less water….the sites say water once a week with several gallons of water…you may be rotting the roots…I say leave it alone for at least a few days, and water sparingly at first, to see if it recovers…Someone told me to put vinegar and water on my sunflowers to kill ants…I almost killed them…leaves were brown and crinkled. I watered and rinsed and prayed…They came back, and I just cut off the dead leaves as new green ones have grown. Just stake them loosely, leave them alone and I bet they will recover.
hi I’m new to growing sunflowers. I bought some seeds from the store and they grew to about 12in tall. they bloomed and now the heads are closed, they’re brown and dried up and some of the leaves are turning black. there is also some furry white stuff growing on the stem and leaves. there are new flowers developing but they’re covered with a black substance. are these flowers salvageable? I have a photo but looks like I can’t attach it here… help?
I’m afraid it doesn’t sound good. It sounds like you’ve had the best of them if they have already bloomed. If they’ve gone black with stuff growing on them it sounds like it is time to put them on the compost heap.
My first year growing sunflowers and I tried several varieties, mutihead and tall Russian variety. They were show stoppers… but for such a short time. Why? My sunflowers were planted after the last threat of cold, zone 5
( mid-May). Here it is August 11th and they are mostly saggy and sad. What did I do wrong? How can I be more successful with a longer bloom season next year? Should I stagger the planting time , 1 week ,2 weeks? Perhaps you can suggest a variety that last longer? There is a farm down the road that grows for cuttings. Their sunflowers are still blooming. Help!!
It is hard to say without seeing them. Staggering the sowing over a few weeks can help in case you get any late frosts. Over watering and wind or pest damage can also cause sagging.
My sunflowers are growing some type of brown pieces on the stems and it’s starting to grow onto the leaves and i don’t know what it is and what do with it!!!!! I’m very scared that it’s gonna ruin my little babies that i have worked so hard for!!! :-(((
Is it on the leaves at the top or the bottom of the plant? If they are the leaves on the bottom then it is quite normal for these to turn brown as it grows tall.
I bought a sunflower plant that was beautiful got it home and something has eaten the leaves until they are almost gone. There are new buds coming up but there are no leaves left on the plant. What is eating the leaves like this and how can I prevent it?
The most effective method is probably slug pellets although it’s not the best solution for other animals. If there are no leaves left at all it might struggle to survive.
hello,
I am growing mammoth sunflowers in my garden. Some are very tall and blooming, some are shorter and haven’t bloomed yet. Some of them have had the heads taken off (I find them in my grass eaten up) is it safe to assume the ones who got the heads eaten off will not grow another bloom? are they just done for the season? 🙁
I have planted 6 mammoth sunflowers and they are about 4 feet tall and about a foot apart. They all bloomed pretty heads, but the middle ones began turning black from the center and the yellow petals have fallen off. Now the outer ones are doing the same. Any idea what happened? They are planted along our wood fence, and we have them staked because the stems weren’t holding them up well. We live in Texas, but we water them each evening after the sun has gone low enough.
That sounds fairly normal behaviour, the flowers only last a few weeks to attract the pollinating insects, then they concentrate their energy on developing the seeds inside the flower head.
I’ve been growing tithonia in a large pot and my first flower bloomed and I was so happy…..unfortunately I went out of town for a few days and the person I asked to water then forgot -__- when I came back the petals on the flower fell off. Do the petals grow back or do I have to remove the flower head?
Hello all that are sunflower savvy! I am wanting to grow a lot of sunflowers so that I can save money for my wedding. My wedding will be Sep. 5th of 2015. My ? is, when do I need to plant them so they are ready to be cut for my wedding? Thank you.
Hello!!! I need your help. I just bought a sunflower plant. I put it on the roof top to receive enough sunlight. unfortunately, due to weather conditions, it has been raining for like 2 days already. Is it bad for the sunflower to be wet through the rain? And i also noticed that the petals are like shrinking or i dont know what to describe to it. Please help me im just a new in these kind of things
Hi. I planted some sunflower seeds last week and now they are 2.5 to 3 inches tall. I noticed that in some seedlings the cotyledons have started to grow yellow. In one seedling, even the first true leaves started to get brown on the tips. My seedlings have been transplanted on the 2nd day after germination since they were crowding in the original pot. I water them daily using a 250 mL squirt bottle and for 15 seedlings I consume the whole bottle. What could have been the cause of the yellowing and browning of the leaves?
It is not unusual for the cotyledons and also the first proper leaves to turn brown and drop off. Their main purpose is to start generating that initial burst of energy for the plant to kick on and grow tall with more larger leaves.
A squirt bottle is a bad choice for watering sunflowers because the water gets on the leaves. Since the leaves are “fuzzy,” they retain the water and this rots them (just as pooling water would rot the stem). In short, don’t get the leaves wet or they will brown and die.
Hi Could you please help me, This my second year of growing sunflowers using the seeds from the previous year, they have all been growing beautifully up until now. There are thousands of weevilly type bugs with wings eating the seeds. They are eating every seed ! Is there anyway to save the seeds ?
I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
Hi, I’ve just removed all the seeds from my sunflower head , they are all black with no white strips, have I harvested them too early . They were harvested six weeks after the first yellow petals showed but I never left them to dry out and they were a bit awkward to remove. Thanks.
They might not necessarily be harvested to early as not all varieties have stripes. Many are all black or all white. Did you check our harvesting guide? You will need to dry them out though, otherwise they are likely to get mouldy.
Hello! I was growing a sunflower plant for a university class in a hydroponic system for a few weeks, and after the experiment was complete I potted it in soil and took it home. It was about 12 inches tall and growing beautifully in the greenhouse in its jar of water and nutrients, but it’s been in my apartment for a week and the leaves are drooped, its cotyledons (which were really nice and green) have shriveled on one side, and the leaves are getting a little bit crispy on the edges and little dry spots intermittently. I watered it quite a lot when I first potted it but I’ve been holding off for two days because of fear of overwatering. My apartment is very small and the only sunny spot is a little close to an air conditioning vent. Is it just the humidity? Am I watering it wrong? Is it the transplanting? I don’t want it to die…
It is normal for the cotyledons to shrivel but not the other leaves before larger ones have grown above them. Sunflowers don’t like too much water so it may be that, especially if you don’t have drainage holes in the pot, it might also be that the pot was just too small. Also they do tend to grow better outside.
I planted some seeds which sprouted well but are now getting really badly eaten by some sort of bug I assume. There are big holes in the leaves. 🙁 I tried putting onion and mint out and broken eggshells around the plant to repel slugs but it doesn’t work. I have Russian skyscraper sunflowers. Is there any other bugs that commonly feed on sunflowers? Thank you.
For slugs try crushed up egg shells, recycle and good stress relief to crush them up lol. It cuts into their skin and they tend to avoid. Doesn’t hurt that eventually the calcium should work into the soil(and no poisons).
Hi! I live in a tropical country so I’m wondering if it’s alright to water my sunflowers at night? They were drooping already when I got back home so i watered them at once. Is that alright?
Hi, I have a sunflower and a couple weeks ago it was beautiful, bright, and yellow, and now it’s started to droop and the petals have started curling and going pale, Is there anyway to save it? I don’t want to cut it or harvest it, it means the world to me, please help if you can!
Unfortunately Sunflowers don’t last forever, and inevitably they all go this way. Don’t despair though, look at our page about how to harvest the seeds and then grow even more next year!
I’m in the middle of saving my sunflower from dying. The petals are falling off, the leaves get limpy. I just can’t figure out what it needs. The plant looks dry, but the soil is still moist. It doesn’t look healthy. Help 🙁
HI, we have planted our sunflower seeds a few weeks ago, they have just started to shoot from the ground. unfortunately our small son ripped the top off the small p[lant, wrill they still grow a flower?
Hi I have 6 2-week ild sunflower seedlings and they are currently growing their third set of true leaves. However I noticed that 2 of the seedlings have vertical splits in the stem, I think exposing their ‘insides’, starting from the base of the stem for about 2-3 inches. The seedleaves are alo starting to yellow. Is this normal? The other seedlings didn’t split.
Yes, that can happen if they are greedy and consume a lot of water quickly. You could try holding them together with a can and some velcro garden ties.
Join us and plant sunflowers for global day for hope!
The International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression (iFred) welcomes and invites your participation in our first annual Global Day for Hope on Saturday May 2, 2015. The day will be filled with sunflower plantings worldwide to support the 350 million people living with the treatable disease of depression. People from all corners of the globe are invited to join the movement by planting sunflowers in their own communities and to unite on social media in an empowering, international symbol of hope.
There are many ways to support Global Day for Hope:
Plant Sunflowers: Plant one, plant a garden, get friends and community involved and celebrate HOPE together.
Wear Yellow: Yellow is the color of the joy and happiness we feel when depression is successfully treated.
Share, Share, Share: Post, tweet, or share a photo on social media. Shine your light on hope and use the hashtags #HOPE2015 and #PLANTHOPE and be sure to tag us @ifredorg. We welcome you to join our facebook event. https://www.facebook.com/events/789426874484368/
Let us know!: Let us know where you will be planting and we will add you to our Global Day for Hope map.
Using sunflowers—the international symbol of hope for depression— iFred’s Global Day for Hope will beautifully amplify the organization’s mission to shine a positive light on depression and eliminate the stigma associated with the disease through prevention, research and education. Global Day for Hope will bloom worldwide with plantings in Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Colorado, South America, Nepal, Germany and more.
my plant’s leaves are like swiss cheese. planted w/tomatoes & lettuce. nothing else was attacked. aphids? can i use Take Down on them? will that destroy the plants?
Yes, sounds like Aphids to me. I’ve heard an effective method of dealing with aphids is mixing some garlic with water and then spraying it on the affected areas. Let me know how you get on.
They can do a lot of damage…I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
I think my sunflower is dying the leaves are crumpled and its crisp the petals are falling what should i do? I live in a tropical area so I frequently water my sunflowers however there is no change in appearance.
hi, ive planted some kong f1s from seed, how long do they take till the first 2 leaves appear? and what are the ideal conditions for them? i planted some russian giants at the same time and they are 3 inches tall already.
They should just take between 2 and 3 weeks. Some varieties can be quicker than others, they shouldn’t be much more than a weeks difference between them appearing though. Try sowing some more if they’ve not appeared yet.
Im bought sunflower seed and plant it in the pot. Now is already open and petals looks great.i love it.and now,should I take it out from pot and plant it on the ground for good growing and become taller and stronger?thanks.
May I ask somemore..when transferring the sunflower,is it need pour some water in the pot to let the soil bit moist then can easier to put it out from pot?because im worry wil damage the roots..thanks..
May I ask is it sunflower plant at pot more low risk face threatening by slugs or plant it on the ground?because I want plant it on the ground..thanks..
Hi.my sunflower’s petals already turn brown in color n almost gone.but its has multi-heads too..looks great.but stil small . My problem now is ..recently I saw many ants come and eat the head which’s already turn to brown color.i haven’t cut the head seem the head stil in green color.i want save the seeds for next year.but I worry the ants wil eat the seed..so,is it I need cut off the head?is it the seeds will eaten by ants?please help me.i don’t want lost mine sunflower..thanks.
I’ve not heard of ants eating sunflower seeds before. You could try putting a paper bag over the head and tying it tight around the stem to try and keep them out and allowing the head to finish making the seeds for you to keep.
Thanks so much on your advice.. you help me a lot…
Ants are probably “farming” aphids on your sunflowers…I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
I have some juvenile sunflowers planted around my fence. Last night someone came and cut off all the tops! I am so upset about it and am wondering if they will still flower this summer. Please any info you have will be helpful.
I think it is unlikely you will get anything now. The only hope is that if they are one of the multi-headed varieties, they may grow some side shoots to produce blooms from.
I’m growing one of these in a pot in a polytunnel at the moment and its already about two foot tall after a month and a half, its leaves are growing really fast, and its stem is thickening lots, but it has little vertical growth, I was wondering when it really starts to put on some height? Does its internodes lengthen before flowering? As they are currently only about 8cm.
2 foot is not bad for the first 6 weeks. I’d expect it to kick on now though. One trick people use is to try and force height is to put it somewhere where it will get a little bit of shade to encourage it to put height on quickly to where it will get full sun.
Please, help. I planted a dwarf sunflower in a big wooden outdoor pot and it was beautiful, but yesterday I noticed the yellow petals are turning white. I saw somebody else had similar problem here, which was caused by hail, but we haven’t had any rain recently here in California. It’s exposed to strong winds, but I supported it with a stake and I water it every day and even though it hasn’t been very sunny in the last few days it gets at least 6 hours of sunlight. Any idea what could be wrong? Too much water maybe?
Thanks for your help!
Too much water can be a problem sometimes, sunflowers are quite drought tolerant so don’t mind if they dry out for a few days. Petals do inevitably fade eventually when it gets towards the end of its life, but you should normally get a few good weeks of it in its prime.
I have planted some sunflowers and it already sprout, it already has the 2nd branch if leaves but then my dog ate the leaves, and only the stem remains.. Will it still grow? My plant still is standing yet it isnt growing tall or growing a new branch of leaves..
And also one of my growing sunflower plant(maybe 6 inch tall) snapped but is still attached.. I tried to put a stick behind it to support and it did! But it no longer grow tall?? Will it still live and grow?
I wouldn’t hold out much hope on the first one if it has no leaves as it won’t be able to generate much energy for itself. The second might be ok if it’s not been too damaged, snapped stems can be repaired if supported correctly.
First attempt at sunflowers from seed, got them to 600mm in the pot. Put two of them in the ground with plenty of compost below around and above but they look as fed up as I feel! Looked like they’d aged 30 years in two minutes.
Yep, thought maybe too much because they looked past sad. Got home from work this evening and they’re back looking good! Is it normal for that to happen when transferring to ground?
Put a smile on my face today so time well spent.
I put two sunflower seeds in one peat pot thinking only one would survive, but now they both survived and I didn’t have the heart to separate them. Now that they have 4 leaves and not two, should I gently remove one from each of the pots or will that destroy the roots? Also, what happens if they just grow like Siamese twins?
Hi, just bought a sunflower in a pot that is already bloomed a week ago but now the petals are falling, i read some articles that if it is dying, the flower head should go brownish in color.. But my plant is still very green even the head and some of the buds in the branch isn’t even bloomed yet.. Is it normal? Or is my sunflower dying? Please help me i don’t want my sunflower to die 🙁 thank you very much for you’re time ..
Yes, that is very normal. Multi-headed varieties can keep producing heads over a fairly long period of time before it dies at the end of the season. Even after one flower head has completely finished its cycle, the others can still keep growing. Don’t cut the head off until the back of it has turned a yellow/brown colour if you want to save the seeds from it for next year.
Im very glad! You really gave me hope 🙂 thank you very much!! should i cut some leaves that is already brown? Would it make it healthy? Also when my sunflower is under direct sunlight it gets sloppy for a long time even though i water it in morning, but then i put it in shaded area then water it, it turns to normal.. Is it because its too hot??
You can leave the dry leaves on or take them off, if they have any green bits they will still be generating energy for the plant. It doesn’t sound like you have anything to worry about.
First time growing. Bough potted sunflowers at a shop. 3 or 4 heads on the plant about 8 inches tall. Petals are looking fine but the started turning white. Like a loss of pigmentation.. stem is perfect. Leaves and petals as well. Just a loss of pigmentation on the petals. What could this be ?
hi there…….i am conducting research on phytoremediation potential of sunflower….in my country summers are soo harsh…my sunflowers are about a month old…..unfortunately i m unable to water them for 3 days…most of the leaves got dry….shoots are fine…do leaves regrow again????plzzz assisst….
It is unlikely to grow new leaves to replace the dried ones. But Sunflowers are quite resilient and can bounce back from a short drought even when it looks like their leaves are dead.
Hi there.
Had a numerous amount of aphids on my sunflowers and caterpillars munching them so sprayed them with a bug killer. The leafs have drooped on most of them, some crisp. Do you think they will revive or am I fighting a lost cause ? Any tips greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I do fear for them. If the leaves have drooped from over spraying they may not recover. I’d be interested to find out though. I believe a garlic solution is better than most bug sprays as it doesn’t damage the plants and most bugs hate it. You just have to put up with smelly flowers.
Just leave them alone and don’t overwater them…someone told me to put vinegar and water on my sunflowers to kill ants…I almost killed the sunflowers…leaves were brown and crinkled. I watered and rinsed and prayed…They came back, and I just cut off the dead leaves as new green ones have grown. Just stake them loosely, leave them alone and I bet they will recover. Instead of toxic bug killer, I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
my son visited the pizza farm and brought home his seedling…he trusted me to look after it when gone to school…
He put it on the roof of the van and it fell off out of the cup it was in.
I scraped up soil and root and the head of it only to feel like a poopyhead when I had to tell him the head separated from the root…my question is can we throw a ‘ spitz flower seed ‘ in the soil an will it grow ?
I think you’d be better off getting a packet of normal sunflower seeds for planting, rather ones which have been processed for eating. They are not expensive.
Hi I have a sunflower I bought a few weeks ago. It is thriving well in a large pot. What I would like to know is do I remove the healthy second third and fourth buds that are developing under the main flower head. They look too good to destroy!
I had a sunflower plant I bought and when I removed it from.the pot and planted it in the ground my dads girl friend accidentally dropped the shovel on it and we kind of heard a Crack. Now it’s been a week and some of its flowers are kind of droopy looking and not fully opening. I can see lots of new blooms but can’t tell if they are opening or if everything has kind of stalled aND stopped growing. Not sure what to do
I am growing sunflower from seeds. One of them is ready about 5″ tall and some of the leaves are getting black spots, kind of large. I’m not sure what’s wrong with it. Can anyone help!
I planted 3 mammoth sunflower seedlings in the ground in my garden about 6-8 weeks ago. They are now about 5.5-6 feet tall, and two of them are doing great with continuous new leaf growth at the top. The third plant is about 2/3 the height of the other two and the new leaves at the top have all shriveled up and died. The lower leaves are still big and healthy. I’m just concerned that this plant will not make it if it can’t grow any more, or possibly will not be able to flower because it seems like nothing can grow at the top of the plant. It’s in a fairly sunny spot, and like I said, the other plants are doing very well. They are primarily watered by drip twice/week and hand watered by me maybe once a week if they seem droopy. Any thoughts as to why the third plant seems not to be able to produce leaves at the top any more? Thank you! I’m fairly new to gardening. (San Francisco Bay Area, California)
It is hard to say exactly without seeing it. It is possibly it has had some pest damage at the top from insects or slugs which is causing it to struggle to grow.
My kids and I started plants from seeds (indoors) early this year (3.6m & 4.6m varieties), and they’ve been outside for about a month now. Now that they’re about 1m tall the leaves are starting to curl and get tough, but only on the plants that have ants. I have checked for aphids, but don’t see any sign of them, so I’m not sure what is happening. Please help!
The ants are probably “farming” aphids, which can do a lot of damage to your plants…I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
hello, well i planted about 12 sunflowers all were growing so well, that is until a deer came late one night and ate the tops of all of them.. there were only a foot or 2… Now 3 of the flowers managed to pull through.. the others still chopped and not growing. the three that are growing are now 3 or 4 foot and look great but my question is WILL MY SUN FLOWERS STILL FLOWER IF THEY WERE BITTEN EARLY IN THERE GROWING STAGES?
I have Southern armyworms destroying the leaves on my sunflowers. Is there an effective way to get them to go away or kill them without harming my flowers? My flowers are all blooming except my teddy bear sunflowers which are being eaten the most. 🙁
I planted some flowers a couple months ago and they’re getting pretty tall. I’ve noticed there’s a couple spots of brown around some leaves and there’s little white bugs that fly off every time I water. What should I do about the bugs? Should I cut off the brown leaves ? Lovely site by the way!
I’d leave the leaves on if they still have enough green on them. Treating the bugs depends on what they are. If they are aphids you could try spraying them with a garlic solution.
Some one ate my Sunflowers…I think the squirrels. They are not in good shape. Will I lose them? Can I cut them all back? Or just give up? Thanks for any input
So I bought two sunflowers that were already grown and had some flowers already out on them. It’s been about a month or so and gradually overtime, the yellow color started to fade and the petals started to wither. I’ve been watering them and usually water in the evening. So what exactly should I do now? Should I just wait till next year and try again? These are my first plants and I don’t think I did a good job in keeping them alive. They still look alive I guess i mean the leaves are still green but the flower heads don’t look so alive.
Sunflowers are annuals and their flowering period is relatively short, maybe just a few weeks. So, you probably haven’t done anything wrong. I’d get some seeds and grow them from seed next year.
I have four sunflowers in separate 5 gallon pots. They currently range in heights of 3.5 to 5 feet (as measured from above the soil). I noticed what I believe to be Japanese Beetles on their leaves and noticed a few of the leaves were eaten through on each plant. That was a couple days ago. I did notice these beetles (black and metallic green, flying insects) did not like my stargazer lilies that are in full bloom, they are untouched.
The bottom line is that I think I over sprayed the Seventh Generation Free & Clear dish soap and water solution and now the leaves are developing dark gray spots and curling up. Maybe I’m wrong and it is some type of disease. Nevertheless, should I cut and toss these plants in the trash or is it somehow possible they’ll recover? In my only other attempt at growing sunflowers (or anything for that matter), birds pecked the sunflower seedlings to pieces or literally flew away with them.
Having sunflowers grow at all this year was my first “success” and the plants were all healthy until I saw the bugs on them and sprayed only two days ago. Obviously, I am a total newbie and also apparently a black, as opposed to green thumb. Any suggestions?
My husband and I have a few sunflowers that surprisingly popped up in our yard here and there (we did not plant any)! They are quite lovely flowers. However, the heads are now drooping. I was wondering: when is it best to prune the drooped heads?
Also, are sunflowers perennials or will I need to replant seeds each year?
Thank you!
You may have had some seeds in bird food that self seeded in your yard. It is best to prune them when the back of the heads turn yellow. You should find the heads are full of seeds. Sunflowers are annuals so you’ll need to save the seeds and replant them next spring.
Hello! The rain barely stops here and the sun barely comes out too. I am worried for my sunflower but it’s on our terrace and I water it daily but not too much. I’m worried because my sunflower barely sees the sun. What should I do?
If it is raining consistently you probably don’t need to worry about watering it. As for the sun, it should still be fine if the temperature is reasonably warm.
Bees have finished pollinating . Plant is 7′ tall . The head is so heavy it is drooping over. When do I see the black seeds or do I have to do something else. This is my first year. The plant came up all by itself either by bird or inculcate we put down
This is my first time growing sunflowers. I am not sure which variety they are. They are about 3-4 feet tall and have a single 4″ beautiful yellow blooms at the top with buds along the lower branches. The problem is, I noticed something eating the leaves, and saw a couple of small black insects, aphids, I believe. So I sprayed them with a mixture of soap & baking soda. The next day, the flowers started to lose their pedals. They have only been in bloom for two weeks, is this a normal cycle for them to loose pedals already, or did the soapy water hurt them? The other blooms haven’t blossomed yet, so I am hoping they still will? What should I do? Thank you in advance for your response.
Spraying the leaves with soapy water shouldn’t make the petals fall out although the leaves might not appreciate it. The flowers should last in full bloom at least 2 weeks. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, if the leaves are still looking healthy the other heads should come out too.
Thank you so much for the information, I feel much better. I was a bit depressed when I noticed the pedals falling off after having them in beautiful bloom for only a short time :), I was afraid that I damaged the plants. The articles I have read have given advice to “spray the leaves”, so I am confused about where to apply the soapy/baking soda solution? Although I may not need to worry about using it any longer because I haven’t seen any bugs since I sprayed them. The next day after spraying, in addition to loosing a few pedals, one or two leaves showed up with a couple of rust colored spots but mostly they look fine. Thank you once again, you are very knowledgable and helpful!! 🙂
My sunflower got some heads (?) that hasn’t bloomed yet but I notice like their edges are becoming darker. Are they withering even before they bloom? How do I save them?
Thanks. I think I got the wrong word, I think the right word isn’t withering but wilting? Some of the leaves aren’t in complete shape anymore and I read that maybe it might be caused by a fungus or something? I’m worried that it will affect the other sunflower heads that haven’t bloomed yet. What’s the cause of this and how to stop it?
Also, do I need to fertilize my sunflower so I can help those heads that is yet to bloom?
I am new to this so I am sorry for asking a lot. 🙂
I planted my first sunflowers this year, giganitiams I am told. They are over 12 ft tall and looked fine with big bright heads over a foot across. I noticed this morning that one flower head is curling. What could cause this and what might be the solution if any.
I’m not quite sure what you mean but as long as they have plenty of room in the ground for their roots and are well watered, I should think it will be fine.
We have sunflowers in pots that we have grown from seed. They were very sturdy healthy 3-4 foot plants.Yesterday we sprayed them with an Ortho vegetable spray because of some leaf damage. Today the leaves are quite curled and are turning black or tan. We had also moved these plants into our garage due to a wind storm . Do you think they’ll survive?
I recently bought some sunflowers as vase flowers. I
I have had them about a week, they are thriving. Today I noticed a shiny substance in the centre of the bloom, on touching it, I discovered this to be thick and extremely sticky, even hot water and soap, even swarfega does not remove it from my fingers. What is this please ? Has anyone else experienced this, I have never come across it before. There is no trace of insects being present.
Hello! This year I was given a pack of seeds in June as a gift. I know they should be planted April time but I still planted them early June hoping they would ‘catch up’. Now I have a lot of sunflowers at about 10 inches tall. Will they reach a decent height and flower before winter/ autumn comes or is it pretty pointless planting them that late?
It depends where you live, but with a month or so of warm weather, you might not get their full height but hopefully still have some good blooms to enjoy.
I planted a packet of Sunflower seeds and I have these large stalks with tiny white flowers, is this normal? Do they do this before they develop the sunflower ??
I get a lot of ants under the leaves of the sunflower I read where you mix water, dawn dish soap in a spray bottle and it keeps bugs off your out door plants, it is not working what do you suggest?
This is my first year growing sunflowers. I live in New Hampshire,not a long growing season. They have turned out to be the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen! We have paid no attention to them except for watering. We have one that is 14 feet tall with the most amazing flower!! We started them inside in February in cups that we could plant right in the ground. Every one of them has grown and flowered! Not sure what we did right, but we hope to do it again next year. We are waiting now for them to spill their seeds. So,keep trying people, because it is well worth the glory!!!
I have planted some sunflower seeds recently & many have sprouted. But I noticed that as they grow taller, the stems seem to be weak & bendy & tend to lean downwards. Is that normal? Must I hold the stems with something for them to stand?
It may create flowers off other stems but the same flower won’t reflower again. Sometimes they do fold over and close in on themselves after they’ve bloomed. This just makes it a bit trickier to get at the seeds.
Hi, I just noticed that one of my dwarf sunflowers closed in on itself. Do I cut it off? Leave it alone? It’s my first time growing them so I am completely lost.
I have some sunflowers that are just about to flower, the stems are still very thin though- is this normal? I have them supported with bamboo sticks and ties but they are still quite thin. thanks!
Using seeds from a previously successful flower head, I currently have a sunflower stalk that is almost 10′. (Critters got all but one plant). Great height, still growing, already a few feet taller than it’s predecessor. The previous plants produced flowers that were easily 12″ across. This time around, rather than one large flower head, I’m seeing many smaller heads. (A handful of larger heads near the top and tiny ones at each leaf branch-off all the way to the bottom) This has never happened with my plants before. Is this damage of some sort or possibly an anomaly within the seed? If I were to snip off the tinier ones, would that encourage larger growth of the main flower(s)?
Hey my plants are quiet tall now but I’ve growing them inside next to my window there about 4 ft I don’t know what to do coz some leaves keep crisping up but I water it perfectly fine I have 3 but 2 are huge and my other one I grew at the same time is like 1 ft I don’t know what to do but I don’t have enough support for my big ones they bend on the window and the leaves Bend and the plant leans over in the side but I can’t turn it around coz me certain leans on it and it’s scaring me should I just give them away or keep them and save lots of money but food and stuff u will problem say put them out side but I can’t coz my dog would destroy them it worries me I could get cage and stuff coz there is a tiny beginer pot I think I should re pot them but I don’t know how any advise?
Hey thxs I have re poted them there 5ft3 now haha really health they are getting to big haha the bulb is now growing to soon they will sprout thxs a lot 🙂
Hello there. I just harvested sunflower seeds from my garden however I noticed that they are all black and without the white stripes. My back yard gets only partial sun and the flowers were not a large as could be, I wonder if the seeds are not fully developed? They came out easily from the cut flower head but I only let it sit and dry a couple days before harvesting… any thoughts?
Thanks at first for your very nice information. I enjoyed to read your wonderful description about sunflowers.
I’m wondering if you can help me: I have a lot of different sunflowers growing this year. One plant among them came along wrongly. It has to be Prado Gold but this looks very different. And this is the most beautiful one now from all of sunflowers! Therefore I love to know the name, also whether this is hybrid or heirloom.
It look like similar with your photo on ‘Sunspot’ but the center is a bit smaller and petals are longer and curled. Deep yellow and around 2m-2,2m high. Now it flowers at the top 5 heads but at the side are new scions/blossoms appearing.
The center is lime green with gold ring, later it becomes gold.
I have photos, if you have time, I’d love to send to you.
Thanks in adavance
I’m afraid to start the process of harvesting my seeds cause I think that a lot of bugs are gonna get on me! My sunflower is a 12ft with a very large head.
I have loads of large (8-10′) sunflowers that were blooming quite happily…however, last night we had really bad wind and rain which has snapped 2-3 of them and caused the rest to bend rather alarmingly. We are also moving house in a couple of days and are unable to transport them due to the massive size, So, my question is, If I cut the heads now, will the seeds still grow inside them and be ready for harvest, or am I going to have to accept that I lose this years harvest of seeds? We have some smaller plants that we will be able to take, but if possible I really would like to be able to have the seeds from the bigger plants…Thanks
Hi! This is my first time growing sunflowers and I love it!!!! They reached over 7ft tall. The taller stalks have flower heads that are drooping and appear to be finished for the season but I am now seeing some new smaller stalks starting to flower. Should I cut away the flower heads that have died and cut away the taller stalks to allow for these new shorter stalks to grow. I did not harvest any seeds for next year. I’m new to this but enjoying it! Thank you 🙂
Hi. I planted 10 seeds of mexican sunflower in rectangle pot with fertilised soil but it’s almost 11 weeks but there is no flower coming. The stem is still 4 inches tall. And the leaves were starting to turn brown. I transfered 1 of my plant to a small pot and after 2 days it died. What should I do to rest of my plants?? Should I transfer them to a larger pot or replant again? Please help me. Thank you.
if there isn’t any bees in my area do you think i should even try to grow a sunflower?? Also this might be a really weird question but when you want to grow sunflowers do i grow the sunflowers that are bought to eat or maybe people actually sell seeds to only grow idk please please please please help me out i need to grow these for a science project.
No, you’ll need to buy the whole untreated seeds that are intended for planting. Bees are not the only insects that pollinate sunflowers so give it a go!
i thought it maybe overwatering but i dont give them much as i am at the bottom of a hill and get some run off and they are well mulched. I also thought it may have been because they grew really quickly, anyway they are doing great now at almost 5 feet. Thanks for your help
Hi, I planted sunflower seeds late in the season (July) and now they are 7ft tall, each has one main flower but there are smaller flowers budding. Should I cut off the smaller ones so growth is concentrated on the main flowers? The main flowers are not blooming yet, they are about 10cm in diameter. Weather people say we could have warmer weather in next few weeks, so I am hopeful! (in UK)
Hi! So my sunflower is growing big lately. I have one main sunflower that already bloomed and it also has a few other small sunflowers around on the stem. I was wondering if I cut the main sunflower, will the whole plant die, or will it keep growing from where I cut it?
And will the other small sunflowers bloom too?
Thank you.
You can cut the head off, but I’d wait until the back of the head goes a yellow/brown colour to make sure the seeds inside are all fully developed for you to harvest and use next year.
i have 7 huge sunflower plants and they are almost ready to harvest but one of the branchs broke and the seeds are still white what could i do to ripen them .
If it is a variety that has white seeds then you might be alright. But if they are immature seeds, then there isn’t much you can do to make them fully develop now unfortunately.
We grew sunflowers for the first time this year. We had lots of luck and now are attempting to save seeds. My husband cut one of the heads before we looked up the ‘how-to’ on harvesting the seeds. The back is still green and the seeds are still white. Everything I’ve read says to wait until the back is yellow.
Is there any hope for this head? I put it in a paper sack and set in on the porch (temperatures are cooler so it won’t mold, I hope!). Will the seeds still dry out and be usable or will they just rot? should I just throw it to the chickens? I still have 30+ heads to play with so if I lose this one I will be okay!!
Thanks for any information you can give this seed-saving ‘newbie’!!
If it has already been cut, I’d dry it out and then have a look at the seeds and see how plump they look. It might be a variety that has white seeds or they may just turn out to be thin and immature.
Hello, my husband brought home a small pot, probably 3 or 4 inches wide with a small sunflower inside, about 3-4 inches tall, with a small yellow head. The pot has no insert, or care instructions. Can I keep this flower in the pot? In the house? I have so many critters that would love this for lunch.
You can if you like plant cruelty. 😉 Seriously Sunflowers do grow quite big so you will need to repot it into something bigger and it is an outdoor plant really.
hello! My first year growing sunflowers. The plants got 9 or 10′ tall and had some huge flowers. Life was busy so I didn’t get to harvest them when I should have and then I brought the heads inside and put them on paper on the floor thinking they would dry out and the seeds be easy to remove. Instead, a few days later they had mold growing on them. My question is, are they ruined for eating? I think I could use the seeds for growing edible sprouts but not to eat the seeds? Thanks!
Help! So I’m living in Arizona and received sunflower seeds from a 19 ft sunflower. Without doing any research or being an experienced Gardner I planted them in my front yard as well as in a small pot. To my surprise, I have three that have sprouted. One in the pot and two in the yard. Here’s the problem, I planted in late September the end of summer. I want to see my plants grow as big as they can. Will they survive the winter? Is there anything I can do to protect them? It’s still hot here (about 100 degrees) but the weather is sure to change soon. Thanks
My daughter and I planted Sunflower seeds indoors. They were growing beautifully. About 5 of them in a pot and just recently they started to wither. I’m unsure if it’s the amount of sunlight, water or if they need a bigger pot. What do you think I can do?
I am raising a seedling of the sunscraper hybrid. I still have it indoors. It is about 20 inches tall now. I have noticed that it is growing long vines now that wrap around my bamboo stalk and it makes me wonder if it is a sunflower after all. I don’t think I will see a flower since I planted it so late this summer. Does this hybrid grow those vines?
if it’s got vines growing from the base it could be an orchid,if it is keep it out of direct sunlight only water it once a week and put some charcoal dust in the bark and compost to help drainage and fight fungi etc.good luck
i havent done any research prior to planting my sun flower seeds. they have germinated and all, it’s just that i havent expected that a lot of the seeds would be germinating so i put all 25 in a single pot. now i have 20 sprouts in a single pot and im worried that they’d be damaged if i transplant them in a direct soil.
Hey another problem well I can’t put them out side my sunflowers one has a flower the other dosnt the one that dost has no flower yet but the one that has a flower has light green leaves I am growing they’d on the window sil they are 6 ft now I don’t know what to do I don’t think I can take care of them any more they have to over lean against the window or a lean across abit from each other I don’t want to kill them what do I do
When harvesting the flower heads, how much or how long do I need to cut off? Do I chop it off starting from the back of the flower or the whole stem of it? How many centimetres do you reckon? It’s my first time growing a sunflower and I’m loving it! It looks beautiful in my family’s vegetable garden.
Hi this will be my first time to sow some Hellianthus (Big SMile) Sunflower seed I bought from a local store. I live in Manila (Tropical) where growing a sunflower is all year round. My question is what is a reason pot size to plant 1pc seedling? I know these Hellianthus are considered dwarf types. Thanks!
Hello,
I live in Flagstaff Arizona, elevation 7,000 feet. I am an avid vegetable/flower gardener in spite of our short growing season here. Gardening has always been a challenge here but can be done. I am wanting to venture into growing a few Sunflowers to collect and feed seed to my chickens. Most Sunflowers take too long to mature for my area. I am looking for something not so mammoth, excellent seed yield potential, good oil content, black seed, good stalk health. July & August is generally our monsoon’s which can produce gentle rains, winds, heavy down pours, hail or dry lightening. So, I’m looking for a Sunflower that will do well here. Can you help? In average I would say our growing season could be approximately 103-110 days. Depends upon the micro climate one lives in.
I’m not familiar with your area unfortunately but I’d probably go for one of the dwarf varieties, something like Choco Sun or Irish eyes if you can find them.
I’m in Prescott Valley and we grew Sunspot, Zohar, Velvet Queen, Italian White, Lemon Queen, Van Gogh mix, Dwarf Teddy Bear,and Autumn Beauty Sunflowers this year. I planted them June 1st for our wedding on August 27th and most were all ready spent by Mid August. I think any of these varieties will work for you. They all grew very quickly and produced seeds by mid August except for Sun Spot. Sunspot are dwarf, but they have huge heads (bigger than a dinner plate) and seem to be the last to go to seed. If you are interested in Seed Sharing, I’ve got a Face Book group called Seed Savers Exchange Group and I know we have at least one member in Flag who is an avid gardener and all of our members love to help other gardeners and share seeds. Cheers, E
Hello,
I wonder if you can advise when I should plant my sunflower seed to get full blossom heads by 5th of August, our wedding day. Thank you for your help! Your page is really useful!
It really depends on the weather we get this year and the variety you choose. To have the best possible chance, I’d plant a few seeds every week between the end of March and the beginning of June.
I soak my seeds in water for 8-12 hours first (24 hours if they are in the shell). Then I plant them in one of those cheap, thin, 2-3 inch deep disposable aluminum baking pans that you can get at any Dollar store. I place just a couple of small drainage holes in the bottom, place them in full sun, water everyday & they sprout within a few days. Obviously the soaking makes for faster germination but since the aluminum pan attracts sunlight, it ensures that all of the seedlings get equal amounts of sun constantly which helps tremendously! It’s insane how quickly they sprout using this method.
Last summer I grew an amazing sunflower “Russian Giant” variety, I harvested the seeds with the intention of sharing them with friends to plant more sunflowers this year. However, I don’t know whether the seeds are okay or if maybe they didn’t dry out enough. I took the head off once all the petals were dead and left it out to dry for about 2 weeks but I think it got rained on once or twice.
The seeds now seem hollow, on opening them there is a furry coating and one little bit in the middle.
Do you think they will be any good or not?
Thank you
Laura
It sounds like they weren’t dried out enough or quickly enough. This often happens with the larger seeds. I’d plant them but I’d also buy some new ones as a back up.
Hi there, I grew some sunflowers last year and had some beautiful 17 inch heads on them. I even saved one that had a damaged stem (it grew a lump and continued to grow sideways!) So this year I planted their babies but I am a bit concerned about if they will grow…they started beautifully but they have started wilting and going pale. I’m not sure if it is because maybe the compost holds water or if I maybe damaged the stems when transplanting? I’m hoping it has nothing to do with the seeds themselves as I donated a few to my sons class (4 year olds) as they wanted to grow some…I don’t want to upset them all because they turned out to be “bad seeds” I hope you can help! They did live for an few days out of sunlight
I’d probably just tie them to a bamboo cane to give them a bit of support until the weather warms up a bit. You could always plant some more as a back up!
Thank you! I do still have some but I think I worry most for the children’s sunflowers , but I have told them i have more if needed. Some do have support but I think I may have damaged some of the stems as they are really bent over as if the stalks have snapped
Hello
I would like to use sunflower petals for my wedding. Does anyone know if I pick the petals if the sunflower as a whole will still live and thrive? Thank you!
I have some sunflowers and they are beginnibg to sprout out of the ground. I will be gone for a week and a half, in which I will not be able to water them. Will they live until I get back?
Hi I have planted sunflowers in 15cm pots with my class. We have 24 pots and I mixed some fertiliser in the soil for all plants. We planted them 2 weeks ago and only one has sprouted this week! We kept them on ether windowsill in school for sunlight (I’m in the uk) but I’ve took them home for Easter and will place them outside in the sun every day now. Do you think there’s a possibility that the other 23 will not grow since they haven’t sprouted yet? Or could they possibly be a little slow due to some limited sunlight etc? I’m getting nervous now as I don’t want to upset my class when they see only one sunflower has sprouted!
The amount of heat is more important than the light when you are waiting for them to sprout. Just make sure they are watered and warm. It is possible that the seeds weren’t all viable but if one has sprouted there is hope for the others.
I planted 22 seeds all at the same time, about 3 weeks ago. Most of them sprouted within a couple of days of each other, but there have been some stragglers that waited to sprout until a couple of days ago. I’d think there’s still hope!
Having difficulty finding instruction for growing the cute lilliput sunflower.
I received the seeds as a gift, but no instructions or plant descriptions.
I am not sure which type I have.
Excuse me but I need a help with my sunflower. You see, I’m at Malaysia and I’ve been wondering if my sunflower can thrive here. Right now, The sunflower is almost wilted and the middle part of the flower is covered by the grey mould. Can I just remove the moulded part and grow the flower using only it’s lower part and upper part? (Among the 3 parts of the flower, only the middle part is affected by the mould.)
It is difficult to give exact measurements because it depends on the temperature. You just want to give them enough water to let them them totally dry out, and not too much to make the soil saturated.
What would be the best month to plant a sunflower seeds in the Philippines? I tried putting it in a small container with tissue and an amount of water but after 2 days it still doesnt work. I used sunflower seed to be fed by my rats.
I’d recommend following our guide and planting them in soil and using seeds that haven’t been treated for eating. They will take a couple of weeks to sprout.
I started some seeds last week n a warm sunny bedroom. They have grown to about 8 inches in this time. I’m wondering whether to put them in the shed to slow them down a bit. I’ve had to tie them to bamboo skewers with thread. Where have I gone wrong ?
If they are 8 inches they will need transferring into a large pot and placing outside. Maybe in a cold frame, cool greenhouse or cloche to harden them off a bit.
I have planted my sunflower seeds in small disposable cups and they have all germinated within a week. Most of them have grown two to four leaves. Will they bloom or just die out if i transplant them in small containers. Im from India. When can i expect to see the first blooms?
Yes, you should transplant them either into larger containers or into the ground. You should see your first blooms within a couple of months depending on the weather.
There are chances of weed germination. Wind and insects carry seeds too so probably some plants other that sunflower must’ve grown in your garden. It happens a lot. I myself have nurtured weed so many times thinking it was the flower seeds that i sowed. Its disappointing but keep trying.
OK so here’s the deal my sunflowers I planted in huge pot are thriving they are 3 weeks old and I’m shocked at the rapid growth unfortunately the ones in the ground are not I planted same day same soil same watering and same attentive loving care but the ones in the ground arnt thriving as well I’ve staked some mesh netting to assure my cat doesn’t do her business there could that be the problem
Hello
My mother started 3 sunflowers for me last year, they were like my children! lol and man did they flourish! I was so happy because i have a black thumb and this was my first time ever having sunflowers. When it came time to harvest i had no clue how to preserve the seeds. I apparently made the cardinal sin when i (yup) put them in a zip lock bad. I just pulled the bag out and the seeds are beyond wet??? How do you think i should proceed? Dry them in the sun, use a blow dryer lol? Or should i just buy new seeds and start from scratch? HELP……
Thank you so much
Sarah
I know it is late to help you now, but I would still try planting. Sunflowers are perennials originally found in the US. This means that the seeds fall out of the plant then lay outside over a wet or winter like season, exposed to all the elements. The ones that make a proper connection with the soil, will then sprout and grow in the proper season. Seeds are pretty hardy things when you think about it. I generally dry mine thoroughly then freeze them, but that is far from the only method. Truthfully in nature they may not be very dry at all when winter comes, yet they will regrow in spring.
Hi, I bought some Sunflower seeds from Amazon and noticed some people that bought these seeds are saying they couldn’t get theirs to grow. Should I let them sprout in a paper towel and plant them soon after they sprout? These are non GMO seeds. Bought several types.
Hi Again, Sorry, had a couple more questions since this is my first time with Sunflowers. The packages had no directions. I have Tall Teddy, Velvet Queen, Autumn Beauty, Lemon Queen, Red Sun and Wild.
Do I need to stake them? Can I use tomato cages and plant around them or do I need to get some bamboo stakes? Did not anticipate this but read it on another web site. they are supposed to get to 5-8 feet
They don’t always need staking. If they start to droop then it is a good idea to use bamboo canes. You can try a tomato cage if you want. The height can vary a lot but 8 feet is possible with some of those varieties. There is more information available at http://sunflower.tips/sunflower-care/
I don’t think you need to use paper towels with sunflowers as planting them after sprouting can add more stress to them. They typically grow easy enough directly in soil.
Hi there, I’m from continental Europe and normally I plant my seeds in early April. I did so this year as well and I got nice 8-10 cm sprouts (2 leaves) in my pots. BUT THEN we had a pretty nasty couple of weeks (rain+snow and unusual cold temperature – around 5C). Now my sprouts seem to have arrested their growth. Is there still hope for them or are my poor plants doomed?
I have two types of sunflower seed packets- Dwarf Teddy Bear and Evening Sun Mixed Colors. I live in Virginia, where there is some clay in the soil. My neighbor planted a beautiful row of 8-10 foot tall sunflowers that peeked over my fence last year. I would like to plant some this year. He did have an issue with squirrels on the fence. I have a cat. I was considering planting them either along the wall of my house at the end of the driveway, facing south, or along my porch deck (which the hand railing is about 7 foot tall.) the porch/ grill is east of the planting site. Both are located under overhangs, with the porch site getting a lot more afternoon sun and the driveway getting more morning sun. The overhang is only 2-3 foot and high up. Will the sunflowers end up facing east, west, or a mix? If east, and I plant them on the porch that faces west, would they “look in ” on me on my porch (which is east)? Will they provide some shade to the porch?
Cats like to seek out patches of earth to use as a toileting area, they often make a beeline for recently dug bare soil of vegetable/flower beds. It isn’t desirable to have cat feces in vegetable/flower beds as they contain a number of disease-bearing pathogens including those that cause toxoplasmosis (incurable) Effects of Toxoplasma on Human Behavior: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/
Hi, my daughter received 3 sunflower seeds in a disposable cup with soil. 2 seeds have taken. How soon do i need to replant in bigger pots and how big? We live in IL in a 3rd floor apartment and all i have is an outside window seal once it gets warmer. Help please!
Hello, I live in Sacramento, California. It’s my first season planting sunflowers from seeds. I planted them in biodegradable containers with a seed starter soil that can go directly into the ground when they germinate. Unfortunately I don’t have a sunny room in the house. Could I leave them outside? Is it good to use plastic to cover them? I have plenty of planter box space to transplant them too. Should I just let them germinate in there. I will keep them damp. Our weather over the next 2 weeks is mid 70 to 90s with the lows in the 50s. One day of rain in the forecast. Thanks!
I have grown some sunflowers from seed and they are now about a foot high – they are indoors as still frosty but something is eating the leaves – either very small black things or some pale green longer bugs – please help
Hi there! I have planed seeds with my class for a project and they have sprouted very quickly. I put them in cheap starter trays with Miracle Gro soil and they’ve been doing very well! How long can I keep them in the trays before I should send them home with the students to transplant? I want them to see as much growth as possible here without keeping them longer than what is good for them!
You want to move them pretty quickly as the tap root grows very long very quickly so you’ll want it in soil with a good depth for it as soon as possible.
this is my first time planting sunfowers, I’m assuming when the plants get flowers they will be facing the direction where the sun comes up? so that the flowers face the same direction. I noticed that you repeatedly stated that it doesn’t matter which direction the seeds are planted for the roots to take hold. I sure want all my flowers facing the same direction. thanks chris
Never mind but thank you, I found out that they face east but the single headed ones follow the sun throughout the day but the multi headed ones do not.
I am being forced by the city to destroy my sunflowers(25 to 30 blooming plants) the bees are pollinating and the butterflies have start to come around after years of not seeing both. I am being threatened with stiff fines if I don’t submit. Is there anyway I can save them by moving them? I only have to move them a couple of feet into the same conditions(sun and soil) .and since its been an ongoing problem with that 1 neighbor and the city can I relocate them next year when they show up? I have been cultivating them for years so I know they will so when would be the best time? Thank you!
We would like to hold a sunflower competition for children at our library, my question is if we plant next week 16th-21st May when could we expect the sunflowers to have reached full height? I’d like to set a realistic end date for the competition. Many thanks!
Hi! I bought a 12 inch ceramic pot and I’m looking to plant a mammoth gray stripe sunflower. Would this pot be big enough? And also, I heard watering it from the bottom is better than watering the top of the soil. Is this true? Thank you (:
It will be big enough for it to get to a decent size. It may need more if it were to fulfil its full potential. I don’t think they are too fussy where they get the water from as long as it is the soil that is watered and not the plant.
First time planting a sunflower garden here in Massachusetts. I read that the shells are somewhat toxic to the soil. I have two options for the location for the garden. 1. A Vegetable garden that will not be used this year for veggies or 2. Another location not far from the veggie garden that is somewhat sandy where little grass will grow. What are your thoughts please and thank you.
Shells from sunflowers that you’ve planted won’t have any significant impact on the soil. I’d plant them anywhere you’ll not be using for anything else this year.
To keep squirrels and rabbits from eating my sunflower seedlings (planted outside in mulched beds) I took ziplock bags – the bigger the better – and punched holes in them, then took large nails and nailed them into the ground. Nothing has been able to get to them and they actually seem to like the greenhouse-like conditions being inside the vented bags produced. As they grow taller, I’ve been pulling the nails and bags up little by little to ensure that they have plenty of room. I originally did it because I can’t afford anything else, like netting, etc., but it turned out to be a very good idea. Be careful when pushing the nails into the ground, make sure that they face away from the area around the stem, because you don’t want to damage the fast-growing roots underground.
Bought a dwarf potted sunflower from a greenhouse and two days after bringing it home the green leafs just seem droopy. Only one flower has bloomed so far but it seems fine. Also the new blooms appearing seem fine too it is just all the leaves that were just yesterday seemed perfectly fine but now today they have lost all shape. Not sure what’s going on just curious on your opinion.
My kids planted sunflower seeds in little cardboard pots 2-3 weeks ago. They’ve grown to around 8 inches in these little pots on the window sill. Is it time to transfer them into larger pots in the backyard? Is there anything I should be careful of in terms of how I transfer them without damaging the roots?
Yes, it sounds like it is about time. Just try not to disturb the roots when transplanting them and try and hold them by their leaves rather than the stems.
I have a row of sunflowers along driveway fence. Last year one plant had leaves with center area pale and yellowing, starting at stem, spreading out from center vein toward edges and tip. Areas near edges and tips of leafs looked better. That plant matured, but dwarfed size. I thought maybe poor drainage due to hidden rocks on soil, contamination from autos parked other side of fence, or some kind of nutrient deficiency (even though I used liquid fertilizer). This year three plants in that row are starting to show same symptoms. Stopped watering to see if that helps. Any suggestions?
No these are not dwarf variety. Last year planted Ferry-Morse American Giant Hybrid … most grew at least 10-12 feet and looked great, but had very few edible seeds … mostly empty shells with strange red stain inside. This year wanted seeds for birds so planted Lake Valley Mammoth Gray Stripe. Now about 6 or 7 inches tall. Some have normal leaves, about half the plants have the paling (slightly yellow) starting at stem end, spreading toward leaf tips and all the way to edges (toward stem end) on worst leaves. Last year more than one plant showed these symptoms to some degree at first … all but one plant grew out of it. I’m may try letting them dry out till ground cracks, then water them well.
Hello Grow Me,
I think it is great that you are still answering questions. You have the patience of Job with all the repeats being asked; you just keep answering!
My question is about soil. I live in Montana and we had our *hopefully* last frost about 2 weeks ago. My daughter and I are going to direct sow some giant variety seeds this afternoon. I’m not worried about the quality of the soil so much as the rocks! Very rocky out here, and although I’ve dug up most of the egg size or bigger rocks to a depth of about 6-8 inches I wonder about the tap root getting deep enough through the rocks. Thank you
They’ll be able to work their way around most rocks but if it is so big that there is no way around it may struggle. They’ll probably be fine though. Just give it a go!
If all the leaves have gone I think you’ll struggle as it won’t have any way to generate any energy. In particular if the top of the plants have gone it probably won’t be able to recover at all. I’d plant some more seeds just to be sure you get some blooms.
Hi,
I managed to get my sunflowers growing from seedlings and put them out but found slugs having a good old chomp, have dealt with the slugs but is there a way to nurture them to good health they look worse for wear
I have a dwarf sunflower plant. When I got it it had a large bloom and more than a dozen flower buds. I have since cut off the large bloom as it was losing its petals and seven or eight of the other flowers have opened. They are only about 3 inches across and this morning when I went to check on them they had all closed up. You can see the petals but not the center of the bloom. I’m not sure if they’re open back up or what would cause them to close.
No, that sounds a bit unusual. It’s a shame you cut the large flower off as you’ll probably not have any seeds to harvest for next year, but it was the right thing to do to try and focus the energy on getting the maximum out of those secondary flowers.
Hello,
My roommate planted mammoth sunflower seeds in the wrong place in the garden, not taking into consideration that the height of a mature would block sun from getting to the rest of the vegetables. They are only a couple months old, but some are now 3 feet tall. I’d love to move them, but I’ve read they get a very long taproot rather quickly. Is it possible to transplant at this height without damaging the root system? Thank you so much for your help.
Have a sunflower about 5 feet tall. It had a bud on it that looked like it was getting ready to bloom. Came home and it looks like the bud had been cut off. Checked for bugs, worms, anything but found nothing on it or the other sunflowers I have. Any suggestions as to what may have gotten it? It is planted close to my feeders and I have lots of birds including crows.
My sunflower is in a pot, and the leaves are turning brown and brittle with holes in it. The flower itself looks good but the leaves look nasty. I’d send a pic if I knew how.
I have one large sunflower in my garden, which delights me. It is six feet tall and has a good thick stem. A storm knocked it over last night, and the leaves are droopy. If I stake it up, might it recover?
Hi i have a question i bought 6 sunflower pots at home depod to plant them in my backyard. I put them on the ground and water them. First day was beautiful, second day starting to look sad a d now all the yellow petals are deadly. What happen? What did i do wrong? Will they revive and come back?
Did they have full flowers when you bought them? The lifespan of the blooms is quite limited and transplanting them with flowers is not the ideal time.
I was told that if I mix equal parts vinegar and water together, and spray on my sunflowers, it would kill the zillion ants crawling all over them. Well I did it, and now my sunflowers have large brown patches on the leaves, and I’m afraid I may have killed them!!
I’m really enjoying my small Irish Eyes Sunflowers. They are blooming their heads off. They are the first to bloom in the garden so hoping they won’t cross pollinate with any other sunflowers. Is this variety an heirloom that will come back true from seed?
If you take the head off it might make the other buds grow better as all the energy will go to them but if you want to save it for seeds then leave it on for them to mature inside.
Recently bought 2 choco sun sunflowers each one had 1 very nicely bloomed flower on each. their still standing strong probably about 14 inches high, but the 2 flowers seem to be withering away. But there are also about 3 or 4 new ones that are starting to form. I just wanted to know if i should eventually cut all the big flowers that are withering away so the other ones will get more life. can also provide picture if needed
Yes, if you cut the dead flowers then the new blooms will get more energy but if you leave it on it should develop the seeds for you to save for next year.
When I was on the internet, it didn’t say anything about waiting until the back of the head of the sunflower was black?? I clipped mine as I guess what most would say were dead. few to no leaves and hanging over. I put them in brown paper bags and I have them in my office to dry out. I should be ok, shouldn’t I??
I bought a sunflower and when I bought it，it was blooming but，later the petals started looking like it was dead。Should I water it more or does it have too much sun？
Bumble bees are sucking the seeds out of my young sun flowers ?!?!at least that is what it looks like !!! What should I do ??? I’ve been so excited , it’s my first time to grow them , they fell out of my bird feeder , and they are in full bloom ?!?!? I’m freaking out !!! Will the bees ruin everything ???!!!
It is a bit improbable that the bees are taking the seeds. If the flowers are blooming then you need the bees to pollinate the florets in the centre of the flower. The florets are required to be pollinated in order for the plant to successfully make seeds. Don’t worry. 🙂
Hi, This year my sunflowers are not blooming. The stems are between 3-4 ft high and none have blooms. They have daily sun and I have watered them every other day when it was very hot out and they have also had rain. When I mean “hot out”, I waited until the late afternoon when it was cooler to water them. What did I do wrong?
Thank you.
Hi! I planted sunflower seeds recently, and they are about 6-8 inches tall now. I know they have been planted very late, but is there any chance that they will survive the winter?
Thanks!
I planted a bunch of different varieties a few years ago. Everything came up ok. The next I didn’t plant but some seeds must have fallen out from one of the plants. What resulted were two plants that each grew up to 22 feet high and each had about 100 different flowers throughout the summer. So I saved seeds from the biggest one and planted those. What’s com up is so weird. Two stalks are like their parent (20 feet tall and 6!blooms so far but showing about another 50 buds). But others have only one super large flower (no indication of others) some are yellow, some are orange and a few stalks are producing what looks like an albino (middle of flower is super light green, not brown). They all came from the same plant but I didn’t expect this…were they just being cross pollinated with God knows what from the bees?
Very interesting. The first ones you planted may have been F1 hybrids which are two different plants crossed to give a super consistent child plant but then the following grandchildren plants can have all sorts of different traits.
we have grown some beautiful sunflowers. they didn’t stay in bloom for long and we are not sure if it is because we had big storms and rain that shook their petals off. what to do with them now? should we take off the heads? the seeds inside the head don’t seem to have appeared (there are still little flowers inside which the bees are loving). And they were so beautiful we would like to plant more but is it too late in the year? it is now august. but we are in spain. thank you
After the petals have fallen off you should leave the heads on for a while if you want the seeds to develop. You should leave them until the back of the heads turn a yellow/brown colour. You’ll have plenty of time in Spain yet for them to develop the seeds.
I live in California in the san joaquin valley and its very hot. Ive planted many sunflowers around my home and on that has been in bloom for about 2 weeks all of sudden had its petals wilted. My husband waters it every evening and its been doing great. It didn’t get watered 2 nights ago but i watered it yesterday and today and the petals are wilted. Off the same stalk i have two more that just bloomed and it looks fine. This is our first time growing sunflowers
This is my first sunflower attempt. My son brought home a seedling in a plastic cup from school in June. It’s now approx 12′ tall! The flower has just now formed – i can’t wait to see how big it’s going to be!! My question is: once I’ve harvested the seeds (assuming i can even reach them!), do i cut the remainder of the stalk down or let it die on its own? Thank you!
Hello,
My sunflowers came in a pot and are about 3 feet tall and one of the largest one the leaves are turning a light yellow almost white and are drying out really bad.. Only some of the flower leaves on this one not all.. I water it everyday, and the other leaves on the yellow leaves on the other ones don’t seem to be drying out and turning white and hard.. What do you think could be the problem?
Hey, I’m doing a science project on sunflowers and the consequences of excess and too little of its requirements. I was wondering whether you could help me in telling me what happens when:
1. Too much and too little sunlight
2. Water
3. Phosphorus (P)
4. Nitrogen (N)
5. Potassium (K)
6. Sulfur (S)
The flower heads don’t necessarily face the sun. It is the leaves which mainly need to face the sun to generate the maximum energy. It shouldn’t cause any problems though.
Hi from Sydney! Great website. I planted 40 sunflower seeds (short dwarf varieties) in 40 separate 21cm diameter pots (with holes in the bottom). It has been 2 weeks but only 20 of 40 have sprouted. The packet says 7 – 10 days germination. Do I need to wait longer for the rest to sprout or should I assume the seeds wont grow? I used new potting mix, have all the pots in direct sunlight and water them daily. Although there have been 3 days where it has rained a lot. Should I get new seeds and start sowing some more? Is it common for sunflower seeds to not germinate?
It can be common for some seeds not to germinate. The germination rate depends on the source of the seeds but I’ve never had more than 80-90% success rate.
I planted a variety of sunflower seeds this year and the ones that came up have the many branches and grew (6′ or more), have buds that start out green, then turn black, and no blooms appear. The plants are healthy looking with green leaves and no obvious insect damage. Soil was amended with manure in spring and has been compost amended every year. Watering is done when no rain fall for a week. No fungal or powdery mildew is apparent either. Any suggestions? Would love to have blooms…
Hi, I’ve wanted to plant some sunflowers around my house after seeing some pretty sunflower fences around a neighboring town. It often rain here in Malaysia so I was wondering if the sunflowers will survive when put outside of the house in the rain? And does a 15-inch pot is enough for the sunflower’s root to grow? Trying to grow some mammoth sunflowers.
Had an incredibly HUGE sunflower (among many other smaller ones) this year. Wanted to save the seeds but chippies, mice etc. started to eat the seed head away. I cut off the head, put it in some water, & now realize I should have just covered the head to protect it while still on the plant. What should I do now to keep the seeds viable? Seeds appear to be plump but not hardened.
Yes, it is best to protected the head rather than cut it. The head will need drying out now to try and get the seeds ready for preserving for next year, don’t let them grow any mould. Only time will tell on their viability but it is worth a try.
This is the first time I’ve planted sunflower seeds. They came up beautifully and flowered and promptly the petals died. ?? there are seeds in the heads but they are white and don’t seem mature. What did I do wrong? I would like to plant them again next year, they are so pretty!
It doesn’t sound like you’ve done anything wrong. The petals don’t always last that long. It depends on the weather. The seeds will probably still develop inside. Just leave them until the back of the head turns and orangey brown colour and then harvest them.
My Mexican Sunflowers — started from seeds in May in Pittsburgh — are now 8 – 10 feet tall and gorgeous. What do I do now, though, as we are approaching the end of the growing season here? I will harvest the seeds to plant next Spring but what about the roots of these incredible plants? Should I chop them to the ground? Should I pull out all the roots now? Any advice?
Also, do they self-seed in the same area where they are growing now? Maybe I don’t even need to replant the seeds next year?
I’d just leave them, they should die back on their own. Depending on where you live they can be perennial. I’d still save your seeds though to plant more next year.
Hello !
I need some help
some deer ate my flowers, but not the stems
Will the flowers grow back ?
Also, same for my Morning Glory, if i could get some help on that.
Thank You !
my daughter had fresh sunflowers for her wedding.was wondering if there is anyway to dry them to get the seeds?Looks like the were cut as soon as they bloomed.Can I still put a brown bag over them and get seeds?
Can someone please help. The lower leaves of my two individual sunflowers have wholes in them. Does anyone know what causes this and what I can do to prevent this from happening?
I planted sunflowers for the very first time last year just after the first frost. I am not sure the name of the sunflowers I have. I do know they were grown right here in NW Washington. I do not have a green thumb at all and let me tell you, my sunflowers are so beautiful. At first I was worried because I didn’t see anything coming up. You just have to be patient. I planted mine about 1″ down and I put two to three seeds per hole. I am so glad I did because when they got to the point to where they started to bloom, I had sunflowers everywhere. They are also a joy to look at. Such a gorgeous flower indeed.
Hi, my mammoth sunflower is 12 feet tall; and, although I have grown sunflowers before, this one is the tallest I’ve ever had so far! However, some of the others are not doing as well as this one. Some have turned brown leaves dried up around them at the top, but others look as if they are developing although two heads are much smaller. However upon taking a closer look I’ve noticed some have ants look like invading them. My question is could this be causing them to get dark or mildew causing them to get dark; although, I have not been watering them from the top. I have seen some white webbing but thought it was spider webbing could this be a different type of weapon of an insect causing them to get dark and look rotten?
Hi, I’m in Hampshire UK and had a disaster last year with some earthwalker sunflower seeds. I started them off early spring in seedling trays (indoors) and they germinated but when I transplanted them to pots they were about 10-15 cm high and just withered up. This year I’m thinking about planting them outside straight away against a west facing wall. Unfortunately the garden in quite shady. Would this be the best place for them?
If the spot you are planting them in is quite shady they won’t do as well as an area that gets periods of full sun. They need to be fairly warm when germinating and pots tend to be warmer than the ground. It sounds like you left them too long before transplanting. You might be better off skipping the seedling trays and planting straight into pots.
Peat pods may be a bit small. If you want to start them in trays, the root trainers are probably the best because of their depth as Sunflowers tend to have deep roots which always makes them tricky for transplanting.
well I was given a young sunflower that is roughly a foot tall, it’s winter and its experiencing some dark dots on its leaves that are a small fungus, I sprayed it with fungicide and its small bud is drooping, what should I do?
Hello,
I was delighted to find your site because I’m in need of a sunflower genie.
You may recall that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in the Ukraine 3 years ago.
An Australian journalist and photographer salvaged a sunflower head from the site and brought it back to Australia via quarantine where they were grown. They then offered these seeds to family and friends of those killed in the crash. I didn’t lose anyone but had written to the families of the victims and wrote about what happened on my blog and the need to standup against terrorism and hate of any kind.
So, I put my hat in the ring not expecting any but then a package arrived in the mail. I was too nervous to plant them last year but finally got my act together a few months ago. The first flower was more like a daisy and what you’d call the runt of the litter. The next two are better. One has started to wilt and the other is still in full bloom. I’m going to have a look at the wilting one and probably put a stocking over its head tomorrow. My daughter has some expired ballet tights.
If you would like to read about the sunflowers, here’s a link to my post: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2016/12/22/sunflower-a-christmas-miracle/
I would appreciate any tips, although this post covers things very well.
Thanks very much!
xx Rowena
I have white seeds and don’t know what is the species yet. I tried to germinate the seeds in damp moist tissue but still no root. I want to ask whether the seeds are damage ? any tips for sunflower(white seeds) to grow faster?
It is possible to germinate seeds in tissue but it is best to just pop them in some soil in small pots and water. They can take up to 2 weeks to start appearing. It depends how warm it is.
I just brought two sunflowers .they have a few fowers on the stalk and are about a foot high. My question is why are the tios turing white? Am i over feeding them? Is it the miraclegro I’m feeding them? Please help
It’s hard to say without seeing them. You shouldn’t really need to feed Sunflowers, they don’t require a lot of nutrients to thrive so you could lay off the feed for a bit and see how it goes.
Hi i just want to ask something regarding with my sunfloweer head. We got it from a flower garden a man gave it to us. I was wondering if i can get the seed while its not completely dry? Or i still have to wait and let the cutted sunflower head to dry? Thank you so much. Your a big help
You probably don’t want to leave them too long in a tray as they have deep roots. The quicker you move them on the better and the bigger the pot the better.
I have planted 16 DWARF sunflower seeds in individual small pots (indoors). Most have taken and are now two leaves and about 5cm high. I’m wanting to put them in large pots around the garden. Can I put 3 plants in each pot, and when can I transfer them and when can they go outside.
I planted dwarf sunflowers and the seeds weren’t visible. Now after a few days i can the top of the seeds….. Should i push them back in the soil or does that mean they are growing and will be out of the soil soon?
I live in Newcastle UK I have grown sun flowers for many years. But this year I am growing Mongolian giant sun flowers, so all sun flower growers wish me luck,will let you all know how I go on. Take care Geoff
My mammoth russian sunflowers are only 1 foot tall and are starting to flower. Are my sunflowers going to keep growing or are they just going to stay like that and that’s it?
You could tie them loosely to some small stakes to keep them upright until they get strong enough to hold themselves up. Try not to overwater them too as this can cause them to flop.
If something bit off the heads , willl it come back? And if not should I just remove the entire stalk and plant another seed? Also, when the leaves turn brown, I usually cut them off. Will the leave grow back?
Hi, i live in the philippines. And i bought some nice sunflowers with 3 flowers already. Yesterday, after leaving them under the intense heat of the sun, i noticed that the plant shriveled up (i thought it would help putting it there because i saw some websites that say that you need to put it in a place where there is 6hrs sunlight). Lucky for me, after watering, it looked healthy. Do they die if placed in the sun?? Oh yeah. I watered it a lot before placing it under the sun. I did that because i thought it will make it more healthy. Thanks.
They do like being in the sun but need to be kept hydrated. If they are in pot you might want to move them to a larger pot which will hold more water and give them more room to grow.
My daughter wanted to grow a sunflower so we put a seed in to a pot with fresh compost its in our garden the pot is large with the sunflower grow fully in the pot or will I have to re plant it at some point
I cut of the head of the sunflower that’s dried up already so I can plant the seeds. My sunflower is dwarf type. I’m in the Philippines. My problem is the other buds turned brown and I just took them off because I think it’s dead. Will it grown some buds after I took off the dead ones? And there’s one bud that’s starting to bloom but when I checked it today it’s drying up and looks like it stopped blooming? What should I do?
I repotted some sunflowers ( in some new soil with some added plant food) and left them over night inside and in the morning they look saggy. I have put them outside and watered them , should I be worried????
Sunflowers don’t like too much water, they can get a bit droopy when they’ve had too much. Just leave them out in the sun to dry out a bit and I’m sure they will be fine.
Started my seeds in a pot, once sprouted moved to my garden. Now they are GONE. I have a fence around the garden to keep the rabbits out. Do birds pull the new seedlings from the garden?
Anyone have an idea as to why my mammoth sunflowers bloomed a month too soon? Ive had these grow up to 13feet tall and this year about half of them are blooming at only 2 feet tall..
We bought a large pot of sunflowers which we split up into two smaller pots only to find that all of the sunflowers have closed up. They look like they are puckering. It has been several days and we were wondering if there is something wrong with them.
I have 3 Sunflowers, all doing well indoors in large planters in my kitchen window. they are about 2ft tall at present with flowers (One multi headed) – I am wondering if I can move them into my conservatory where there is sun all day. I want to keep them indoors as I don’t have anywhere in my garden suitable for them and my little boy loves to look at them. My conservatory gets EXTREMELY hot in the summer months, will my sunflowers be ok in there?
Our neighbors cut the tips of our growing sunflowers with a weedwacker, and the tips of our growing butterfly bush
And a little bit on our growing cherry tomato plants
We use mircle grow plant food
I know it’ll take then longer then normal to grow
We’re very ferious All the plants are on our side
Praying for a mircle
Hi, Could you help me please? I have 3 sunflower plants. One is about 3ft tall and it had a 22 cms diameter flower. But a squirrel chewed down the flower within a week. The other two plants are over 6ft tall and have buds on them. My guess is they will bloom within 1 week. The buds are much bigger than the one squirrel ate. So i m guessing these could be the mammoth flowers. I would love to see the flowers on the plants a little longer than a week.. at least until the seeds mature.. Is there any way i can keep the squirrels off the flower?
I have a 2ft sunflower and it has the flower head so how long will it take for the sunflower to bloom?
Also my sunflowers have yellow welting leaves does that mean I’m overwatering?
Yellow leaves don’t tend to come from overwatering, that often just happens as it grows. Then length of time for the head to bloom can depend on the variety but most likely around 2 weeks or so.
I germinated my seeds in a paper towel, and they sprouted after 3-4 days. I then planted them following the suggested depth and space. But its been 8 days and only a few have emerge from the soil. Do I still have to wait or I have to plant new seeds/sprouts?
I’d wait a bit longer, they can take up to a couple of weeks to pop up. If you plant some more I’d just try them straight in the soil without the paper towel method this time.
I have been growing successfully for years without any advice, but this year I began to wonder if I’ve been missing any details. It seemed pretty straight forward.
In the spring I make sure the soil is tilled deep with natural fertalizer. Preping the soil is essential for tall hardy plants and plump seeds in my opinion.
My question is concerning the Harvest:
Could it be beneficial to cut the stalk low or just pull it up by the roots and hang them upside down to dry?
This harvesting method works for other plants, as the remaing nutrients in the stalk is forced by gravity to fall toward the flower head. Would this method work for sunflowers?
Going to try it with one regardless and see what happens. Seems like it could work.
I’ve not heard of that before. The head and neck is normally so dry when you harvest them that I’m not sure any nutrients could still get through. It may be worth a try though!
I saved all the seed from my Moulin Rouge Sunflowers last year, and planted them this year, however the first bud to show is yellow, why is this please?.i didnt grow any yellow ones last year for them to cross pollinate.
Moulin Rouge is an F1 Hybrid which means it is a specific cross between two other varieties to create a consistent appearance but any offspring will contain aspects from the grandparent plants so their appearance will vary greatly.
I grew my first sunflowers in November 2017, and now harvesting seeds from 18 giant sunflower heads for eating and re-planting. My 4 yo and 6yo have loved the entire process. I was amazed how big some of these sunflowers grew, in height and flower size (dinner plates!). One sunflower harvested 260grams of seed! Everything has amazed me about this spectacular flower, especially seeing one particular stalk after being beheaded, has grown 2 more small sunflowers! Does this happen? Has anyone else experienced thus before?
Thanks for your reply. I was going to hack them all back after beheading, but after seeing two more flowers pop up I’ll leave them in case the others start reflowering. I assume these other flowers won’t have seeds that can be harvested since they are so little?
I transplanted my sunflowers outside for the first time, they are about 8 inches tall, woke up to find that a critter bit part of a leaf off one of them, will he be okay????
I grew my sundlowers last March 25, 2018 and it’s my first time. Are my sunflowers’ seeds ready to harvest when they turned black? It’s the beginning of rainy season here in the Philippines and I am worried that my seeds will rot. Thank you.
The internet will not tell me anything about how many times each week I have to water my sunflower does the person reading this have any tips on how much I have to water my sunflower I am only in third grade and I don’t know a lot about sunflowers
My seed just started to grow and it has one “petal” to the side while everything else if lumped together I’m pretty sure nd as I transferred it to soil, the days went by as where one petal starts browning up and wrinkles on the top and I’m not sure how to fix that. Please help!!
Hello, I have a mammoth sunflower that was taking off really well (in ground not potted) and now the new growing leaves are very wrinkled as they develop. The color of the leaves is good though. Any thoughts?
My sunflowers haven’t bloomed yet cuz they’re still young but the leaves are being picked at and eaten or something by little birds like finches or something why do they do this do they use the leaves of the plant food it happened last year as well doesn’t seem to hurt the plant but it just looks weird with holes all over the leaves
I am preparing for hurricane Florence and have 2 – 1 flower stalks in a large outdoor planter . The blooms have been spent for approx 2-3 weeks. Can I dehead them without damaging the seed for next year ?? Please help, I love the sunflower so much because it’s my handicap neighbors favorite flowers, so I planted them in my yard so she could see them and was really happy with the output from this 1rst time seed and want to save for next year and have more for her to see :-). Thanks
I harvested my sunflowers and let them dry for 4 or 5 days. I went to try and remove the seeds today and a bunch of worms started coming out. Is this normal? Can I still harvest the seeds?
Hello, I live in Las Vegas and had a random sunflower grow after the summer months it ended up being 11 1/2 feet tall and had a head on it about 18 inches wide. It was fully bloomed with flowers around it and then we got a frost. It was not wilted I had to cut it down very sad moment LOL. My question is I wanted to use the seeds on it. ( this is the biggest one I’ve ever had in over four years) It was not wilting yet and I don’t think it was indeed mature enough do you know anywhere I can find if there’s any seeds on there that I can use for my next year‘s harvest ? I would really appreciate any help. I can send you pictures of the head trying to dry out however it’s been very cold. Thank you in advance Heather schneiberg
Hi New to the sunflower growing scene as I haven’t grown them since I was eleven!
I planted seeds from my organic health shop in three different locations in my garden. In the sunniest and best drained soil spot, four thrived beautifully and I have about fifteen heads. I cut two of the heads off as they were drooping and the seeds were dropping into the ground so I thought they must be ready to harvest.
But just reading the blog i wonder if I cut them too early. They still have tiny florets on each seed which rub off easy and the back of the sunflower is still green.
What do you think? I would just like to know so that I don’t cut the others too early – maybe I should put netting over the heads to catch the seeds?
Thanks for your advice 🙂
You might be fine if the seeds are whole. I normally wait until the back of the head yellows a bit just to be sure unless it is wet to stop mould developing.
I planted red/chocolate colored sunflowers last year and harvested all the seeds. I planted a row of atleast 40 plants with the same seeds i harvested this year and they are all blooming yellow….why?
It was probably an F1 Hybrid which are a cross of two varieties and means the seeds you plant in the first year are consistent in their appearance but subsequent offspring revert to their ancestor’s appearance.
Hi, I recently bought one fully blooming Choco and planted into a garden box outside. It sits in great direct sunlight. We had continuous rain for about 4 days shortly after that, but it has been dry and sunny the last two days. Some the bottom leaves are turning yellow and crunchy. The yellow petals on the bloom are turning white a little bit. Is this a sign of too much water? If so, is it doomed or can I do anything to fix this?
They don’t tend to like a lot of water but the flowers don’t tend to last too long. I don’t think it is doomed, it is just coming to the end of its natural life.
I have bought some seed of the blue sunflower, blueship variety, and I am wondering if this is a hybrid or heritage type as I would like to collect seed for the following year?
Thanks
I adore sunflowers! My maternal grandfather and I used to have contests each summer to see who could grow the tallest sunflowers. Since we both had access to barns and fields of manure, some of those plants got very tall. I have a picture somewhere of he and I standing next to a sunflower that must have been 12 foot tall it was twice as tall as Pappy and he was a 6-footer!
I didn’t get any 12 foot sunflowers this year. I would have palnted some taller ones if I hadn’t run out of space. Coming back from the feed store this week I drove past a field of dying sunflowers. I was so disappointed as I would have loved to see the field in brilliant bloom.
We have a sunflower farm nearby, they process them to make oil. The fields are so gorgeous when the flowers are in full bloom they defy description.You can never have too many sunflowers! The teddy-bears are my favorites.
I have a small patch of sunflowers, but had to yank a bunch so my other flowers in the butterfly garden could be seen and get some sun so I gave those to the neighbor. I have grown them for a few years now, but was never able to collect any seeds as the finches and sparrows ate them fast as they can. I wonder how anyone can harvest the seeds when birds eat them so fast!
once the flower petals dry up and start dropping off, place a paper bag over the flower head, or alternatively invest in some bird netting
Sunflowers, as I have observed from the pitlanngs of a Swiss friend,always drop some of their seeds into the garden soil beneath them, in front of her windows. Likely, the birds dislodge them. So it is a perpetual cycle. To avoid this, I plant Girasole instead, the Jerusalem artichoke, or “Native American artichoke” a tuber produced in the soil beneath the towering flower stalks that turn toward the sun. These again are never completely removed no matter what you think about having taken out every last one of them. They keep on recycling and actually growing larger. They are a recommended food for diabetics.
Sunflowers are not only pretty and brngis you hope, but sunflower seeds are good for you. Have a couple of bites of them will definitely do you good. Weddings and sunflowers are cool combination.
I had some precious sunflower seeds from a friend that I sowed on the ground. The next morning, I heard some happy, chirping sounds. I thought I would be overjoyed to see birds on my front yard but I had a jaw-dropping surprise. I found that almost all the seeds were gone, only empty shells left-behind! Anyway, I thank the birds for teaching me a valuable lesson. So, I’m glad it filled their empty stomachs. The funny thing is that they didn’t like the bird seeds I bought from a petshop.
Always use a burlap cover, mulch or some kind of cover till seedlings hatch and mature.
I planted sevarel packets of these Sunny flowers and enjoyed them this past summer. Mine ended up being of the smaller variety and they gave me their sweet yellow smiles throughout the later summer on my patio ..thanks Albert .. I think it’s a good idea to soak them over night first and plant them in a large enough container to handle a good root system.
I think a horse got into my garden and ate the tops off my sunflower seedlings (they were about 6 inches tall). Will they grow or are we done for the summer?
I’ve had similar problems with a pig. If they are a multi-headed variety then potentially they may produce some side shoots which have flowers on them but otherwise I think you may be done with regards to seeing any blooms this year.
Dear Carla,
That sounds like a do over!
Plants are 7 ft. tall,but no sign of flower s
There’s still plenty of time. It may mean you’re in for a monster!
Yeah! 7ft tall? Same here buddy! Don’t worry the flower will come out! The spikes are already showing up on mine, so the flower is almost here! I’m lovin it.
Mine are well over 9ft and still not flower either I’m starting to wonder if there ever going to get anything I have 10 plants and none show any blooms
Don’t worry, I’m sure they will come. At 9ft+ they could be big ones!
Wahooo! Brilliant thanks
Nice to know.
I bought a pot of sun flowers yesterday but is not sure how much water would be needed.
Sunflowers flourish with regular watering although if they get too much and are sat in standing water it can cause their stems to flop. They are also tolerant of dry conditions if you aren’t able to give them a regular drink.
Nice advice mine is at nineteen cm tall and has eight leaves when will it bloom? I have to show it on a stall in two weeks. What shall I do?
It’s hard to say it depends on the variety and the weather it’s had.
My sunflowers have bloomed & are looking great!! But, I do have a question…when they bloom & start to shrivel up, what is my next move? Do I take that head off? Leave it to do what it’s going to do naturally? I don’t want the whole thing to shrivel up & I’m unsure of what to do.
Wait until the back of the heads turn yellow. Then snip the heads off and put them in an airy location to dry out for a week or two. Once they have dried out it is easier to get the seeds out if you’d like to save them to plant in the next year. Or you could just leave them out for the birds to snack on. Take a look at our harvesting guide for more information.
Dead head it (in other words take the head of just before the first leaf
The link for more information has been removed. Are the remaining stalks also cut back or
pulled?… I have sunflowers growing in a planters. And was planning to plant new seeds where plants have bloomed and dried down.
BUGS!
They’re black, about a half inch long, maybe a quarter inch thick and they fly. They swarmed my sunflowers, the whole plant and were having the buffet of their little lives. I got rid of them, but What are they?
Hi Donna, it certainly sounds intriguing but I’m not sure to be honest. You didn’t manage to take a photograph did you?
Japanese beetles?
Hi Donna I am not sure where you live but I am in the uk and my sunflowers always have ants crawling up them to get to the Aphids that I keep having to wipe away. Now in an ant colony here anyway we have flying ants and this is what these little pests sounds like, they are bigger than normal ants. Have a look on google images for flying ants and see if they look the same. If so you can get some ant powder and sprinkle it around the nest just look around you will soon see where they are coming from. I have to put boiling hot water down there because of my dogs as I am not sure if the powder is animal or child friendly. Good luck 🙂
I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem. 🙂
If my sunflower is not fully finished but you could see the seeds under neath the stuff on top of the sunflower. If I rub the top of the head will it kill my sunflower and stop it from growing?
Hi Veronica. Rubbing the old florets off to expose the seeds won’t do it any harm. In fact if it rains, leaving the old florets on can sometimes cause the head to get soggy which can attract mould. I’d wait until the back of the flower head turns yellow before chopping it off and harvesting the seeds though.
I planted my seeds a few days ago, but I was just wondering, when should I expect them to start sprouting?
Hi Mazie, they should start showing in a week or two depending on the temperature.
I have large bags of empty sunflower seed shells from feeding my backyards birds throughout the year. What, if anything, would they be good to be used for or should they just be dumped in the garbage?
I can’t think of anything particular useful to do with them. I’d just add them to your compost heap.
yep compost or even mulch???
Keep in mind, sunflower seed shells are allelopathic (they inhibit plant growth/germination). You could use them mixed with mulch for walkways and such, but I would not mix them in compost that you intend to use as soil amendment.
You could use them to prevent slugs from coming around the plants. Just put them around as a barrier.
Hi. We started our sunflowers in a ziplock bag and now they are about 3-4 inches tall. There are 3 seedlings but they are only 1-2 inches away from each other.. how do I transplant them without damaging the roots? Thanks 🙂
It is best to hold them by a leaf and prize them gently from the soil with a pencil from underneath to lift them. You should then be able to drop them in to your new hole with the roots intact.
ok thanks 🙂
Keep the babies inside or in the shade for a while until they harden a bit, then gradually put them out in the sun for more hours each day. Once they are strong just let ’em grow!
Need help please!! I have aphids on my sunflowers. I am so confused on what to use to kill them. I made the solution in consentrate of saffron oil and dishsoap but after spraying once on my plants and leaves hey have started to droop so quit right away. Are here any other home remedies I can try?? There my favorite flower and I want them to be healthy and grow. Any help would be appreciated.
The best solution is spraying them with water which contains a small amount of washing up liquid in it. When you spray them they will fall off but don’t spray too much as it can damage the leaves in the short term, but will recover eventually as they grow taller. The other most effective and slightly messier method I have found is to use your thumb and forefinger to gently pinch them off the leaves and squeeze them until they pop. Finally anything you can do to encourage ladybirds such as ladybird houses can help as they are a natural predator for aphids.
Thank you so much. It is good to finally get great ideas. Was really worried about other sites I went to this one is perfect in every way.
I have to do this gently with my fingers and the Aphids are so small and nothing to them and no danger and hurting them with soapy water,although that is what my mum and grandmother used to throw on all their flowers years back
You should try and water how much you think is correct
I’ve heard if you water them all over with a little washing up liquid and plenty of water it repeals insects, this worked for me, sounds a bit nonsense but give it a try.
I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
I have about 50 seeds in separate 3.5′ pots sowed in cheapy 1£ compost, in a cheapy pvc greenhouse . At night it gets down to about 45degrees and up to 90 in the day . Will the seeds germinate in these conditions ? And how long should I expect to wait? ? TU in advance.
Yes, they should germinate fine. Just make sure the compost is kept moist. You should expect them to germinate within a couple of weeks.
Hi again, im pretty new to all this so sorry for daft qs. My seedlings have sprouted and I’ve just noticed that the pots are probs only about 2.5 inch cubes. Should I transfer them in to the prepared soil now . Or should I leave till the first true leaves form ? My reasons for asking is because I don’t want the root to be blocked from growing by the bottom of the pot. Thanks again .
You’ll be able to pot them on anytime from now onwards.
Leave until first true leaves is what the sites say–they are hardy so if they get a bit root bound it should be ok…
We lucked out. The first year the aphids hit like a tornado and my sunflowers were GONE in 2 days. Sunday – we took pictures and wowed everyone with our 10 foot high giant sunflowers. By Wednesday, they were GONE. Drooped, leaves all dark green and dead looking. I was told to BUY lady bugs (why does this article keep calling them lady BIRDS???) I planted 146 giant sunflowers the next year because I had THOUSANDS of seeds I was able to salvage from my drooping heads the year before. The lady bugs just CAME. I didn’t have to buy any. But the aphids hit again this year (another 200 sunflowers line the side of my house and my circular driveway) and I was amazed – I even saw the lady bugs mating right on a leaf…so they must be lady AND MISTER bugs! Just lucky, I guess, but they really did their job. Hundreds of them were on the underside of my leaves – a sure sign there were aphids trying to destroy my sunflowers again. No problem with the lady bugs. I tried spraying with soapy water and wasn’t sure WHERE to spray. The leaves died anyway when I did this. SO – probably cheaper soap? Not DAWN 4x?!? I hope I don’t have to do that EVER – with the number of sunflowers I plant each year, it is impossible to spray them all. I also found they grew in clayish soil pretty well – we are retired. Our trees on our new property will never get big enough so I use the sunflowers for some SHADE in areas where the sun keeps burning my flowers to death. But some of the flowers I tried to protect didn’t get ENOUGH sun once the 10 foot sunflowers grew (and they grow faster than ANYTHING in your garden). I could NOT get them to transplant. I do NOT try to grow them inside or in plastic bags first. I was puzzled by that.
in reply to susan ‘ladybugs’ as you call them are known as ‘ladybirds’ in the UK (I think it’s a prettier name for these cute little beetles anyway!)
Which am I better off doing ? Leaveing them or potting off?
Pot them on if you have the time. You don’t want to leave them too long.
Ok thanks alot I will do it in morning.
When do I start fertilizing the sunflowers? Can I fertilize it with chicken manure? How much and how do I do that?
Sunflowers shouldn’t need fertiliser. If you do fertilise them either use slow release granules or wait until they are a few feet tall.
I grew my first sunflowers from seeds and just days ago they bloomed when hail hit! Now the leaves are shriveling up and the flowers turning white, what should I do?
Hail can be a real pain. It doesn’t sound like there is much you can do with these. You might just have to plant some more seeds.
My sunflowers were growing well till I started to notice Brown patches like rust on the leaves. I have cut off the rusty leaves and applied soapy water but still notice this infection.
Do we place the sunflower seed on top of the soil ?
Hi Ethan, as sunflower seeds are quite large you are best planting them at a depth of about an inch.
how far apart should i plant the sunflowers
About 12 inches is a good distance.
My seeds have grown into a bunch and. I didn’t want to tear the roots. Should I just put them in the ground as they are or is it ok to rip the roots?
I’d definitely separate them by loosening the soil around them and then pulling the seedlings apart by holding on to them only by their leaves.
I started growing my sunflowers around 3 weeks ago they have just started to get leaves on the top but I have snapped the stem,will it still grow normally or will I have to start again.
It depends on the variety and how tall they had got. If they are a multi-headed variety and you are lucky they might branch off and grow out from side shoots. But if I’m honest I’d just start again, they’ll soon catch back up.
Ok that’s what I will do thanks for the advice
My sunflowers have been growing beautifully here in Oregon and then we had a major hail storm two days ago. When I went out today I noticed most of the leaves are damaged with rips and holes in them. None of the plants had flowered yet. Can I save them or are they a total loss?
If the growing shoots in the centre are not damaged then they should recover.
Should I remove the damaged leaves?
I’d probably leave them to generate what energy they can for the plant.
Someone told me to put vinegar and water on my sunflowers to kill ants…I almost killed them…leaves were brown and crinkled. I watered and rinsed and prayed…They came back, and I just cut off the dead leaves as new green ones have grown. Just stake them loosely, leave them alone and I bet they will recover.
Can I clone my sunflowers ?
That would be nice, but unfortunately not.
Hello.
I got as a present a sunflower “irish eyes” in a pot. They were fine but I don’t know why the central flower (the other ones have not started to flower yet) is starting to “close” and dry up…
I water it everytime that the soil is dry… The pot might be too small since the roots are growing through the holes under it, should I transplant it to a bigger pot?
Should I water it more often?
I don’t want my sunflower to die!!
Thanks for your help.
xx.
It does sound like the pot might be a bit small if it the roots are coming out the bottom and it is constantly dry. I’d pot it on into a bigger pot or into the ground. It should require watering less then too.
I’ve had a couple sunflowers this year get vertical splits in their stems that are a 2-3″ long and they fall over. Been a few days and the plant still seems okay (except for the part where it can’t support its weight. Is it caput, or can I bamboo stake it and have it supported that way?
If you tie it to a bamboo stake it should recover.
We have all critters of all types in our yard. Birds, squirrels and chipmunks. I built a cage to keep the newly sprouted seeds from being dug up by the birds. Plants got too big to keep surrounded by the cage. Something has now snipped the sunflower plants – some at 6 inches above soil level, some at soil level. Not eating just snipping and leaving. Any idea what the culprit might be and how to stop it? By the way the dearly departed sunflowers were in the ground and I used the pepper type granules around to attempt to protect them. I have some in pots that as of yet has not been touched.
Unless the flowers have developed seeds it is unlikely to be birds or squirrels. My best guess would be slugs or snails.
It IS squirrels. I have the same problem. Yes, squirrels snip off leaves, stems and buds of many kinds of plants. Sometimes they just leave it on the ground. Very evil those squirrels.
Dogs! My dogs eat the leaves off my sunflower plants big or small. They love them and they know how to bite a small bit off a little leaf, crazy id never seen anything like it but all my dogs eat them and any other part of theplant for the matter.
I was having this same problem. We have small rabbits, birds, squirrels and chipmunks around. I put up a rabbit fence but that only worked for a week, then I put up bird netting. When the plants got too tall for the net on top I removed it and then something still kept getting in and chewing the stems, not eating! So I think it’s probably a chipmunk, they are small enough to get through the medium sized openings in the rabbit fence which are a few rungs up. My guess is they are climbing up until they can squeeze in. I noticed this week that one of my thicker plants got chewed as well, about 6 inches off the ground. Seems none are safe and I’m just hoping most of them survive until they can bloom. I have a bout a 2 foot by 20 foot long bed they’re in. Lots of varieties. I planted them mid May here in the southern USA and they are finally getting buds on them. So exciting.
Looking to purchase some seed.
How do I do that???
I’m afraid we don’t currently sell seeds.
Hi,
Wed have a lovely sunflower about a foot tall with a healthy flower head. Well it was healthy until the yellow flower petals started turning white. Do you know what this could be? We don´t think it´s powdery mildew as it just seems colour pigment is dissapearing.
Thanks
Nikki
Hi Nikki, I’m not sure to be honest. Has it been watered? Are the leaves ok?
My sunflower seems to have the same issue. I just repotted in a larger pot and all 5 other flowers are doing well except for the largest, which is turning white, and the petals seem to be shriveling up. Any ideas?
It sounds like the stem might have been damaged during the repot. There probably isn’t anything you can do.
I have this one sunflower plant that is around 2-2 1/2 feet tall. It has already started flowering.. and the stem is only about a quarter in. to half an inch thick. Is it too early for it to flower?
Not at all. There are many shorter varieties that flower on short, stocky stems from only 1 foot tall.
after thinning the two sun flower plants I was given they look as though they have died their leaves are drooping so is their stalks.
I’m sorry to hear that. I’d plant some more seeds. If you have some good weather they should catch up.
If they’re droopy, you should also try watering.
My 6 year old and I planted a sunflower seed back in May. It is now almost six feet tall! It has looked like it is about to bloom for the last week, but hasn’t yet. My husband is freaking out about the root system. I did not realize it would get so tall, so I planted it next to the house. Is it too late to replant it in a huge pot? I don’t want to mess it up since it is about to flower.
It probably won’t do very well if you tried digging it up. I wouldn’t worry about the root system. Sunflowers are annuals so it will die after it has finished flowering and won’t cause any damage to the house.
Last year my daughter brought home a sunflower from school for Mother’s Day. A week later we planted it behind our mailbox. It turned out to be a mammoth sunflower and was about 7ft tall with a 15 inch flower head by the beginning of August ready to harvest at the begging of September. We saved some seeds and planted about 30 this year right before Mother’s Day. They grew from seeds quickly just as I expected but once I planted them in the ground in our backyard (in 3 rows about 3 feet apart from each other) a lot of them died and the ones that lived have been growing very slow 🙁 Only one of them is about two and a half feet tall right now and the rest are only about 6 inches!! The leaves are all nice and green and I don’t see any bugs or anything around them. Is there something I could be missing? Is there anything I can do to help get them growing so they will flower and be ready for harvest before the winter hits??!
Have you been watering them often enough? It might also be the soil is low in nutrients. You could try giving them some regular garden fertiliser.
I have some beautiful Sunflowers the past few days the yellow flower is drooping and looking bad and the stalks have a lot of ants all over them how do I get rid of them. Will they do harm?
Ants don’t eat the leaves, but they “farm” aphids on your sun flowers which can do a lot of damage. I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
i have recently bought a small potted sunflower from a local store and it has two developed heads on it and two heads which have never opened, now the two developed heads are dying off and i can’t revive them. the plant is about 10ins tall, it is well placed in the sun and has been watered everyday. Also, it has some leaf miners on it so would they be affecting the growth? is it beyond revival?
The leaves won’t be causing any problems. It does sound like it is beyond any revival but I’d keep watering it though, just in case!
Less water….the sites say water once a week with several gallons of water…you may be rotting the roots…I say leave it alone for at least a few days, and water sparingly at first, to see if it recovers…Someone told me to put vinegar and water on my sunflowers to kill ants…I almost killed them…leaves were brown and crinkled. I watered and rinsed and prayed…They came back, and I just cut off the dead leaves as new green ones have grown. Just stake them loosely, leave them alone and I bet they will recover.
hi I’m new to growing sunflowers. I bought some seeds from the store and they grew to about 12in tall. they bloomed and now the heads are closed, they’re brown and dried up and some of the leaves are turning black. there is also some furry white stuff growing on the stem and leaves. there are new flowers developing but they’re covered with a black substance. are these flowers salvageable? I have a photo but looks like I can’t attach it here… help?
I’m afraid it doesn’t sound good. It sounds like you’ve had the best of them if they have already bloomed. If they’ve gone black with stuff growing on them it sounds like it is time to put them on the compost heap.
My first year growing sunflowers and I tried several varieties, mutihead and tall Russian variety. They were show stoppers… but for such a short time. Why? My sunflowers were planted after the last threat of cold, zone 5
( mid-May). Here it is August 11th and they are mostly saggy and sad. What did I do wrong? How can I be more successful with a longer bloom season next year? Should I stagger the planting time , 1 week ,2 weeks? Perhaps you can suggest a variety that last longer? There is a farm down the road that grows for cuttings. Their sunflowers are still blooming. Help!!
It is hard to say without seeing them. Staggering the sowing over a few weeks can help in case you get any late frosts. Over watering and wind or pest damage can also cause sagging.
My daughter planted some sunflowers and one survived it’s about 6 in tall. Her friend came over and hit it and it snapped in half. Will it survive ?
Hi Christy, I’m afraid to say by the sound of it I don’t think you’ll be seeing any blooms anytime soon.
My first year a growin sunflowers. They are real tall & pretty…thanks for info.
My sunflowers are growing some type of brown pieces on the stems and it’s starting to grow onto the leaves and i don’t know what it is and what do with it!!!!! I’m very scared that it’s gonna ruin my little babies that i have worked so hard for!!! :-(((
Is it on the leaves at the top or the bottom of the plant? If they are the leaves on the bottom then it is quite normal for these to turn brown as it grows tall.
it looks like a growth, sort of like a trunk. and it first grows on the stem and makes it’s way to the insides of the leaves and it looks like warts.
I don’t think I’ve come across anything like that on Sunflowers before. It could be something fungal. Hopefully it won’t ruin them.
I bought a sunflower plant that was beautiful got it home and something has eaten the leaves until they are almost gone. There are new buds coming up but there are no leaves left on the plant. What is eating the leaves like this and how can I prevent it?
Without seeing the evidence I’d say the most likely culprit would be slugs or snails.
How can I get rid of them and is it going to kill my sunflowers?
The most effective method is probably slug pellets although it’s not the best solution for other animals. If there are no leaves left at all it might struggle to survive.
hello,
I am growing mammoth sunflowers in my garden. Some are very tall and blooming, some are shorter and haven’t bloomed yet. Some of them have had the heads taken off (I find them in my grass eaten up) is it safe to assume the ones who got the heads eaten off will not grow another bloom? are they just done for the season? 🙁
The mammoth sunflower varieties tend to be single headed so if the tops have come off you will be very unlikely to see any flowers I’m afraid.
I have planted 6 mammoth sunflowers and they are about 4 feet tall and about a foot apart. They all bloomed pretty heads, but the middle ones began turning black from the center and the yellow petals have fallen off. Now the outer ones are doing the same. Any idea what happened? They are planted along our wood fence, and we have them staked because the stems weren’t holding them up well. We live in Texas, but we water them each evening after the sun has gone low enough.
That sounds fairly normal behaviour, the flowers only last a few weeks to attract the pollinating insects, then they concentrate their energy on developing the seeds inside the flower head.
I’ve been growing tithonia in a large pot and my first flower bloomed and I was so happy…..unfortunately I went out of town for a few days and the person I asked to water then forgot -__- when I came back the petals on the flower fell off. Do the petals grow back or do I have to remove the flower head?
The petals won’t grow back, but I’d just leave the plant to do its thing.
Hello all that are sunflower savvy! I am wanting to grow a lot of sunflowers so that I can save money for my wedding. My wedding will be Sep. 5th of 2015. My ? is, when do I need to plant them so they are ready to be cut for my wedding? Thank you.
You probably want to be planting them around April/May time. I’d plant plenty to try and ensure you get some in full bloom just when you need them.
Hello!!! I need your help. I just bought a sunflower plant. I put it on the roof top to receive enough sunlight. unfortunately, due to weather conditions, it has been raining for like 2 days already. Is it bad for the sunflower to be wet through the rain? And i also noticed that the petals are like shrinking or i dont know what to describe to it. Please help me im just a new in these kind of things
Sunflowers don’t like to be sat in water, but as long as the water can drain away and the pot has the chance to dry out it should be fine.
Hi. I planted some sunflower seeds last week and now they are 2.5 to 3 inches tall. I noticed that in some seedlings the cotyledons have started to grow yellow. In one seedling, even the first true leaves started to get brown on the tips. My seedlings have been transplanted on the 2nd day after germination since they were crowding in the original pot. I water them daily using a 250 mL squirt bottle and for 15 seedlings I consume the whole bottle. What could have been the cause of the yellowing and browning of the leaves?
It is not unusual for the cotyledons and also the first proper leaves to turn brown and drop off. Their main purpose is to start generating that initial burst of energy for the plant to kick on and grow tall with more larger leaves.
A squirt bottle is a bad choice for watering sunflowers because the water gets on the leaves. Since the leaves are “fuzzy,” they retain the water and this rots them (just as pooling water would rot the stem). In short, don’t get the leaves wet or they will brown and die.
Too much water… the sites say water too much water can cause root rot….
I would like to pick mt sunflowers to enjoy indoors but I cannot do this as there are so many bees on them. When can I pick them?
You are lucky having lots of bees, but they are very unlikely to sting you. Just cut the flowers and the bees should just fly away.
That’s what I was worried about the bee’s
Hi Could you please help me, This my second year of growing sunflowers using the seeds from the previous year, they have all been growing beautifully up until now. There are thousands of weevilly type bugs with wings eating the seeds. They are eating every seed ! Is there anyway to save the seeds ?
Hi Jane, you could tie either a paper bag or fine netting around the head of the sunflower to keep them off.
I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
Hi, I’ve just removed all the seeds from my sunflower head , they are all black with no white strips, have I harvested them too early . They were harvested six weeks after the first yellow petals showed but I never left them to dry out and they were a bit awkward to remove. Thanks.
They might not necessarily be harvested to early as not all varieties have stripes. Many are all black or all white. Did you check our harvesting guide? You will need to dry them out though, otherwise they are likely to get mouldy.
Hello! I was growing a sunflower plant for a university class in a hydroponic system for a few weeks, and after the experiment was complete I potted it in soil and took it home. It was about 12 inches tall and growing beautifully in the greenhouse in its jar of water and nutrients, but it’s been in my apartment for a week and the leaves are drooped, its cotyledons (which were really nice and green) have shriveled on one side, and the leaves are getting a little bit crispy on the edges and little dry spots intermittently. I watered it quite a lot when I first potted it but I’ve been holding off for two days because of fear of overwatering. My apartment is very small and the only sunny spot is a little close to an air conditioning vent. Is it just the humidity? Am I watering it wrong? Is it the transplanting? I don’t want it to die…
It is normal for the cotyledons to shrivel but not the other leaves before larger ones have grown above them. Sunflowers don’t like too much water so it may be that, especially if you don’t have drainage holes in the pot, it might also be that the pot was just too small. Also they do tend to grow better outside.
I planted some seeds which sprouted well but are now getting really badly eaten by some sort of bug I assume. There are big holes in the leaves. 🙁 I tried putting onion and mint out and broken eggshells around the plant to repel slugs but it doesn’t work. I have Russian skyscraper sunflowers. Is there any other bugs that commonly feed on sunflowers? Thank you.
Slugs are the main pest for sunflowers. Unfortunately slug pellets are the most effective method of protecting your sunflowers from them.
For slugs try crushed up egg shells, recycle and good stress relief to crush them up lol. It cuts into their skin and they tend to avoid. Doesn’t hurt that eventually the calcium should work into the soil(and no poisons).
A jar lid full of beer will distract them from your flowers.
It works around my porch should work in flower garden too.
I live in South Carolina is it to late to plant sunflowers to make a small garden
Ive just planted 4 red sunflower seeds fingers xd
Slugs also dont like copper wire. I use it and crushed egg shells…works GREAT for me 😉
Hey, my seeding sunflower stem turning brown, is that normal? the leafs are still green and everything look fine, just the stem turning dark-brown.
Yes, that isn’t a problem. As long as the leaves look green and healthy I wouldn’t worry.
I bought a pot of sunflower 3days ago. 2nd day it looks like over plant with water. Now it looks like its all dry up. Will it still survive?
I’d pot it out into either a larger pot or into the garden. That will give it the best chance of survival.
Do not move the pot though. I tried moving mine and all that happened was that it started to loose petals.
Hi! I live in a tropical country so I’m wondering if it’s alright to water my sunflowers at night? They were drooping already when I got back home so i watered them at once. Is that alright?
Yes that is fine, they are quite resilient and can usually recover from a short drought quite easily.
Hi, I have a sunflower and a couple weeks ago it was beautiful, bright, and yellow, and now it’s started to droop and the petals have started curling and going pale, Is there anyway to save it? I don’t want to cut it or harvest it, it means the world to me, please help if you can!
Unfortunately Sunflowers don’t last forever, and inevitably they all go this way. Don’t despair though, look at our page about how to harvest the seeds and then grow even more next year!
Which way up do you plant the seeds ? Pointed end up ?
They can be planted any way around. They will know which way is up and down and will send their roots in the right direction regardless.
Which way should the little sprouting be facing up or down.is that the root? I’m new to this.
It doesn’t matter which way around they are, they will right themselves the right way around.
I’m in the middle of saving my sunflower from dying. The petals are falling off, the leaves get limpy. I just can’t figure out what it needs. The plant looks dry, but the soil is still moist. It doesn’t look healthy. Help 🙁
How long has the flower been out? It may just be at the end of its life cycle.
Our wedding is August 22,2015. When should I plant my 100s of sunflower seeds so they are pretty for the wedding?
I’d do successive sowings each week over the next month or so but you should start that right away.
I have a packet of sunflower seeds,Mammoth Grey Stripe, that I bought last year 2014. Will they still grow if planted now?
Yes, they should be fine. They normally stay viable for a good few years if kept in the right conditions.
HI, we have planted our sunflower seeds a few weeks ago, they have just started to shoot from the ground. unfortunately our small son ripped the top off the small p[lant, wrill they still grow a flower?
It is unlikely that they will grow any flowers now. Just plant some more, there is plenty of time.
Hi I have 6 2-week ild sunflower seedlings and they are currently growing their third set of true leaves. However I noticed that 2 of the seedlings have vertical splits in the stem, I think exposing their ‘insides’, starting from the base of the stem for about 2-3 inches. The seedleaves are alo starting to yellow. Is this normal? The other seedlings didn’t split.
Yes, that can happen if they are greedy and consume a lot of water quickly. You could try holding them together with a can and some velcro garden ties.
Join us and plant sunflowers for global day for hope!
The International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression (iFred) welcomes and invites your participation in our first annual Global Day for Hope on Saturday May 2, 2015. The day will be filled with sunflower plantings worldwide to support the 350 million people living with the treatable disease of depression. People from all corners of the globe are invited to join the movement by planting sunflowers in their own communities and to unite on social media in an empowering, international symbol of hope.
There are many ways to support Global Day for Hope:
Plant Sunflowers: Plant one, plant a garden, get friends and community involved and celebrate HOPE together.
Wear Yellow: Yellow is the color of the joy and happiness we feel when depression is successfully treated.
Share, Share, Share: Post, tweet, or share a photo on social media. Shine your light on hope and use the hashtags #HOPE2015 and #PLANTHOPE and be sure to tag us @ifredorg. We welcome you to join our facebook event.
https://www.facebook.com/events/789426874484368/
Let us know!: Let us know where you will be planting and we will add you to our Global Day for Hope map.
Using sunflowers—the international symbol of hope for depression— iFred’s Global Day for Hope will beautifully amplify the organization’s mission to shine a positive light on depression and eliminate the stigma associated with the disease through prevention, research and education. Global Day for Hope will bloom worldwide with plantings in Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Colorado, South America, Nepal, Germany and more.
We hope you will join us in planting #hope2015!
For more Information visit : http://www.ifred.org
Is this an annual thing? Would love to get involved ? 2017
Sunflowers are annuals.
my plant’s leaves are like swiss cheese. planted w/tomatoes & lettuce. nothing else was attacked. aphids? can i use Take Down on them? will that destroy the plants?
Yes, sounds like Aphids to me. I’ve heard an effective method of dealing with aphids is mixing some garlic with water and then spraying it on the affected areas. Let me know how you get on.
They can do a lot of damage…I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
I think my sunflower is dying the leaves are crumpled and its crisp the petals are falling what should i do? I live in a tropical area so I frequently water my sunflowers however there is no change in appearance.
Has it already flowered? Most Sunflowers are annuals so do die after they have finished flowering.
Hi! I bought a sunflower for my Mom (gift for mothers day). Please help or guide me how to raise and take care of the sunflower. 🙂
The best place to look is on this page and read through all the advice people have left. If you have any specific questions please let us know.
hi, ive planted some kong f1s from seed, how long do they take till the first 2 leaves appear? and what are the ideal conditions for them? i planted some russian giants at the same time and they are 3 inches tall already.
thanks.
They should just take between 2 and 3 weeks. Some varieties can be quicker than others, they shouldn’t be much more than a weeks difference between them appearing though. Try sowing some more if they’ve not appeared yet.
When the sunflower is wilting do i still continue to water the plant?
Yes, unless you think it is as the end of it’s life and the seeds in the head are all plump.
Im bought sunflower seed and plant it in the pot. Now is already open and petals looks great.i love it.and now,should I take it out from pot and plant it on the ground for good growing and become taller and stronger?thanks.
Yes, it will probably do better out of the pot. Try not to stress the plant too much when transferring it though.
Thank you so much..im appreciate it.
May I ask somemore..when transferring the sunflower,is it need pour some water in the pot to let the soil bit moist then can easier to put it out from pot?because im worry wil damage the roots..thanks..
Plant it out with the pot relatively dry so the root ball doesn’t fall apart, then when it is secured in the ground give it a good watering in.
Thanks so much..im appreciate it..
May I ask is it sunflower plant at pot more low risk face threatening by slugs or plant it on the ground?because I want plant it on the ground..thanks..
You can get slugs either way but there are probably more living in the ground.
Thanks so much…I got a lot information bout sunflower care..you help me a lot..
Hi.my sunflower’s petals already turn brown in color n almost gone.but its has multi-heads too..looks great.but stil small . My problem now is ..recently I saw many ants come and eat the head which’s already turn to brown color.i haven’t cut the head seem the head stil in green color.i want save the seeds for next year.but I worry the ants wil eat the seed..so,is it I need cut off the head?is it the seeds will eaten by ants?please help me.i don’t want lost mine sunflower..thanks.
I’ve not heard of ants eating sunflower seeds before. You could try putting a paper bag over the head and tying it tight around the stem to try and keep them out and allowing the head to finish making the seeds for you to keep.
Thanks so much on your advice.. you help me a lot…
Ants are probably “farming” aphids on your sunflowers…I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
I have some juvenile sunflowers planted around my fence. Last night someone came and cut off all the tops! I am so upset about it and am wondering if they will still flower this summer. Please any info you have will be helpful.
I think it is unlikely you will get anything now. The only hope is that if they are one of the multi-headed varieties, they may grow some side shoots to produce blooms from.
I’m growing one of these in a pot in a polytunnel at the moment and its already about two foot tall after a month and a half, its leaves are growing really fast, and its stem is thickening lots, but it has little vertical growth, I was wondering when it really starts to put on some height? Does its internodes lengthen before flowering? As they are currently only about 8cm.
2 foot is not bad for the first 6 weeks. I’d expect it to kick on now though. One trick people use is to try and force height is to put it somewhere where it will get a little bit of shade to encourage it to put height on quickly to where it will get full sun.
Please, help. I planted a dwarf sunflower in a big wooden outdoor pot and it was beautiful, but yesterday I noticed the yellow petals are turning white. I saw somebody else had similar problem here, which was caused by hail, but we haven’t had any rain recently here in California. It’s exposed to strong winds, but I supported it with a stake and I water it every day and even though it hasn’t been very sunny in the last few days it gets at least 6 hours of sunlight. Any idea what could be wrong? Too much water maybe?
Thanks for your help!
Too much water can be a problem sometimes, sunflowers are quite drought tolerant so don’t mind if they dry out for a few days. Petals do inevitably fade eventually when it gets towards the end of its life, but you should normally get a few good weeks of it in its prime.
Hi, my sunflowers have little petals. Can advise why? I started fertilizing when the buds appeared.
Some sunflower varieties have smaller petals than others. It probably isn’t anything you’ve done.
Hi, can you help me?
I have planted some sunflowers and it already sprout, it already has the 2nd branch if leaves but then my dog ate the leaves, and only the stem remains.. Will it still grow? My plant still is standing yet it isnt growing tall or growing a new branch of leaves..
And also one of my growing sunflower plant(maybe 6 inch tall) snapped but is still attached.. I tried to put a stick behind it to support and it did! But it no longer grow tall?? Will it still live and grow?
I wouldn’t hold out much hope on the first one if it has no leaves as it won’t be able to generate much energy for itself. The second might be ok if it’s not been too damaged, snapped stems can be repaired if supported correctly.
First attempt at sunflowers from seed, got them to 600mm in the pot. Put two of them in the ground with plenty of compost below around and above but they look as fed up as I feel! Looked like they’d aged 30 years in two minutes.
Did you give them a good watering in?
Yep, thought maybe too much because they looked past sad. Got home from work this evening and they’re back looking good! Is it normal for that to happen when transferring to ground?
Put a smile on my face today so time well spent.
Yes, that is pretty typical.
I put two sunflower seeds in one peat pot thinking only one would survive, but now they both survived and I didn’t have the heart to separate them. Now that they have 4 leaves and not two, should I gently remove one from each of the pots or will that destroy the roots? Also, what happens if they just grow like Siamese twins?
Yes, you could prick one out with a pencil and put it in a separate pot. They will grow better with more free room for their roots.
Hi, just bought a sunflower in a pot that is already bloomed a week ago but now the petals are falling, i read some articles that if it is dying, the flower head should go brownish in color.. But my plant is still very green even the head and some of the buds in the branch isn’t even bloomed yet.. Is it normal? Or is my sunflower dying? Please help me i don’t want my sunflower to die 🙁 thank you very much for you’re time ..
Yes, that is very normal. Multi-headed varieties can keep producing heads over a fairly long period of time before it dies at the end of the season. Even after one flower head has completely finished its cycle, the others can still keep growing. Don’t cut the head off until the back of it has turned a yellow/brown colour if you want to save the seeds from it for next year.
Im very glad! You really gave me hope 🙂 thank you very much!! should i cut some leaves that is already brown? Would it make it healthy? Also when my sunflower is under direct sunlight it gets sloppy for a long time even though i water it in morning, but then i put it in shaded area then water it, it turns to normal.. Is it because its too hot??
You can leave the dry leaves on or take them off, if they have any green bits they will still be generating energy for the plant. It doesn’t sound like you have anything to worry about.
Thank you very much! 🙂
A bird ate all the petals of my sunflower (except three) what do I do now??
You’ll just have to enjoy it without the petals I’m afraid. It will still be able to make new seeds for you to use next year.
Are they supposed to go pointy side up or down??
They can go either way around. They intuitively know which way is up and which way is down when they break out.
The root tendril will come out of the pointy end if you wish to plant that downward.
First time growing. Bough potted sunflowers at a shop. 3 or 4 heads on the plant about 8 inches tall. Petals are looking fine but the started turning white. Like a loss of pigmentation.. stem is perfect. Leaves and petals as well. Just a loss of pigmentation on the petals. What could this be ?
Sunflowers do come in different colours, are you sure it’s not a white variety?
hi there…….i am conducting research on phytoremediation potential of sunflower….in my country summers are soo harsh…my sunflowers are about a month old…..unfortunately i m unable to water them for 3 days…most of the leaves got dry….shoots are fine…do leaves regrow again????plzzz assisst….
It is unlikely to grow new leaves to replace the dried ones. But Sunflowers are quite resilient and can bounce back from a short drought even when it looks like their leaves are dead.
Hi there.
Had a numerous amount of aphids on my sunflowers and caterpillars munching them so sprayed them with a bug killer. The leafs have drooped on most of them, some crisp. Do you think they will revive or am I fighting a lost cause ? Any tips greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I do fear for them. If the leaves have drooped from over spraying they may not recover. I’d be interested to find out though. I believe a garlic solution is better than most bug sprays as it doesn’t damage the plants and most bugs hate it. You just have to put up with smelly flowers.
Just leave them alone and don’t overwater them…someone told me to put vinegar and water on my sunflowers to kill ants…I almost killed the sunflowers…leaves were brown and crinkled. I watered and rinsed and prayed…They came back, and I just cut off the dead leaves as new green ones have grown. Just stake them loosely, leave them alone and I bet they will recover. Instead of toxic bug killer, I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
my son visited the pizza farm and brought home his seedling…he trusted me to look after it when gone to school…
He put it on the roof of the van and it fell off out of the cup it was in.
I scraped up soil and root and the head of it only to feel like a poopyhead when I had to tell him the head separated from the root…my question is can we throw a ‘ spitz flower seed ‘ in the soil an will it grow ?
I think you’d be better off getting a packet of normal sunflower seeds for planting, rather ones which have been processed for eating. They are not expensive.
Can you plant Sun Flower seeds at the beginning of July
It depends where you live. In the UK that is quite late to guarantee seeing some blooms.
Hi I have a sunflower I bought a few weeks ago. It is thriving well in a large pot. What I would like to know is do I remove the healthy second third and fourth buds that are developing under the main flower head. They look too good to destroy!
No, I would leave those on. They should flower after the main bloom has finished.
I had a sunflower plant I bought and when I removed it from.the pot and planted it in the ground my dads girl friend accidentally dropped the shovel on it and we kind of heard a Crack. Now it’s been a week and some of its flowers are kind of droopy looking and not fully opening. I can see lots of new blooms but can’t tell if they are opening or if everything has kind of stalled aND stopped growing. Not sure what to do
If the stems have split you could try taping them up but it doesn’t sound too good unfortunately.
I am growing sunflower from seeds. One of them is ready about 5″ tall and some of the leaves are getting black spots, kind of large. I’m not sure what’s wrong with it. Can anyone help!
I’m not sure what it might be, but if any are really bad I’d pull them off.
I planted 3 mammoth sunflower seedlings in the ground in my garden about 6-8 weeks ago. They are now about 5.5-6 feet tall, and two of them are doing great with continuous new leaf growth at the top. The third plant is about 2/3 the height of the other two and the new leaves at the top have all shriveled up and died. The lower leaves are still big and healthy. I’m just concerned that this plant will not make it if it can’t grow any more, or possibly will not be able to flower because it seems like nothing can grow at the top of the plant. It’s in a fairly sunny spot, and like I said, the other plants are doing very well. They are primarily watered by drip twice/week and hand watered by me maybe once a week if they seem droopy. Any thoughts as to why the third plant seems not to be able to produce leaves at the top any more? Thank you! I’m fairly new to gardening. (San Francisco Bay Area, California)
It is hard to say exactly without seeing it. It is possibly it has had some pest damage at the top from insects or slugs which is causing it to struggle to grow.
My kids and I started plants from seeds (indoors) early this year (3.6m & 4.6m varieties), and they’ve been outside for about a month now. Now that they’re about 1m tall the leaves are starting to curl and get tough, but only on the plants that have ants. I have checked for aphids, but don’t see any sign of them, so I’m not sure what is happening. Please help!
Are the ants damaging the leaves?
The ants are probably “farming” aphids, which can do a lot of damage to your plants…I use a mixture of water, dish soap, neem oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil…they die and it takes them quite a while to come back. Spray in the morning or evening all over top and bottom of leaves and on the stem.
hello, well i planted about 12 sunflowers all were growing so well, that is until a deer came late one night and ate the tops of all of them.. there were only a foot or 2… Now 3 of the flowers managed to pull through.. the others still chopped and not growing. the three that are growing are now 3 or 4 foot and look great but my question is WILL MY SUN FLOWERS STILL FLOWER IF THEY WERE BITTEN EARLY IN THERE GROWING STAGES?
If they are a multi-headed variety then you may be lucky and they may still produce blooms.
I have Southern armyworms destroying the leaves on my sunflowers. Is there an effective way to get them to go away or kill them without harming my flowers? My flowers are all blooming except my teddy bear sunflowers which are being eaten the most. 🙁
I can’t say I’ve ever come across that pest before. You probably want to look for some specific advice on those pests. It sounds bad though.
I planted some flowers a couple months ago and they’re getting pretty tall. I’ve noticed there’s a couple spots of brown around some leaves and there’s little white bugs that fly off every time I water. What should I do about the bugs? Should I cut off the brown leaves ? Lovely site by the way!
I’d leave the leaves on if they still have enough green on them. Treating the bugs depends on what they are. If they are aphids you could try spraying them with a garlic solution.
Some one ate my Sunflowers…I think the squirrels. They are not in good shape. Will I lose them? Can I cut them all back? Or just give up? Thanks for any input
I wouldn’t cut them back, I’d leave them just in case they recover but if they have been badly damaged they might not make it.
So I bought two sunflowers that were already grown and had some flowers already out on them. It’s been about a month or so and gradually overtime, the yellow color started to fade and the petals started to wither. I’ve been watering them and usually water in the evening. So what exactly should I do now? Should I just wait till next year and try again? These are my first plants and I don’t think I did a good job in keeping them alive. They still look alive I guess i mean the leaves are still green but the flower heads don’t look so alive.
Sunflowers are annuals and their flowering period is relatively short, maybe just a few weeks. So, you probably haven’t done anything wrong. I’d get some seeds and grow them from seed next year.
I have four sunflowers in separate 5 gallon pots. They currently range in heights of 3.5 to 5 feet (as measured from above the soil). I noticed what I believe to be Japanese Beetles on their leaves and noticed a few of the leaves were eaten through on each plant. That was a couple days ago. I did notice these beetles (black and metallic green, flying insects) did not like my stargazer lilies that are in full bloom, they are untouched.
The bottom line is that I think I over sprayed the Seventh Generation Free & Clear dish soap and water solution and now the leaves are developing dark gray spots and curling up. Maybe I’m wrong and it is some type of disease. Nevertheless, should I cut and toss these plants in the trash or is it somehow possible they’ll recover? In my only other attempt at growing sunflowers (or anything for that matter), birds pecked the sunflower seedlings to pieces or literally flew away with them.
Having sunflowers grow at all this year was my first “success” and the plants were all healthy until I saw the bugs on them and sprayed only two days ago. Obviously, I am a total newbie and also apparently a black, as opposed to green thumb. Any suggestions?
If the soap solution is fairly soapy it can make the leaves look particularly unhealthy. I’d leave them as they are to see if they recover.
My husband and I have a few sunflowers that surprisingly popped up in our yard here and there (we did not plant any)! They are quite lovely flowers. However, the heads are now drooping. I was wondering: when is it best to prune the drooped heads?
Also, are sunflowers perennials or will I need to replant seeds each year?
Thank you!
You may have had some seeds in bird food that self seeded in your yard. It is best to prune them when the back of the heads turn yellow. You should find the heads are full of seeds. Sunflowers are annuals so you’ll need to save the seeds and replant them next spring.
Hello! The rain barely stops here and the sun barely comes out too. I am worried for my sunflower but it’s on our terrace and I water it daily but not too much. I’m worried because my sunflower barely sees the sun. What should I do?
If it is raining consistently you probably don’t need to worry about watering it. As for the sun, it should still be fine if the temperature is reasonably warm.
Bees have finished pollinating . Plant is 7′ tall . The head is so heavy it is drooping over. When do I see the black seeds or do I have to do something else. This is my first year. The plant came up all by itself either by bird or inculcate we put down
You may need to rub the dry florets off the front of the head to get to the seeds behind.
This is my first time growing sunflowers. I am not sure which variety they are. They are about 3-4 feet tall and have a single 4″ beautiful yellow blooms at the top with buds along the lower branches. The problem is, I noticed something eating the leaves, and saw a couple of small black insects, aphids, I believe. So I sprayed them with a mixture of soap & baking soda. The next day, the flowers started to lose their pedals. They have only been in bloom for two weeks, is this a normal cycle for them to loose pedals already, or did the soapy water hurt them? The other blooms haven’t blossomed yet, so I am hoping they still will? What should I do? Thank you in advance for your response.
Spraying the leaves with soapy water shouldn’t make the petals fall out although the leaves might not appreciate it. The flowers should last in full bloom at least 2 weeks. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, if the leaves are still looking healthy the other heads should come out too.
Thank you so much for the information, I feel much better. I was a bit depressed when I noticed the pedals falling off after having them in beautiful bloom for only a short time :), I was afraid that I damaged the plants. The articles I have read have given advice to “spray the leaves”, so I am confused about where to apply the soapy/baking soda solution? Although I may not need to worry about using it any longer because I haven’t seen any bugs since I sprayed them. The next day after spraying, in addition to loosing a few pedals, one or two leaves showed up with a couple of rust colored spots but mostly they look fine. Thank you once again, you are very knowledgable and helpful!! 🙂
Planted new sunflower. About 18″. 4 flowers. Drooped over the next day. Any ideas?
It could be too much or too little water. Regardless, I’d give it a stake for some support and it will probably sort itself out.
My sunflower got some heads (?) that hasn’t bloomed yet but I notice like their edges are becoming darker. Are they withering even before they bloom? How do I save them?
It doesn’t sound like they are withering. Just make sure they are well watered.
Thanks. I think I got the wrong word, I think the right word isn’t withering but wilting? Some of the leaves aren’t in complete shape anymore and I read that maybe it might be caused by a fungus or something? I’m worried that it will affect the other sunflower heads that haven’t bloomed yet. What’s the cause of this and how to stop it?
Also, do I need to fertilize my sunflower so I can help those heads that is yet to bloom?
I am new to this so I am sorry for asking a lot. 🙂
I’d just make sure it is well watered, it may bounce back. If you want to give it some food, give it a dose of standard tomato food.
I planted my first sunflowers this year, giganitiams I am told. They are over 12 ft tall and looked fine with big bright heads over a foot across. I noticed this morning that one flower head is curling. What could cause this and what might be the solution if any.
I’m not quite sure what you mean but as long as they have plenty of room in the ground for their roots and are well watered, I should think it will be fine.
my sunflowers are 10 feet tall and starting to freak me out. how big do they get
It depends on the variety, over 25 feet has been achieved. 12 feet is a good size though.
We have sunflowers in pots that we have grown from seed. They were very sturdy healthy 3-4 foot plants.Yesterday we sprayed them with an Ortho vegetable spray because of some leaf damage. Today the leaves are quite curled and are turning black or tan. We had also moved these plants into our garage due to a wind storm . Do you think they’ll survive?
Sunflowers are quite resilient. As long as not all of the leaves have been damaged and they still have some new ones to grow they should survive.
I left my sun flower, which is planted in a pot, outside for two days and the flowers dried. What can I do ? 🙁
All you can do is give it a lot of water and hope it recovers.
I recently bought some sunflowers as vase flowers. I
I have had them about a week, they are thriving. Today I noticed a shiny substance in the centre of the bloom, on touching it, I discovered this to be thick and extremely sticky, even hot water and soap, even swarfega does not remove it from my fingers. What is this please ? Has anyone else experienced this, I have never come across it before. There is no trace of insects being present.
That’s a new one on me I’m afraid. Maybe somebody else has had a similar experience.
Hello! This year I was given a pack of seeds in June as a gift. I know they should be planted April time but I still planted them early June hoping they would ‘catch up’. Now I have a lot of sunflowers at about 10 inches tall. Will they reach a decent height and flower before winter/ autumn comes or is it pretty pointless planting them that late?
It depends where you live, but with a month or so of warm weather, you might not get their full height but hopefully still have some good blooms to enjoy.
England! It is nice and sunny at the moment so fingers crossed. Thanks 🙂
I planted a packet of Sunflower seeds and I have these large stalks with tiny white flowers, is this normal? Do they do this before they develop the sunflower ??
It doesn’t sound like you have got any sunflowers, I think you might be nurturing something else growing instead.
I get a lot of ants under the leaves of the sunflower I read where you mix water, dawn dish soap in a spray bottle and it keeps bugs off your out door plants, it is not working what do you suggest?
That should work for aphids, but for ants you might need to look for a specific ant killing solution from your local store.
This is my first year growing sunflowers. I live in New Hampshire,not a long growing season. They have turned out to be the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen! We have paid no attention to them except for watering. We have one that is 14 feet tall with the most amazing flower!! We started them inside in February in cups that we could plant right in the ground. Every one of them has grown and flowered! Not sure what we did right, but we hope to do it again next year. We are waiting now for them to spill their seeds. So,keep trying people, because it is well worth the glory!!!
I have planted some sunflower seeds recently & many have sprouted. But I noticed that as they grow taller, the stems seem to be weak & bendy & tend to lean downwards. Is that normal? Must I hold the stems with something for them to stand?
Yes, this is normal. If they grow tall they often need tying to a stake for support.
Do dwarf sunflowers close and rebloom? Mine look like they have closed and split. Its interesting.
It may create flowers off other stems but the same flower won’t reflower again. Sometimes they do fold over and close in on themselves after they’ve bloomed. This just makes it a bit trickier to get at the seeds.
Hi, I just noticed that one of my dwarf sunflowers closed in on itself. Do I cut it off? Leave it alone? It’s my first time growing them so I am completely lost.
As long as it doesn’t get too wet and start getting mildew on it then it should be fine.
I have some sunflowers that are just about to flower, the stems are still very thin though- is this normal? I have them supported with bamboo sticks and ties but they are still quite thin. thanks!
Yes, that can happen. I’d try making the ties you’ve used to tie them to the stake a little looser to allow the stems to strengthen a little.
Using seeds from a previously successful flower head, I currently have a sunflower stalk that is almost 10′. (Critters got all but one plant). Great height, still growing, already a few feet taller than it’s predecessor. The previous plants produced flowers that were easily 12″ across. This time around, rather than one large flower head, I’m seeing many smaller heads. (A handful of larger heads near the top and tiny ones at each leaf branch-off all the way to the bottom) This has never happened with my plants before. Is this damage of some sort or possibly an anomaly within the seed? If I were to snip off the tinier ones, would that encourage larger growth of the main flower(s)?
Have you any experience with this?
There are many multi-headed varieties. I’d leave them all on and enjoy them.
Hey my plants are quiet tall now but I’ve growing them inside next to my window there about 4 ft I don’t know what to do coz some leaves keep crisping up but I water it perfectly fine I have 3 but 2 are huge and my other one I grew at the same time is like 1 ft I don’t know what to do but I don’t have enough support for my big ones they bend on the window and the leaves Bend and the plant leans over in the side but I can’t turn it around coz me certain leans on it and it’s scaring me should I just give them away or keep them and save lots of money but food and stuff u will problem say put them out side but I can’t coz my dog would destroy them it worries me I could get cage and stuff coz there is a tiny beginer pot I think I should re pot them but I don’t know how any advise?
It sounds like you need a bigger pot and need to give them a stake or something to lean against.
Hey thxs I have re poted them there 5ft3 now haha really health they are getting to big haha the bulb is now growing to soon they will sprout thxs a lot 🙂
Hello there. I just harvested sunflower seeds from my garden however I noticed that they are all black and without the white stripes. My back yard gets only partial sun and the flowers were not a large as could be, I wonder if the seeds are not fully developed? They came out easily from the cut flower head but I only let it sit and dry a couple days before harvesting… any thoughts?
There are many varieties that have pure black seeds, it is not unusual.
Thanks at first for your very nice information. I enjoyed to read your wonderful description about sunflowers.
I’m wondering if you can help me: I have a lot of different sunflowers growing this year. One plant among them came along wrongly. It has to be Prado Gold but this looks very different. And this is the most beautiful one now from all of sunflowers! Therefore I love to know the name, also whether this is hybrid or heirloom.
It look like similar with your photo on ‘Sunspot’ but the center is a bit smaller and petals are longer and curled. Deep yellow and around 2m-2,2m high. Now it flowers at the top 5 heads but at the side are new scions/blossoms appearing.
The center is lime green with gold ring, later it becomes gold.
I have photos, if you have time, I’d love to send to you.
Thanks in adavance
It is hard to tell from a description. I’d certainly save the seeds if it is a good one with the hope you’ll be able to grow more next year.
Can you harvest when flower heads are wet. We just got a lot of rain recently. Or should I leave them on stalks until they are able to dry out?
You can harvest them anytime. Just make sure you allow them to dry out properly.
I’m afraid to start the process of harvesting my seeds cause I think that a lot of bugs are gonna get on me! My sunflower is a 12ft with a very large head.
I have loads of large (8-10′) sunflowers that were blooming quite happily…however, last night we had really bad wind and rain which has snapped 2-3 of them and caused the rest to bend rather alarmingly. We are also moving house in a couple of days and are unable to transport them due to the massive size, So, my question is, If I cut the heads now, will the seeds still grow inside them and be ready for harvest, or am I going to have to accept that I lose this years harvest of seeds? We have some smaller plants that we will be able to take, but if possible I really would like to be able to have the seeds from the bigger plants…Thanks
No, if you cut them down the seeds will not develop any further. Sorry.
Hi! This is my first time growing sunflowers and I love it!!!! They reached over 7ft tall. The taller stalks have flower heads that are drooping and appear to be finished for the season but I am now seeing some new smaller stalks starting to flower. Should I cut away the flower heads that have died and cut away the taller stalks to allow for these new shorter stalks to grow. I did not harvest any seeds for next year. I’m new to this but enjoying it! Thank you 🙂
I’d leave them all and enjoy all the blooms. The larger flowers should still have decent sized seeds for you to harvest.
Hi. I planted 10 seeds of mexican sunflower in rectangle pot with fertilised soil but it’s almost 11 weeks but there is no flower coming. The stem is still 4 inches tall. And the leaves were starting to turn brown. I transfered 1 of my plant to a small pot and after 2 days it died. What should I do to rest of my plants?? Should I transfer them to a larger pot or replant again? Please help me. Thank you.
I’d put them in some larger pots. There is still plenty of time for the flowers to come.
Kind of odd don’t you think when the description says up to monster18″ wide head but the photo shows an 1″ size head.
Yes, that photograph probably isn’t the best example of the size they can grow to.
if there isn’t any bees in my area do you think i should even try to grow a sunflower?? Also this might be a really weird question but when you want to grow sunflowers do i grow the sunflowers that are bought to eat or maybe people actually sell seeds to only grow idk please please please please help me out i need to grow these for a science project.
No, you’ll need to buy the whole untreated seeds that are intended for planting. Bees are not the only insects that pollinate sunflowers so give it a go!
I have a sunflower plant, i have ten in total, but one seems to have a split in the trunk. Any thoughts on the cause?
It could be down to over watering, wind or the head just getting to heavy for it’s stem. I’d strap it up and tie it to a stake to try and help it.
i thought it maybe overwatering but i dont give them much as i am at the bottom of a hill and get some run off and they are well mulched. I also thought it may have been because they grew really quickly, anyway they are doing great now at almost 5 feet. Thanks for your help
Hi, I planted sunflower seeds late in the season (July) and now they are 7ft tall, each has one main flower but there are smaller flowers budding. Should I cut off the smaller ones so growth is concentrated on the main flowers? The main flowers are not blooming yet, they are about 10cm in diameter. Weather people say we could have warmer weather in next few weeks, so I am hopeful! (in UK)
Yes, you can do although I’ve never done it myself. I like to see them all flower but you’ll probably only get seeds from the larger ones.
Hi! So my sunflower is growing big lately. I have one main sunflower that already bloomed and it also has a few other small sunflowers around on the stem. I was wondering if I cut the main sunflower, will the whole plant die, or will it keep growing from where I cut it?
And will the other small sunflowers bloom too?
Thank you.
You can cut the head off, but I’d wait until the back of the head goes a yellow/brown colour to make sure the seeds inside are all fully developed for you to harvest and use next year.
i have 7 huge sunflower plants and they are almost ready to harvest but one of the branchs broke and the seeds are still white what could i do to ripen them .
If it is a variety that has white seeds then you might be alright. But if they are immature seeds, then there isn’t much you can do to make them fully develop now unfortunately.
We grew sunflowers for the first time this year. We had lots of luck and now are attempting to save seeds. My husband cut one of the heads before we looked up the ‘how-to’ on harvesting the seeds. The back is still green and the seeds are still white. Everything I’ve read says to wait until the back is yellow.
Is there any hope for this head? I put it in a paper sack and set in on the porch (temperatures are cooler so it won’t mold, I hope!). Will the seeds still dry out and be usable or will they just rot? should I just throw it to the chickens? I still have 30+ heads to play with so if I lose this one I will be okay!!
Thanks for any information you can give this seed-saving ‘newbie’!!
If it has already been cut, I’d dry it out and then have a look at the seeds and see how plump they look. It might be a variety that has white seeds or they may just turn out to be thin and immature.
Thanks!!! I’ll let you know how we did!! 😉
Hello, my husband brought home a small pot, probably 3 or 4 inches wide with a small sunflower inside, about 3-4 inches tall, with a small yellow head. The pot has no insert, or care instructions. Can I keep this flower in the pot? In the house? I have so many critters that would love this for lunch.
You can if you like plant cruelty. 😉 Seriously Sunflowers do grow quite big so you will need to repot it into something bigger and it is an outdoor plant really.
hello! My first year growing sunflowers. The plants got 9 or 10′ tall and had some huge flowers. Life was busy so I didn’t get to harvest them when I should have and then I brought the heads inside and put them on paper on the floor thinking they would dry out and the seeds be easy to remove. Instead, a few days later they had mold growing on them. My question is, are they ruined for eating? I think I could use the seeds for growing edible sprouts but not to eat the seeds? Thanks!
You could try washing the mould off and then drying them out, but if they have a funny smell I wouldn’t eat them. Sorry.
Help! So I’m living in Arizona and received sunflower seeds from a 19 ft sunflower. Without doing any research or being an experienced Gardner I planted them in my front yard as well as in a small pot. To my surprise, I have three that have sprouted. One in the pot and two in the yard. Here’s the problem, I planted in late September the end of summer. I want to see my plants grow as big as they can. Will they survive the winter? Is there anything I can do to protect them? It’s still hot here (about 100 degrees) but the weather is sure to change soon. Thanks
Sunflowers are summer plants. It depends how cold winter in Arizona gets really.
My daughter and I planted Sunflower seeds indoors. They were growing beautifully. About 5 of them in a pot and just recently they started to wither. I’m unsure if it’s the amount of sunlight, water or if they need a bigger pot. What do you think I can do?
I would say it is the size of the pot. Sunflowers need big pots and ideally are just one sunflower per pot.
I am raising a seedling of the sunscraper hybrid. I still have it indoors. It is about 20 inches tall now. I have noticed that it is growing long vines now that wrap around my bamboo stalk and it makes me wonder if it is a sunflower after all. I don’t think I will see a flower since I planted it so late this summer. Does this hybrid grow those vines?
Sorry, that doesn’t sound like a sunflower. It would be interesting to know what it is though.
if it’s got vines growing from the base it could be an orchid,if it is keep it out of direct sunlight only water it once a week and put some charcoal dust in the bark and compost to help drainage and fight fungi etc.good luck
i havent done any research prior to planting my sun flower seeds. they have germinated and all, it’s just that i havent expected that a lot of the seeds would be germinating so i put all 25 in a single pot. now i have 20 sprouts in a single pot and im worried that they’d be damaged if i transplant them in a direct soil.
You just need to prick them out carefully with a pencil. If you have 25 in a pot they won’t grow very well, they will need transplanting.
Hey another problem well I can’t put them out side my sunflowers one has a flower the other dosnt the one that dost has no flower yet but the one that has a flower has light green leaves I am growing they’d on the window sil they are 6 ft now I don’t know what to do I don’t think I can take care of them any more they have to over lean against the window or a lean across abit from each other I don’t want to kill them what do I do
Are they in a large enough pot and getting plenty of water?
I don’t know about the pot I did give them a bigger one and I give lots of water I know te amount
When harvesting the flower heads, how much or how long do I need to cut off? Do I chop it off starting from the back of the flower or the whole stem of it? How many centimetres do you reckon? It’s my first time growing a sunflower and I’m loving it! It looks beautiful in my family’s vegetable garden.
I normally cut off 5-10cm. It doesn’t matter too much though.
Thank you
Would you prefer planting the sunflower seed in a flower pot, or just put it in a your yard?
Hi this will be my first time to sow some Hellianthus (Big SMile) Sunflower seed I bought from a local store. I live in Manila (Tropical) where growing a sunflower is all year round. My question is what is a reason pot size to plant 1pc seedling? I know these Hellianthus are considered dwarf types. Thanks!
The dwarf ones still need good size pots. Around 7 litres is adequate.
Hello,just few day ago i got bought sunflower seed…but the seed skin is ripped so does it grow well or i have to get a new seed again….?
I’d probably get some new seed to get a better yield.
Hello,
I live in Flagstaff Arizona, elevation 7,000 feet. I am an avid vegetable/flower gardener in spite of our short growing season here. Gardening has always been a challenge here but can be done. I am wanting to venture into growing a few Sunflowers to collect and feed seed to my chickens. Most Sunflowers take too long to mature for my area. I am looking for something not so mammoth, excellent seed yield potential, good oil content, black seed, good stalk health. July & August is generally our monsoon’s which can produce gentle rains, winds, heavy down pours, hail or dry lightening. So, I’m looking for a Sunflower that will do well here. Can you help? In average I would say our growing season could be approximately 103-110 days. Depends upon the micro climate one lives in.
Thank You,
Melody
Thanks!
Melody
I’m not familiar with your area unfortunately but I’d probably go for one of the dwarf varieties, something like Choco Sun or Irish eyes if you can find them.
I’m in Prescott Valley and we grew Sunspot, Zohar, Velvet Queen, Italian White, Lemon Queen, Van Gogh mix, Dwarf Teddy Bear,and Autumn Beauty Sunflowers this year. I planted them June 1st for our wedding on August 27th and most were all ready spent by Mid August. I think any of these varieties will work for you. They all grew very quickly and produced seeds by mid August except for Sun Spot. Sunspot are dwarf, but they have huge heads (bigger than a dinner plate) and seem to be the last to go to seed. If you are interested in Seed Sharing, I’ve got a Face Book group called Seed Savers Exchange Group and I know we have at least one member in Flag who is an avid gardener and all of our members love to help other gardeners and share seeds. Cheers, E
Hello,
I wonder if you can advise when I should plant my sunflower seed to get full blossom heads by 5th of August, our wedding day. Thank you for your help! Your page is really useful!
It really depends on the weather we get this year and the variety you choose. To have the best possible chance, I’d plant a few seeds every week between the end of March and the beginning of June.
How do i water them?
You can water them using any container with tap water.
Hello, we’re thinking of planting some sunflowers for a school project, how long after planting do you expect to see the first sprouts??
They should sprout within a week or two.
I soak my seeds in water for 8-12 hours first (24 hours if they are in the shell). Then I plant them in one of those cheap, thin, 2-3 inch deep disposable aluminum baking pans that you can get at any Dollar store. I place just a couple of small drainage holes in the bottom, place them in full sun, water everyday & they sprout within a few days. Obviously the soaking makes for faster germination but since the aluminum pan attracts sunlight, it ensures that all of the seedlings get equal amounts of sun constantly which helps tremendously! It’s insane how quickly they sprout using this method.
Last summer I grew an amazing sunflower “Russian Giant” variety, I harvested the seeds with the intention of sharing them with friends to plant more sunflowers this year. However, I don’t know whether the seeds are okay or if maybe they didn’t dry out enough. I took the head off once all the petals were dead and left it out to dry for about 2 weeks but I think it got rained on once or twice.
The seeds now seem hollow, on opening them there is a furry coating and one little bit in the middle.
Do you think they will be any good or not?
Thank you
Laura
It sounds like they weren’t dried out enough or quickly enough. This often happens with the larger seeds. I’d plant them but I’d also buy some new ones as a back up.
Hi there, I grew some sunflowers last year and had some beautiful 17 inch heads on them. I even saved one that had a damaged stem (it grew a lump and continued to grow sideways!) So this year I planted their babies but I am a bit concerned about if they will grow…they started beautifully but they have started wilting and going pale. I’m not sure if it is because maybe the compost holds water or if I maybe damaged the stems when transplanting? I’m hoping it has nothing to do with the seeds themselves as I donated a few to my sons class (4 year olds) as they wanted to grow some…I don’t want to upset them all because they turned out to be “bad seeds” I hope you can help! They did live for an few days out of sunlight
I’d probably just tie them to a bamboo cane to give them a bit of support until the weather warms up a bit. You could always plant some more as a back up!
Thank you! I do still have some but I think I worry most for the children’s sunflowers , but I have told them i have more if needed. Some do have support but I think I may have damaged some of the stems as they are really bent over as if the stalks have snapped
Hello
I would like to use sunflower petals for my wedding. Does anyone know if I pick the petals if the sunflower as a whole will still live and thrive? Thank you!
You’d probably want to pick them at the latest the day before.
WHEN IS THE BAST TIME TO PLANT SUNFLOWER IN MALAYSIA???
I’m sure exactly but you can probably grow them all year around. The dry season would most likely be your best bet though.
I have some sunflowers and they are beginnibg to sprout out of the ground. I will be gone for a week and a half, in which I will not be able to water them. Will they live until I get back?
If they are in the ground they should be fine. If they are in pots just make sure the pots are in a tray of water.
Hi I have planted sunflowers in 15cm pots with my class. We have 24 pots and I mixed some fertiliser in the soil for all plants. We planted them 2 weeks ago and only one has sprouted this week! We kept them on ether windowsill in school for sunlight (I’m in the uk) but I’ve took them home for Easter and will place them outside in the sun every day now. Do you think there’s a possibility that the other 23 will not grow since they haven’t sprouted yet? Or could they possibly be a little slow due to some limited sunlight etc? I’m getting nervous now as I don’t want to upset my class when they see only one sunflower has sprouted!
Thanks in advance
The amount of heat is more important than the light when you are waiting for them to sprout. Just make sure they are watered and warm. It is possible that the seeds weren’t all viable but if one has sprouted there is hope for the others.
I planted 22 seeds all at the same time, about 3 weeks ago. Most of them sprouted within a couple of days of each other, but there have been some stragglers that waited to sprout until a couple of days ago. I’d think there’s still hope!
Having difficulty finding instruction for growing the cute lilliput sunflower.
I received the seeds as a gift, but no instructions or plant descriptions.
I am not sure which type I have.
I’m not familiar with that variety but all sunflowers tend to germinate in the same way, so just follow the standard instructions on our website.
Excuse me but I need a help with my sunflower. You see, I’m at Malaysia and I’ve been wondering if my sunflower can thrive here. Right now, The sunflower is almost wilted and the middle part of the flower is covered by the grey mould. Can I just remove the moulded part and grow the flower using only it’s lower part and upper part? (Among the 3 parts of the flower, only the middle part is affected by the mould.)
It sounds like your sunflower is past being able to recover. I’d probably start again in the dry season.
I Would Like To Know How Much Water Will I Need To Offer My Sunflower Seeds Daily.
In Measurements Please, Thank You
It is difficult to give exact measurements because it depends on the temperature. You just want to give them enough water to let them them totally dry out, and not too much to make the soil saturated.
What would be the best month to plant a sunflower seeds in the Philippines? I tried putting it in a small container with tissue and an amount of water but after 2 days it still doesnt work. I used sunflower seed to be fed by my rats.
I’d recommend following our guide and planting them in soil and using seeds that haven’t been treated for eating. They will take a couple of weeks to sprout.
I started some seeds last week n a warm sunny bedroom. They have grown to about 8 inches in this time. I’m wondering whether to put them in the shed to slow them down a bit. I’ve had to tie them to bamboo skewers with thread. Where have I gone wrong ?
If they are 8 inches they will need transferring into a large pot and placing outside. Maybe in a cold frame, cool greenhouse or cloche to harden them off a bit.
When should I transplant my seedlings? I planted them on the 3rd of April and they’re coming up already.
It depends on the depth of the pot the seedlings are in but usually when they are 2 or 3 inches high as the roots go quite deep very quickly.
I have planted my sunflower seeds in small disposable cups and they have all germinated within a week. Most of them have grown two to four leaves. Will they bloom or just die out if i transplant them in small containers. Im from India. When can i expect to see the first blooms?
Yes, you should transplant them either into larger containers or into the ground. You should see your first blooms within a couple of months depending on the weather.
There are chances of weed germination. Wind and insects carry seeds too so probably some plants other that sunflower must’ve grown in your garden. It happens a lot. I myself have nurtured weed so many times thinking it was the flower seeds that i sowed. Its disappointing but keep trying.
OK so here’s the deal my sunflowers I planted in huge pot are thriving they are 3 weeks old and I’m shocked at the rapid growth unfortunately the ones in the ground are not I planted same day same soil same watering and same attentive loving care but the ones in the ground arnt thriving as well I’ve staked some mesh netting to assure my cat doesn’t do her business there could that be the problem
The difference could just be the temperature of the soil. Often sunflowers in the ground can take a little longer to get going.
Hello
My mother started 3 sunflowers for me last year, they were like my children! lol and man did they flourish! I was so happy because i have a black thumb and this was my first time ever having sunflowers. When it came time to harvest i had no clue how to preserve the seeds. I apparently made the cardinal sin when i (yup) put them in a zip lock bad. I just pulled the bag out and the seeds are beyond wet??? How do you think i should proceed? Dry them in the sun, use a blow dryer lol? Or should i just buy new seeds and start from scratch? HELP……
Thank you so much
Sarah
I’m sorry to say I expect they won’t be viable at all now. I think you’re going to have to invest in some fresh new seeds.
I know it is late to help you now, but I would still try planting. Sunflowers are perennials originally found in the US. This means that the seeds fall out of the plant then lay outside over a wet or winter like season, exposed to all the elements. The ones that make a proper connection with the soil, will then sprout and grow in the proper season. Seeds are pretty hardy things when you think about it. I generally dry mine thoroughly then freeze them, but that is far from the only method. Truthfully in nature they may not be very dry at all when winter comes, yet they will regrow in spring.
Hi, I bought some Sunflower seeds from Amazon and noticed some people that bought these seeds are saying they couldn’t get theirs to grow. Should I let them sprout in a paper towel and plant them soon after they sprout? These are non GMO seeds. Bought several types.
Thank You!
Hi Again, Sorry, had a couple more questions since this is my first time with Sunflowers. The packages had no directions. I have Tall Teddy, Velvet Queen, Autumn Beauty, Lemon Queen, Red Sun and Wild.
Do I need to stake them? Can I use tomato cages and plant around them or do I need to get some bamboo stakes? Did not anticipate this but read it on another web site. they are supposed to get to 5-8 feet
They don’t always need staking. If they start to droop then it is a good idea to use bamboo canes. You can try a tomato cage if you want. The height can vary a lot but 8 feet is possible with some of those varieties. There is more information available at http://sunflower.tips/sunflower-care/
I don’t think you need to use paper towels with sunflowers as planting them after sprouting can add more stress to them. They typically grow easy enough directly in soil.
Hi, I planted my seeds almost a week ago, right after I panted them we got 2 days of rain. Do you think it hurt the seeds?
No it won’t hurt them, if anything it will help them germinate.
Hi there, I’m from continental Europe and normally I plant my seeds in early April. I did so this year as well and I got nice 8-10 cm sprouts (2 leaves) in my pots. BUT THEN we had a pretty nasty couple of weeks (rain+snow and unusual cold temperature – around 5C). Now my sprouts seem to have arrested their growth. Is there still hope for them or are my poor plants doomed?
I wouldn’t give up hope. If they are still green and alive, the growth can still kick in again when it warms up.
I live in tropical North Qld where sunflowers will grow most of the year. How long do I have to keep the dry seeds b4 I can plant them?
They don’t necessarily need to dry out in order to germinate. They are just normally dried to keep them for longer periods of time.
I have two types of sunflower seed packets- Dwarf Teddy Bear and Evening Sun Mixed Colors. I live in Virginia, where there is some clay in the soil. My neighbor planted a beautiful row of 8-10 foot tall sunflowers that peeked over my fence last year. I would like to plant some this year. He did have an issue with squirrels on the fence. I have a cat. I was considering planting them either along the wall of my house at the end of the driveway, facing south, or along my porch deck (which the hand railing is about 7 foot tall.) the porch/ grill is east of the planting site. Both are located under overhangs, with the porch site getting a lot more afternoon sun and the driveway getting more morning sun. The overhang is only 2-3 foot and high up. Will the sunflowers end up facing east, west, or a mix? If east, and I plant them on the porch that faces west, would they “look in ” on me on my porch (which is east)? Will they provide some shade to the porch?
Sunflowers usually tend to face the direction they get the most light from.
Cats like to seek out patches of earth to use as a toileting area, they often make a beeline for recently dug bare soil of vegetable/flower beds. It isn’t desirable to have cat feces in vegetable/flower beds as they contain a number of disease-bearing pathogens including those that cause toxoplasmosis (incurable) Effects of Toxoplasma on Human Behavior: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/
Can Dead Leaves Heal After Salt Stress On My Dwarf Sunspots
Long Story…
No, not if they’ve gone all crispy.
What Can You Do To Get It From “Crisping” Up
Hi, my daughter received 3 sunflower seeds in a disposable cup with soil. 2 seeds have taken. How soon do i need to replant in bigger pots and how big? We live in IL in a 3rd floor apartment and all i have is an outside window seal once it gets warmer. Help please!
You’ll want to move them pretty quickly into their final destination after they have germinated.
Hello, I live in Sacramento, California. It’s my first season planting sunflowers from seeds. I planted them in biodegradable containers with a seed starter soil that can go directly into the ground when they germinate. Unfortunately I don’t have a sunny room in the house. Could I leave them outside? Is it good to use plastic to cover them? I have plenty of planter box space to transplant them too. Should I just let them germinate in there. I will keep them damp. Our weather over the next 2 weeks is mid 70 to 90s with the lows in the 50s. One day of rain in the forecast. Thanks!
Yes, you can put them outside. If you have a plastic cover to put over them, even better!
I have grown some sunflowers from seed and they are now about a foot high – they are indoors as still frosty but something is eating the leaves – either very small black things or some pale green longer bugs – please help
Hi there! I have planed seeds with my class for a project and they have sprouted very quickly. I put them in cheap starter trays with Miracle Gro soil and they’ve been doing very well! How long can I keep them in the trays before I should send them home with the students to transplant? I want them to see as much growth as possible here without keeping them longer than what is good for them!
Thank you!
You want to move them pretty quickly as the tap root grows very long very quickly so you’ll want it in soil with a good depth for it as soon as possible.
I have just Found out that WD 40 sprayed on Plant Pot around the outer Base stops Slugs??!!
I’ve not heard that one. Certainly worth a try though.
this is my first time planting sunfowers, I’m assuming when the plants get flowers they will be facing the direction where the sun comes up? so that the flowers face the same direction. I noticed that you repeatedly stated that it doesn’t matter which direction the seeds are planted for the roots to take hold. I sure want all my flowers facing the same direction. thanks chris
Never mind but thank you, I found out that they face east but the single headed ones follow the sun throughout the day but the multi headed ones do not.
They basically tend to point in the direction they get the most light from.
I am being forced by the city to destroy my sunflowers(25 to 30 blooming plants) the bees are pollinating and the butterflies have start to come around after years of not seeing both. I am being threatened with stiff fines if I don’t submit. Is there anyway I can save them by moving them? I only have to move them a couple of feet into the same conditions(sun and soil) .and since its been an ongoing problem with that 1 neighbor and the city can I relocate them next year when they show up? I have been cultivating them for years so I know they will so when would be the best time? Thank you!
That really sucks. I presume they are perennial sunflowers? If so then winter time is best.
We would like to hold a sunflower competition for children at our library, my question is if we plant next week 16th-21st May when could we expect the sunflowers to have reached full height? I’d like to set a realistic end date for the competition. Many thanks!
It depends on the variety and the heat of summer but it would probably be around August sometime.
Hi! I bought a 12 inch ceramic pot and I’m looking to plant a mammoth gray stripe sunflower. Would this pot be big enough? And also, I heard watering it from the bottom is better than watering the top of the soil. Is this true? Thank you (:
It will be big enough for it to get to a decent size. It may need more if it were to fulfil its full potential. I don’t think they are too fussy where they get the water from as long as it is the soil that is watered and not the plant.
Hello,
First time planting a sunflower garden here in Massachusetts. I read that the shells are somewhat toxic to the soil. I have two options for the location for the garden. 1. A Vegetable garden that will not be used this year for veggies or 2. Another location not far from the veggie garden that is somewhat sandy where little grass will grow. What are your thoughts please and thank you.
Shells from sunflowers that you’ve planted won’t have any significant impact on the soil. I’d plant them anywhere you’ll not be using for anything else this year.
To keep squirrels and rabbits from eating my sunflower seedlings (planted outside in mulched beds) I took ziplock bags – the bigger the better – and punched holes in them, then took large nails and nailed them into the ground. Nothing has been able to get to them and they actually seem to like the greenhouse-like conditions being inside the vented bags produced. As they grow taller, I’ve been pulling the nails and bags up little by little to ensure that they have plenty of room. I originally did it because I can’t afford anything else, like netting, etc., but it turned out to be a very good idea. Be careful when pushing the nails into the ground, make sure that they face away from the area around the stem, because you don’t want to damage the fast-growing roots underground.
I PUT 5 SEEDS TO GERMINATE IN A 16 OZ STYROFOAM CUP. IS THIS TO MANY? ITS ONLY BEEN 4 DAYS. SHOULD I TAKE SOME SEEDS OUT?
No, that is fine if you are just germinating them. Pot them on when they are an inch or two tall though.
Bought a dwarf potted sunflower from a greenhouse and two days after bringing it home the green leafs just seem droopy. Only one flower has bloomed so far but it seems fine. Also the new blooms appearing seem fine too it is just all the leaves that were just yesterday seemed perfectly fine but now today they have lost all shape. Not sure what’s going on just curious on your opinion.
Sometimes the leaves just do that. As long as it is not affecting the flowers I wouldn’t worry.
My kids planted sunflower seeds in little cardboard pots 2-3 weeks ago. They’ve grown to around 8 inches in these little pots on the window sill. Is it time to transfer them into larger pots in the backyard? Is there anything I should be careful of in terms of how I transfer them without damaging the roots?
Yes, it sounds like it is about time. Just try not to disturb the roots when transplanting them and try and hold them by their leaves rather than the stems.
I have a row of sunflowers along driveway fence. Last year one plant had leaves with center area pale and yellowing, starting at stem, spreading out from center vein toward edges and tip. Areas near edges and tips of leafs looked better. That plant matured, but dwarfed size. I thought maybe poor drainage due to hidden rocks on soil, contamination from autos parked other side of fence, or some kind of nutrient deficiency (even though I used liquid fertilizer). This year three plants in that row are starting to show same symptoms. Stopped watering to see if that helps. Any suggestions?
There are many fantastic dwarf varieties. Are you sure it’s not one of those?
No these are not dwarf variety. Last year planted Ferry-Morse American Giant Hybrid … most grew at least 10-12 feet and looked great, but had very few edible seeds … mostly empty shells with strange red stain inside. This year wanted seeds for birds so planted Lake Valley Mammoth Gray Stripe. Now about 6 or 7 inches tall. Some have normal leaves, about half the plants have the paling (slightly yellow) starting at stem end, spreading toward leaf tips and all the way to edges (toward stem end) on worst leaves. Last year more than one plant showed these symptoms to some degree at first … all but one plant grew out of it. I’m may try letting them dry out till ground cracks, then water them well.
You may well have something in your soil they don’t like. I’d try mixing in some new fertile compost.
Hello Grow Me,
I think it is great that you are still answering questions. You have the patience of Job with all the repeats being asked; you just keep answering!
My question is about soil. I live in Montana and we had our *hopefully* last frost about 2 weeks ago. My daughter and I are going to direct sow some giant variety seeds this afternoon. I’m not worried about the quality of the soil so much as the rocks! Very rocky out here, and although I’ve dug up most of the egg size or bigger rocks to a depth of about 6-8 inches I wonder about the tap root getting deep enough through the rocks. Thank you
They’ll be able to work their way around most rocks but if it is so big that there is no way around it may struggle. They’ll probably be fine though. Just give it a go!
My sunflower seedlings (Leaves) have been chewed off by an animal. Will they continue to grow (re-grow) or will I need to re-plant seeds?
If all the leaves have gone I think you’ll struggle as it won’t have any way to generate any energy. In particular if the top of the plants have gone it probably won’t be able to recover at all. I’d plant some more seeds just to be sure you get some blooms.
Hi,
I managed to get my sunflowers growing from seedlings and put them out but found slugs having a good old chomp, have dealt with the slugs but is there a way to nurture them to good health they look worse for wear
Unfortunately not, nothing that wouldn’t do normally for them. You’ll just have to let hopefully recover on their own.
I have a dwarf sunflower plant. When I got it it had a large bloom and more than a dozen flower buds. I have since cut off the large bloom as it was losing its petals and seven or eight of the other flowers have opened. They are only about 3 inches across and this morning when I went to check on them they had all closed up. You can see the petals but not the center of the bloom. I’m not sure if they’re open back up or what would cause them to close.
No, that sounds a bit unusual. It’s a shame you cut the large flower off as you’ll probably not have any seeds to harvest for next year, but it was the right thing to do to try and focus the energy on getting the maximum out of those secondary flowers.
Hello,
My roommate planted mammoth sunflower seeds in the wrong place in the garden, not taking into consideration that the height of a mature would block sun from getting to the rest of the vegetables. They are only a couple months old, but some are now 3 feet tall. I’d love to move them, but I’ve read they get a very long taproot rather quickly. Is it possible to transplant at this height without damaging the root system? Thank you so much for your help.
You can move them and they would still grow if you’re careful with the roots, but they would almost certainly grow bigger if you left them.
Have a sunflower about 5 feet tall. It had a bud on it that looked like it was getting ready to bloom. Came home and it looks like the bud had been cut off. Checked for bugs, worms, anything but found nothing on it or the other sunflowers I have. Any suggestions as to what may have gotten it? It is planted close to my feeders and I have lots of birds including crows.
It is unlikely to be a bird. Might it have been slug? Or a jealous neighbour? 🙂
My sunflower is in a pot, and the leaves are turning brown and brittle with holes in it. The flower itself looks good but the leaves look nasty. I’d send a pic if I knew how.
Here is a work around. I posted a question on and if you follow the link you can see the picture
https://twitter.com/advaloremtaxman/status/747080754279104512
Have you found any flies or other critters on it?
Not that i can see
I have one large sunflower in my garden, which delights me. It is six feet tall and has a good thick stem. A storm knocked it over last night, and the leaves are droopy. If I stake it up, might it recover?
Yes, it’s highly likely that it can recover.
Hi i have a question i bought 6 sunflower pots at home depod to plant them in my backyard. I put them on the ground and water them. First day was beautiful, second day starting to look sad a d now all the yellow petals are deadly. What happen? What did i do wrong? Will they revive and come back?
Did they have full flowers when you bought them? The lifespan of the blooms is quite limited and transplanting them with flowers is not the ideal time.
I was told that if I mix equal parts vinegar and water together, and spray on my sunflowers, it would kill the zillion ants crawling all over them. Well I did it, and now my sunflowers have large brown patches on the leaves, and I’m afraid I may have killed them!!
I’ve not heard of that and I wouldn’t fancy trying it. You might be ok though and any new leaves that sprout will be able to sustain the plant.
oh good! Thanks
I’m really enjoying my small Irish Eyes Sunflowers. They are blooming their heads off. They are the first to bloom in the garden so hoping they won’t cross pollinate with any other sunflowers. Is this variety an heirloom that will come back true from seed?
Yes, that’s correct. Their seeds should come true.
Got a sun flower and all peals have died do I just pul them off it as got other buds on about 3
If you take the head off it might make the other buds grow better as all the energy will go to them but if you want to save it for seeds then leave it on for them to mature inside.
Recently bought 2 choco sun sunflowers each one had 1 very nicely bloomed flower on each. their still standing strong probably about 14 inches high, but the 2 flowers seem to be withering away. But there are also about 3 or 4 new ones that are starting to form. I just wanted to know if i should eventually cut all the big flowers that are withering away so the other ones will get more life. can also provide picture if needed
Yes, if you cut the dead flowers then the new blooms will get more energy but if you leave it on it should develop the seeds for you to save for next year.
Can you let the blooms dry and save the seeds for next year?
Yes, just wait until the back of the heads turn a yellowy brown colour before cutting them off for drying.
When I was on the internet, it didn’t say anything about waiting until the back of the head of the sunflower was black?? I clipped mine as I guess what most would say were dead. few to no leaves and hanging over. I put them in brown paper bags and I have them in my office to dry out. I should be ok, shouldn’t I??
Yes, if the heads had already dropped your seeds may well have developed enough.
I bought a sunflower and when I bought it，it was blooming but，later the petals started looking like it was dead。Should I water it more or does it have too much sun？
Yes, give it some water. It is unlikely to be too much sun. The flowers don’t have a long life though.
Bumble bees are sucking the seeds out of my young sun flowers ?!?!at least that is what it looks like !!! What should I do ??? I’ve been so excited , it’s my first time to grow them , they fell out of my bird feeder , and they are in full bloom ?!?!? I’m freaking out !!! Will the bees ruin everything ???!!!
It is a bit improbable that the bees are taking the seeds. If the flowers are blooming then you need the bees to pollinate the florets in the centre of the flower. The florets are required to be pollinated in order for the plant to successfully make seeds. Don’t worry. 🙂
Hi, This year my sunflowers are not blooming. The stems are between 3-4 ft high and none have blooms. They have daily sun and I have watered them every other day when it was very hot out and they have also had rain. When I mean “hot out”, I waited until the late afternoon when it was cooler to water them. What did I do wrong?
Thank you.
Sunflowers can wait until late August or September until they decide to bloom. You probably just need to be patient.
My sunflowers are 7 ft tall but no flowers yet. Any explanation?
You might have grown some really big ones. They may be waiting until they are 9+ ft until they bloom.
Hi! I planted sunflower seeds recently, and they are about 6-8 inches tall now. I know they have been planted very late, but is there any chance that they will survive the winter?
Thanks!
It depends where you live but Sunflowers don’t survive in most country’s winters.
I live in Canada. Will they continue growing after winter or do they die every year and need to be replanted?
Thanks
Sunflowers are annuals so they need planting each year.
I planted a bunch of different varieties a few years ago. Everything came up ok. The next I didn’t plant but some seeds must have fallen out from one of the plants. What resulted were two plants that each grew up to 22 feet high and each had about 100 different flowers throughout the summer. So I saved seeds from the biggest one and planted those. What’s com up is so weird. Two stalks are like their parent (20 feet tall and 6!blooms so far but showing about another 50 buds). But others have only one super large flower (no indication of others) some are yellow, some are orange and a few stalks are producing what looks like an albino (middle of flower is super light green, not brown). They all came from the same plant but I didn’t expect this…were they just being cross pollinated with God knows what from the bees?
Very interesting. The first ones you planted may have been F1 hybrids which are two different plants crossed to give a super consistent child plant but then the following grandchildren plants can have all sorts of different traits.
we have grown some beautiful sunflowers. they didn’t stay in bloom for long and we are not sure if it is because we had big storms and rain that shook their petals off. what to do with them now? should we take off the heads? the seeds inside the head don’t seem to have appeared (there are still little flowers inside which the bees are loving). And they were so beautiful we would like to plant more but is it too late in the year? it is now august. but we are in spain. thank you
After the petals have fallen off you should leave the heads on for a while if you want the seeds to develop. You should leave them until the back of the heads turn a yellow/brown colour. You’ll have plenty of time in Spain yet for them to develop the seeds.
The seed same to the mammoth gray stripe sunflower seed… but the white/gray part is colored purple…is it still a sunflower seed?? if so what type?
I live in California in the san joaquin valley and its very hot. Ive planted many sunflowers around my home and on that has been in bloom for about 2 weeks all of sudden had its petals wilted. My husband waters it every evening and its been doing great. It didn’t get watered 2 nights ago but i watered it yesterday and today and the petals are wilted. Off the same stalk i have two more that just bloomed and it looks fine. This is our first time growing sunflowers
The flowers can last different amounts of time. If the leaves haven’t changed it should be ok.
This is my first sunflower attempt. My son brought home a seedling in a plastic cup from school in June. It’s now approx 12′ tall! The flower has just now formed – i can’t wait to see how big it’s going to be!! My question is: once I’ve harvested the seeds (assuming i can even reach them!), do i cut the remainder of the stalk down or let it die on its own? Thank you!
Yes, you can cut it down if you like. It won’t grow again after it’s finished making its flower. It will just turn into a woody stalk.
Hello,
My sunflowers came in a pot and are about 3 feet tall and one of the largest one the leaves are turning a light yellow almost white and are drying out really bad.. Only some of the flower leaves on this one not all.. I water it everyday, and the other leaves on the yellow leaves on the other ones don’t seem to be drying out and turning white and hard.. What do you think could be the problem?
I’m not certain unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like a lack of water. I guess it could have some sort of disease.
One of my sunflowers has 8 flower heads on is this normal?
Thank you
Yes, there are many multi-headed varieties.
Hey, I’m doing a science project on sunflowers and the consequences of excess and too little of its requirements. I was wondering whether you could help me in telling me what happens when:
1. Too much and too little sunlight
2. Water
3. Phosphorus (P)
4. Nitrogen (N)
5. Potassium (K)
6. Sulfur (S)
I would really appreciate your help.
Thanks!
I’ve done that at school
You want someone else to write-up your experiment results for you?.
Hi both my sunflowers are completely facing away from the sun all the time Any ideas Thanks
The flower heads don’t necessarily face the sun. It is the leaves which mainly need to face the sun to generate the maximum energy. It shouldn’t cause any problems though.
Hi from Sydney! Great website. I planted 40 sunflower seeds (short dwarf varieties) in 40 separate 21cm diameter pots (with holes in the bottom). It has been 2 weeks but only 20 of 40 have sprouted. The packet says 7 – 10 days germination. Do I need to wait longer for the rest to sprout or should I assume the seeds wont grow? I used new potting mix, have all the pots in direct sunlight and water them daily. Although there have been 3 days where it has rained a lot. Should I get new seeds and start sowing some more? Is it common for sunflower seeds to not germinate?
It can be common for some seeds not to germinate. The germination rate depends on the source of the seeds but I’ve never had more than 80-90% success rate.
I planted a variety of sunflower seeds this year and the ones that came up have the many branches and grew (6′ or more), have buds that start out green, then turn black, and no blooms appear. The plants are healthy looking with green leaves and no obvious insect damage. Soil was amended with manure in spring and has been compost amended every year. Watering is done when no rain fall for a week. No fungal or powdery mildew is apparent either. Any suggestions? Would love to have blooms…
That sounds most unusual. Do you know what variety they are?
Hi, I’ve wanted to plant some sunflowers around my house after seeing some pretty sunflower fences around a neighboring town. It often rain here in Malaysia so I was wondering if the sunflowers will survive when put outside of the house in the rain? And does a 15-inch pot is enough for the sunflower’s root to grow? Trying to grow some mammoth sunflowers.
15 inches should be enough. They should be fine outside. If they get too much rain they may go a bit floppy so may require stake for some support.
Had an incredibly HUGE sunflower (among many other smaller ones) this year. Wanted to save the seeds but chippies, mice etc. started to eat the seed head away. I cut off the head, put it in some water, & now realize I should have just covered the head to protect it while still on the plant. What should I do now to keep the seeds viable? Seeds appear to be plump but not hardened.
Yes, it is best to protected the head rather than cut it. The head will need drying out now to try and get the seeds ready for preserving for next year, don’t let them grow any mould. Only time will tell on their viability but it is worth a try.
This is the first time I’ve planted sunflower seeds. They came up beautifully and flowered and promptly the petals died. ?? there are seeds in the heads but they are white and don’t seem mature. What did I do wrong? I would like to plant them again next year, they are so pretty!
It doesn’t sound like you’ve done anything wrong. The petals don’t always last that long. It depends on the weather. The seeds will probably still develop inside. Just leave them until the back of the head turns and orangey brown colour and then harvest them.
My Mexican Sunflowers — started from seeds in May in Pittsburgh — are now 8 – 10 feet tall and gorgeous. What do I do now, though, as we are approaching the end of the growing season here? I will harvest the seeds to plant next Spring but what about the roots of these incredible plants? Should I chop them to the ground? Should I pull out all the roots now? Any advice?
Also, do they self-seed in the same area where they are growing now? Maybe I don’t even need to replant the seeds next year?
I’d just leave them, they should die back on their own. Depending on where you live they can be perennial. I’d still save your seeds though to plant more next year.
Hello !
I need some help
some deer ate my flowers, but not the stems
Will the flowers grow back ?
Also, same for my Morning Glory, if i could get some help on that.
Thank You !
It’s unlikely I’m afraid unless they are a multi-headed variety and they have some buds below what have been eaten.
my daughter had fresh sunflowers for her wedding.was wondering if there is anyway to dry them to get the seeds?Looks like the were cut as soon as they bloomed.Can I still put a brown bag over them and get seeds?
It’s very unlikely. They need to be left on the plant for some time after the flowers have bloomed for the seeds to develop.
Hi..
Can someone please help. The lower leaves of my two individual sunflowers have wholes in them. Does anyone know what causes this and what I can do to prevent this from happening?
Many thanks in advance
Jo
I planted sunflowers for the very first time last year just after the first frost. I am not sure the name of the sunflowers I have. I do know they were grown right here in NW Washington. I do not have a green thumb at all and let me tell you, my sunflowers are so beautiful. At first I was worried because I didn’t see anything coming up. You just have to be patient. I planted mine about 1″ down and I put two to three seeds per hole. I am so glad I did because when they got to the point to where they started to bloom, I had sunflowers everywhere. They are also a joy to look at. Such a gorgeous flower indeed.
Hi, my mammoth sunflower is 12 feet tall; and, although I have grown sunflowers before, this one is the tallest I’ve ever had so far! However, some of the others are not doing as well as this one. Some have turned brown leaves dried up around them at the top, but others look as if they are developing although two heads are much smaller. However upon taking a closer look I’ve noticed some have ants look like invading them. My question is could this be causing them to get dark or mildew causing them to get dark; although, I have not been watering them from the top. I have seen some white webbing but thought it was spider webbing could this be a different type of weapon of an insect causing them to get dark and look rotten?
Hi, I’m in Hampshire UK and had a disaster last year with some earthwalker sunflower seeds. I started them off early spring in seedling trays (indoors) and they germinated but when I transplanted them to pots they were about 10-15 cm high and just withered up. This year I’m thinking about planting them outside straight away against a west facing wall. Unfortunately the garden in quite shady. Would this be the best place for them?
If the spot you are planting them in is quite shady they won’t do as well as an area that gets periods of full sun. They need to be fairly warm when germinating and pots tend to be warmer than the ground. It sounds like you left them too long before transplanting. You might be better off skipping the seedling trays and planting straight into pots.
Do you recommend using peat pods to start the seeds in? If so, would the size of the peat pod matter?
Peat pods may be a bit small. If you want to start them in trays, the root trainers are probably the best because of their depth as Sunflowers tend to have deep roots which always makes them tricky for transplanting.
My sunflower seeds are empty inside☹️️
How sad. 🙁 Maybe they didn’t have long enough to fully develop.
I already planted on two weeks,but why til now the seeds will not grow.how many weeks that it will comes out?I wondered why its too long..
They can take longer than 2 weeks. Have they been kept warm and watered?
well I was given a young sunflower that is roughly a foot tall, it’s winter and its experiencing some dark dots on its leaves that are a small fungus, I sprayed it with fungicide and its small bud is drooping, what should I do?
Sunflowers are more of a Summer plant. They don’t usually grow during winter at all.
Hello,
I was delighted to find your site because I’m in need of a sunflower genie.
You may recall that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in the Ukraine 3 years ago.
An Australian journalist and photographer salvaged a sunflower head from the site and brought it back to Australia via quarantine where they were grown. They then offered these seeds to family and friends of those killed in the crash. I didn’t lose anyone but had written to the families of the victims and wrote about what happened on my blog and the need to standup against terrorism and hate of any kind.
So, I put my hat in the ring not expecting any but then a package arrived in the mail. I was too nervous to plant them last year but finally got my act together a few months ago. The first flower was more like a daisy and what you’d call the runt of the litter. The next two are better. One has started to wilt and the other is still in full bloom. I’m going to have a look at the wilting one and probably put a stocking over its head tomorrow. My daughter has some expired ballet tights.
If you would like to read about the sunflowers, here’s a link to my post: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2016/12/22/sunflower-a-christmas-miracle/
I would appreciate any tips, although this post covers things very well.
Thanks very much!
xx Rowena
I have white seeds and don’t know what is the species yet. I tried to germinate the seeds in damp moist tissue but still no root. I want to ask whether the seeds are damage ? any tips for sunflower(white seeds) to grow faster?
It is possible to germinate seeds in tissue but it is best to just pop them in some soil in small pots and water. They can take up to 2 weeks to start appearing. It depends how warm it is.
I just brought two sunflowers .they have a few fowers on the stalk and are about a foot high. My question is why are the tios turing white? Am i over feeding them? Is it the miraclegro I’m feeding them? Please help
It’s hard to say without seeing them. You shouldn’t really need to feed Sunflowers, they don’t require a lot of nutrients to thrive so you could lay off the feed for a bit and see how it goes.
Hi i just want to ask something regarding with my sunfloweer head. We got it from a flower garden a man gave it to us. I was wondering if i can get the seed while its not completely dry? Or i still have to wait and let the cutted sunflower head to dry? Thank you so much. Your a big help
If it has already been cut you don’t necessarily have to wait until it is completely dried out. It is probably best though.
Hi there,
I have planted the giant single sunflower in propagation tray.
I want to move them later on in to bigger pots.
However, will they grow there nicely? And how big should be the pot?
Regards,
Paula
You probably don’t want to leave them too long in a tray as they have deep roots. The quicker you move them on the better and the bigger the pot the better.
I have planted 16 DWARF sunflower seeds in individual small pots (indoors). Most have taken and are now two leaves and about 5cm high. I’m wanting to put them in large pots around the garden. Can I put 3 plants in each pot, and when can I transfer them and when can they go outside.
Yes, 3 dwarf plants should be fine in a large pot. You can put them outside anytime from now on if you don’t think you’ll get any more frosts.
I planted dwarf sunflowers and the seeds weren’t visible. Now after a few days i can the top of the seeds….. Should i push them back in the soil or does that mean they are growing and will be out of the soil soon?
I think it is probably the seedlings sprouting, I’d leave them alone.
I live in Newcastle UK I have grown sun flowers for many years. But this year I am growing Mongolian giant sun flowers, so all sun flower growers wish me luck,will let you all know how I go on. Take care Geoff
They’re a really nice variety, let us know how it goes.
My mammoth russian sunflowers are only 1 foot tall and are starting to flower. Are my sunflowers going to keep growing or are they just going to stay like that and that’s it?
If they are starting to flower they may not get that much taller. Are you sure they are Mammoth Russians?
I have put some sunflower seedlings into pots they are growing well but they are bending over what can I do?
You could tie them loosely to some small stakes to keep them upright until they get strong enough to hold themselves up. Try not to overwater them too as this can cause them to flop.
If something bit off the heads , willl it come back? And if not should I just remove the entire stalk and plant another seed? Also, when the leaves turn brown, I usually cut them off. Will the leave grow back?
If the heads gone, it’s gone, it’ll not come back. I’d plant another.
Pulling the brown leaves won’t do any harm. They’ll not grow back though.
Hi, i live in the philippines. And i bought some nice sunflowers with 3 flowers already. Yesterday, after leaving them under the intense heat of the sun, i noticed that the plant shriveled up (i thought it would help putting it there because i saw some websites that say that you need to put it in a place where there is 6hrs sunlight). Lucky for me, after watering, it looked healthy. Do they die if placed in the sun?? Oh yeah. I watered it a lot before placing it under the sun. I did that because i thought it will make it more healthy. Thanks.
Oh yeah… just to add i think that one is a multi-headed one
They do like being in the sun but need to be kept hydrated. If they are in pot you might want to move them to a larger pot which will hold more water and give them more room to grow.
My daughter wanted to grow a sunflower so we put a seed in to a pot with fresh compost its in our garden the pot is large with the sunflower grow fully in the pot or will I have to re plant it at some point
If it is a large pot then you’ll probably be fine. Although it may still grow even larger if you moved it into the ground at some point.
Oops sorry wrong send…
Thanks again
I cut of the head of the sunflower that’s dried up already so I can plant the seeds. My sunflower is dwarf type. I’m in the Philippines. My problem is the other buds turned brown and I just took them off because I think it’s dead. Will it grown some buds after I took off the dead ones? And there’s one bud that’s starting to bloom but when I checked it today it’s drying up and looks like it stopped blooming? What should I do?
I’m sorry to say it doesn’t sound good. I think I’d plant some more seeds.
I repotted some sunflowers ( in some new soil with some added plant food) and left them over night inside and in the morning they look saggy. I have put them outside and watered them , should I be worried????
Sunflowers don’t like too much water, they can get a bit droopy when they’ve had too much. Just leave them out in the sun to dry out a bit and I’m sure they will be fine.
Started my seeds in a pot, once sprouted moved to my garden. Now they are GONE. I have a fence around the garden to keep the rabbits out. Do birds pull the new seedlings from the garden?
Birds are unlikely. I suspect slugs, snails or both.
Anyone have an idea as to why my mammoth sunflowers bloomed a month too soon? Ive had these grow up to 13feet tall and this year about half of them are blooming at only 2 feet tall..
Are they from the same set of seeds or a different generation?
We bought a large pot of sunflowers which we split up into two smaller pots only to find that all of the sunflowers have closed up. They look like they are puckering. It has been several days and we were wondering if there is something wrong with them.
Did they already have blooms when you split them?
Yes. I think we left plenty of roots for each plant. The puckered blooms appear to be drying out.
I have 3 Sunflowers, all doing well indoors in large planters in my kitchen window. they are about 2ft tall at present with flowers (One multi headed) – I am wondering if I can move them into my conservatory where there is sun all day. I want to keep them indoors as I don’t have anywhere in my garden suitable for them and my little boy loves to look at them. My conservatory gets EXTREMELY hot in the summer months, will my sunflowers be ok in there?
It’s a bit unusual to grow them indoors but Sunflowers can cope with a lot of heat as long as they are kept well watered. It might be worth a try.
if the flower head starts to form short will Mongolian giant continue to grow in height [email protected]
Yes, I would expect it to still grow a little taller.
Our neighbors cut the tips of our growing sunflowers with a weedwacker, and the tips of our growing butterfly bush
And a little bit on our growing cherry tomato plants
We use mircle grow plant food
I know it’ll take then longer then normal to grow
We’re very ferious All the plants are on our side
Praying for a mircle
If the tops of the sunflowers have gone then there probably isn’t much hope. The others may have some recovery. Let us know how it goes anyway.
Hi, Could you help me please? I have 3 sunflower plants. One is about 3ft tall and it had a 22 cms diameter flower. But a squirrel chewed down the flower within a week. The other two plants are over 6ft tall and have buds on them. My guess is they will bloom within 1 week. The buds are much bigger than the one squirrel ate. So i m guessing these could be the mammoth flowers. I would love to see the flowers on the plants a little longer than a week.. at least until the seeds mature.. Is there any way i can keep the squirrels off the flower?
You could try putting a paper bag or mesh bag on the flower, although it kind of ruins the look.
I have a 2ft sunflower and it has the flower head so how long will it take for the sunflower to bloom?
Also my sunflowers have yellow welting leaves does that mean I’m overwatering?
Yellow leaves don’t tend to come from overwatering, that often just happens as it grows. Then length of time for the head to bloom can depend on the variety but most likely around 2 weeks or so.
We will have plenty ! lol
Hi!
I germinated my seeds in a paper towel, and they sprouted after 3-4 days. I then planted them following the suggested depth and space. But its been 8 days and only a few have emerge from the soil. Do I still have to wait or I have to plant new seeds/sprouts?
Thanks.
I’d wait a bit longer, they can take up to a couple of weeks to pop up. If you plant some more I’d just try them straight in the soil without the paper towel method this time.
Thank you!
Will try planting new seeds straight to the soil today.
can sunflowers take a frost before the are harvested or should I cut them before frost hits them.
If they are at the end of their life you could probably get away with it. They are not frost tolerant in general though.
I have been growing successfully for years without any advice, but this year I began to wonder if I’ve been missing any details. It seemed pretty straight forward.
In the spring I make sure the soil is tilled deep with natural fertalizer. Preping the soil is essential for tall hardy plants and plump seeds in my opinion.
My question is concerning the Harvest:
Could it be beneficial to cut the stalk low or just pull it up by the roots and hang them upside down to dry?
This harvesting method works for other plants, as the remaing nutrients in the stalk is forced by gravity to fall toward the flower head. Would this method work for sunflowers?
Going to try it with one regardless and see what happens. Seems like it could work.
I’ve not heard of that before. The head and neck is normally so dry when you harvest them that I’m not sure any nutrients could still get through. It may be worth a try though!
I saved all the seed from my Moulin Rouge Sunflowers last year, and planted them this year, however the first bud to show is yellow, why is this please?.i didnt grow any yellow ones last year for them to cross pollinate.
Moulin Rouge is an F1 Hybrid which means it is a specific cross between two other varieties to create a consistent appearance but any offspring will contain aspects from the grandparent plants so their appearance will vary greatly.
I grew my first sunflowers in November 2017, and now harvesting seeds from 18 giant sunflower heads for eating and re-planting. My 4 yo and 6yo have loved the entire process. I was amazed how big some of these sunflowers grew, in height and flower size (dinner plates!). One sunflower harvested 260grams of seed! Everything has amazed me about this spectacular flower, especially seeing one particular stalk after being beheaded, has grown 2 more small sunflowers! Does this happen? Has anyone else experienced thus before?
Yes, there are quite a few multi-headed varieties of Sunflowers. We have quite a few listed on the site which come in multiple colours.
Thanks for your reply. I was going to hack them all back after beheading, but after seeing two more flowers pop up I’ll leave them in case the others start reflowering. I assume these other flowers won’t have seeds that can be harvested since they are so little?
Probably not if they are small. Sometimes the multi-headed varieties can have several big flowers though.
Hi, after I de head them what do i do with the stalk in the ground still? Remove it or leave it and continue to water?
You can leave it. There’s not much point in continuing to water unless it has some other heads on it that have not yet bloomed.
I transplanted my sunflowers outside for the first time, they are about 8 inches tall, woke up to find that a critter bit part of a leaf off one of them, will he be okay????
Yes, it should be fine.
I grew my sundlowers last March 25, 2018 and it’s my first time. Are my sunflowers’ seeds ready to harvest when they turned black? It’s the beginning of rainy season here in the Philippines and I am worried that my seeds will rot. Thank you.
Yes, I’d try and harvest them before the rainy season. If it is a black seeded variety they are probably ready.
The internet will not tell me anything about how many times each week I have to water my sunflower does the person reading this have any tips on how much I have to water my sunflower I am only in third grade and I don’t know a lot about sunflowers
It depends on the weather and how warm it is. I’d probably go for watering once every 2 or 3 days.
My seed just started to grow and it has one “petal” to the side while everything else if lumped together I’m pretty sure nd as I transferred it to soil, the days went by as where one petal starts browning up and wrinkles on the top and I’m not sure how to fix that. Please help!!
It is normal for the leaves to go brown, just make sure you keep it well watered and see if it recovers.
Hello, I have a mammoth sunflower that was taking off really well (in ground not potted) and now the new growing leaves are very wrinkled as they develop. The color of the leaves is good though. Any thoughts?
If it has a healthy colour then I wouldn’t be too worried. Just make sure it’s well watered.
My sunflowers haven’t bloomed yet cuz they’re still young but the leaves are being picked at and eaten or something by little birds like finches or something why do they do this do they use the leaves of the plant food it happened last year as well doesn’t seem to hurt the plant but it just looks weird with holes all over the leaves
I’ve not heard of that before. You could try putting a net over them to keep the birds off.
I am preparing for hurricane Florence and have 2 – 1 flower stalks in a large outdoor planter . The blooms have been spent for approx 2-3 weeks. Can I dehead them without damaging the seed for next year ?? Please help, I love the sunflower so much because it’s my handicap neighbors favorite flowers, so I planted them in my yard so she could see them and was really happy with the output from this 1rst time seed and want to save for next year and have more for her to see :-). Thanks
I harvested my sunflowers and let them dry for 4 or 5 days. I went to try and remove the seeds today and a bunch of worms started coming out. Is this normal? Can I still harvest the seeds?
Not something I’ve seen, but if the seeds are full in shape and dry they will probably be fine.
My sunflowers sprouted from seed but then have been eaten back to just a stalk, will they keep growing or start again?
I don’t think they’ll recover unfortunately. I’d plant some more.
I need seeds in India , White sunflower striped seeds. Please send me supplier details. Gaint single Sunflower
Hello, I live in Las Vegas and had a random sunflower grow after the summer months it ended up being 11 1/2 feet tall and had a head on it about 18 inches wide. It was fully bloomed with flowers around it and then we got a frost. It was not wilted I had to cut it down very sad moment LOL. My question is I wanted to use the seeds on it. ( this is the biggest one I’ve ever had in over four years) It was not wilting yet and I don’t think it was indeed mature enough do you know anywhere I can find if there’s any seeds on there that I can use for my next year‘s harvest ? I would really appreciate any help. I can send you pictures of the head trying to dry out however it’s been very cold. Thank you in advance Heather schneiberg
Have a look at the seeds in the centre, if they feel round and full, they’ll probably be good to use for the next year.
Hi New to the sunflower growing scene as I haven’t grown them since I was eleven!
I planted seeds from my organic health shop in three different locations in my garden. In the sunniest and best drained soil spot, four thrived beautifully and I have about fifteen heads. I cut two of the heads off as they were drooping and the seeds were dropping into the ground so I thought they must be ready to harvest.
But just reading the blog i wonder if I cut them too early. They still have tiny florets on each seed which rub off easy and the back of the sunflower is still green.
What do you think? I would just like to know so that I don’t cut the others too early – maybe I should put netting over the heads to catch the seeds?
Thanks for your advice 🙂
You might be fine if the seeds are whole. I normally wait until the back of the head yellows a bit just to be sure unless it is wet to stop mould developing.
I planted red/chocolate colored sunflowers last year and harvested all the seeds. I planted a row of atleast 40 plants with the same seeds i harvested this year and they are all blooming yellow….why?
It was probably an F1 Hybrid which are a cross of two varieties and means the seeds you plant in the first year are consistent in their appearance but subsequent offspring revert to their ancestor’s appearance.
Hi, I recently bought one fully blooming Choco and planted into a garden box outside. It sits in great direct sunlight. We had continuous rain for about 4 days shortly after that, but it has been dry and sunny the last two days. Some the bottom leaves are turning yellow and crunchy. The yellow petals on the bloom are turning white a little bit. Is this a sign of too much water? If so, is it doomed or can I do anything to fix this?
They don’t tend to like a lot of water but the flowers don’t tend to last too long. I don’t think it is doomed, it is just coming to the end of its natural life.
I have bought some seed of the blue sunflower, blueship variety, and I am wondering if this is a hybrid or heritage type as I would like to collect seed for the following year?
Thanks