Tips for growing sunflowers from the ThriftyFun community.
Plant them in full sun.
Plant seeds 1 inch deep and 6 inches apart (or according to package directions). Water well after planting.
Seedlings usually germinate within a week or two and take 80-90 days to reach maturity.
For taller plants that flower earlier, start them in 4 inch peat pots indoors.
Seedlings are usually thinned to 12-18 inches apart, but can be plants more closely together in containers.
Russian Giants, Kong and Mammoth varieties grow as tall as 15 feet and have flower heads as large as 20" in diameter. You'll need a pot at least 15" inches deep and 15" in diameter (or larger) to grow these giants.
Sunflower roots grow deep and spread wide so make sure you use a large enough container.
Tall plants may need staking.
Keep the soil in your containers moist and fertilize them with a 1/2 strength organic liquid fertilizer every two weeks.
Sunflowers need lots of water (plants 6 feet tall can consume 8 gallons per week), but over-watering them can cause deformed seed heads. Use well-drained soil and keep the soil in your containers evenly moist. Water seedling deeply once per week for the first month so they develop deep roots. After that, water your sunflowers lightly every day.
Good Luck!
Ellen
By Wendola
By Michelle
By Frugalelf
By Maggie
By Sunflower Queen
By Badwater
I feed all birds and they always leave me a gift of Sunflowers. I have hundreds of sunflowers, just from birdseed.
By PJ from Oklahoma
Any tips for growing sunflowers?
By Billy
By Viktorija
04/10/2012
We live on a hill, good breeze & wind all the time and our soil is a bit on the clay-ey side. I just plant the seeds, water them every now & then and basically leave them alone. They grow beautifully. The ones I planted on Mar. 3rd are about 4" tall now and doing great, even with a couple of late season light frosts.
Yes, they're quite easy! Good luck & have fun with them!
I raised Mammoth Sunflowers this year, and they were beautiful. I would like to try to do it for a living, what spray should I use for the bugs that get into the seeds?
By Ellen Brown
Are sunflowers perennials? Do they re-grow each year or do you have to plant new seeds every year?
Hardiness Zone: 6a
By Mark from Birmingham, MI
By pergammano
10/09/2010
Sunflowers are annuals, but do self-seed! Mulliens look like overgrown Foxglove, are annuals too, and also self-seed prolifically. They are not nearly as pretty as sunflowers, and can be quite invasive and do only come in yellow! Helleniums are family members and some are perennials. There are so many beautiful Sunflowers, it is just fun to plant different colors/versions each year. They are varied from creamy whites, to beautiful deep burgundies, even multi-colored!
My brother said that the poop of African worms is organic and in their school they have something like a pig pen, 3 meters wide and 2 meters tall and inside of that is full of soil and African worms. Every month their teacher harvests the poop using it like soil for planting. My brother got some and put it in our backyard. I got some of it and put it on my sunflower; is it good or what?
By Eunel from Philippines
How many leaves should a sunflower have if it is more than one month old?
By Eunel from Philippines
The plant has two or more sucker flowers heads. Should I cut them out or trim the bottom leaves?
By Erik
My sunflower just keeps growing! The head hasn't come out yet and I am wondering if there is anything I should do to ensure that the head gets big as well. I've tied it up loosely to the garage so it won't fall over.
By kattankerous
07/28/2005
It looks like a "maximimus", or something similar to that name...lol
We grow regular sunflowers by the acre here and we just use ferilizers, 10-10-10.
But in my small gardens and flower beds i plant these also and i use the above fertilizer and every now and then a dose of the liquid for flowers. And the heads get so big and heavy if it is not tied to something it will bend and break.
But yours looks like it is gonna be a normal size head. This is what you want.
Will you post a picture of it when it does bloom???
I am a sunflower fanatic....lol.
~kat
I am planning to grow sunflowers in my dryland. Please give me some advice to grow a perfect harvest.
Regards.
Srinivas
Hardiness Zone: 1
By Srinivas from India
By desertgal
I grew some mammoth sunflowers and have seeds. Can I plant those seeds? How do I use the seeds for planting?
Hardiness Zone: 7a
By Venman from Ocean County, NJ
By Contester
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Growing Sunflowers