Mammoth Sunflowers

[mydogdory]

Hi! I have never planted Mammoth Sunflowers before. Right now the are growing like crazy!! Any sunflower tips?? Thanks!!

 

[ninnymary]

Hi mydogdory, welcome to our gardening family. Sorry I can't help you with your sunflowers but there are plenty of great people here who can. I just wanted to welcome you. This is a great site with great people. I know you will enjoy getting to know us.

Mary

 

[baymule]

I never planted sunflowers until this year. I planted a few black oil sunflowers for chicken treats. I guess we'll see how they grow! Good luck with yours!

 

[journey11]

We've planted them several times, including this year. They pretty much do their own thing. They are very tall, like 9' or so high, so you'd want to put them where they won't cast shade on your other plants. When the petals begin to shrivel and dry, the seeds are mature. Cut the head off leaving a couple of inches for a "handle", tie it with sting and hang it high from rafters or some dry place like your porch, garage or barn. Mice love them and will wear them out. That's why you have to hang them. Let them cure for a few weeks (just test one and see if they look/taste right). Then you can eat them plain, or soak in salt water and lightly roast them.

Also, sunflowers are not good neighbors and send out an allopathic substance from their roots that inhibits the growth of other plants close by them, so you'll want to put a few feet of distance out from them with anything you plant nearby.

 

[mydogdory]

Thanks for the welcomes! Thanks for the info journey11!! I will do exactly what you suggest!!

 

[Carol Dee]

Another suggestion is to try to prop them up before they get top heavy and a big rain/wind blows them over. Ours get planted against the garage and we add a few metal fence posts along the front of them and rope 'em in so to speak.

 

[MontyJ]

I have grown giant sunflowers. Journey is spot on. I never staked mine, and even in some terrible summer thunderstorms they never blew over. But, come harvest time you better have a plan for getting the root mass out of the ground! I cut mine down with a chainsaw and spent hours with a mattock and shovel digging the stumps out. They reminded me of digging out palm trees!

 

[mydogdory]

Another suggestion is to try to prop them up before they get top heavy and a big rain/wind blows them over. Ours get planted against the garage and we add a few metal fence posts along the front of them and rope 'em in so to speak.

I will defiantly do that!! Thanks!!

I have grown giant sunflowers. Journey is spot on. I never staked mine, and even in some terrible summer thunderstorms they never blew over. But, come harvest time you better have a plan for getting the root mass out of the ground! I cut mine down with a chainsaw and spent hours with a mattock and shovel digging the stumps out. They reminded me of digging out palm trees!

That's crazy!! Maybe next year I'll plant smaller ones. lol Thanks!

 

[annageckos]

Also, sunflowers are not good neighbors and send out an allopathic substance from their roots that inhibits the growth of other plants close by them, so you'll want to put a few feet of distance out from them with anything you plant nearby.

I've heard this before, but I've never had a problem with other plants growing around sunflowers. I've even had some in my veggie garden without any problems. Maybe it's only a problem if you have a lot of sunflowers? I like to tuck sunflowers all over my gardens, in between other plants. Everything grows great.

 

[Wishin']

I had a bunch of sunflowers I was planning on putting in my garden, is that a bad idea?