Mammoth Sunflowers

[Grasshopperglock]

Hello everyone.

Just some thoughts dealing with the big sunflowers. First is a mental note. Sunflower heads face east and only east. Except some smaller ones. The 6'-12' tall flowers only face east.

Mental note #2. Don't plant them with a fence directly east of the flowers. They end facing the fence when they bloom. Then after a week, the pedals shrink up and the seeds come in. The heads point straight down.

In about 2 weeks the seeds will be ready. The rear of the flower head is beginning to turn yellow. Once it turns brown, the head is getting cut off. I have a mesh bag on the biggest flower head. Thinking it was a squirrel tearing up the flower. It wasn't. The wind was banging the flower against the fence. The plant corrected itself and it bent the flower away from the fence.

That's all for now according to wide world of mammoth sunflowers...

[mac]

Hello everyone.

Just some thoughts dealing with the big sunflowers. First is a mental note. Sunflower heads face east and only east. Except some smaller ones. The 6'-12' tall flowers only face east.

Mental note #2. Don't plant them with a fence directly east of the flowers. They end facing the fence when they bloom. Then after a week, the pedals shrink up and the seeds come in. The heads point straight down.

In about 2 weeks the seeds will be ready. The rear of the flower head is beginning to turn yellow. Once it turns brown, the head is getting cut off. I have a mesh bag on the biggest flower head. Thinking it was a squirrel tearing up the flower. It wasn't. The wind was banging the flower against the fence. The plant corrected itself and it bent the flower away from the fence.

That's all for now according to wide world of mammoth sunflowers...

that's kind of strange. mine seem to follow the sun through it's path.......

[Grasshopperglock]

that's kind of strange. mine seem to follow the sun through it's path.......

I thought mine would also follow the sun. Nope. The pedals lasted about a week. The heads stayed pointed towards the sun rise. Now, all of the heads are pointed down. The tallest plant grew to about 10'. The next biggest, 7'. The rest grew to about 5'-6'. None of them tracked the sun.

Single head on the majority. With a smaller plant growing branches. All of the others look like a fairy tale bean stock. (You know...the bean stock with a giant living at the top).

I lucked out because the squirrels haven't noticed them and the birds don't pay them attention.

[Ludwig]

Perhaps they could not turn because the head was parallel with the fence and prevented the turning. I conjecture this possibility because you mentioned the head banging on the fence. You may want to plant about a foot away from the fence next time.

[Grasshopperglock]

Perhaps they could not turn because the head was parallel with the fence and prevented the turning. I conjecture this possibility because you mentioned the head banging on the fence. You may want to plant about a foot away from the fence next time.

I germinated the seeds individually. 9 plants total. Planted when they had four true leaves. They were planted more then a foot from the fence. With two feet spacing between the plants.

The area where they are planted is a corner. One points North to South. The other East to West. No difference in the plants besides height. The North to South gets more sun.

I'm going to save some seeds from the biggest sunflower. I bought the seeds from HEB. Some cheap seed pack. The genetics wasn't fantastic. Out 9 plants, one was a runt. 6 were medium in height. With 2 sunflowers actually growing to mammoth size.

Next year, they won't be next to the fence. Instead, they'll go in a flower bed next to the house.


The butternut squash is coming alone...

[Grasshopperglock]

On a side note.

I had a guy give me a bag of lawn fertilizer. Plain white bag with a piece of paper describing it. It was something like 20% nitrogen. Strongest fertilizer I've seen. Where the guy got the bag is a mystery. My guess its a government bought product that had been 'redistributed'.

Well anyway, I did two applications. One in early spring and one in late spring.



....even with temps in the upper 90's and with me not watering the grass. I'm having to mow every 4 days. This fertilizer is a no joke.

[Grasshopperglock]

Well, the flower heads are beginning to brown. Right now, they're yellow.

The plants look like they're ready to die.

Ill wait a little while longer to where the back of the flower has mostly brown patches. Then Ill pull the seeds out.

The seeds get boiled in salt water. Then roasted in the oven. 400° for 10-20mins. Out of 8 plants, I'd guess at least a pound of seeds.

[mac]

Well, the flower heads are beginning to brown. Right now, they're yellow.

The plants look like they're ready to die.

Ill wait a little while longer to where the back of the flower has mostly brown patches. Then Ill pull the seeds out.

The seeds get boiled in salt water. Then roasted in the oven. 400° for 10-20mins. Out of 8 plants, I'd guess at least a pound of seeds.

sounds like a dollar chasin' a dime......