Seeding B.O.S.S. Update

The young lady at the feed store told me that they were probably heated after harvesting to dry them for storage not necessarily to prevent germination. She also gets volunteers around her feeder. Going to dampen some paper towels and find a warm spot to see if any will germinate. Thanks all. :)
 
Yesterday morning I put a handfull of seeds right out of the feed store bag on a cookie sheet between two moistened paper towels. This morning when I checked probably 10% of them had already sprouted. I will put as many as I can grow into seed starting pots and feed the remainder to my girls. Thanks everyone. :watering
 
A few years ago DW put out BOSS for a family of chipmunks that were living in our back yard. within a short time we had sunflowers popping up all over the place even in the middle of the lawn. DW then planted some in a planter on the patio they grew well and produced seed heads. We feed BOSS to our chickens all the time but I dont think that they leave even one seed to sprout, they love them!
 
I always like to see what nature is planning- I get lots of volunteers under my feeders. I am telling you, those seeds are sprouted and 4 inches tall, a good month before I would dream of putting something out in the ground.... I had a raised bed near by the feeders that I tried various things in. I have given up- now mother nature and I plant it with sunflowers and morning glories. If you can't fight them, join them!!!
 
Considering that I just paid the feed store $10.00 for 25 lbs You can bet I will be growing and harvesting these annually. :rainbow-sun
 
We use hulls from DH's work for bedding in my brooder....and the used hulls go in the compost.... and I get a lot of sunflowers in my garden from it. The birdseed you get in the stores is 99% from the plant DH works at and it WILL sprout :)
 
Thanks for all your input. I did raise about 20 plants this summer and the majority had nice large flowerheads. A few came up with five to ten small heads on a stalk. Now I need to find a way to keep the birds from 'helping" me harvest. By the time I thought they might be dry enough to store the birds had harvested 50% of my crop. I am experimenting with a design for a solar dehydrator so next year I don't have to wait so long for the seeds to dry and possibly keep the entire crop.
 
I have wondered if using 1/4" hardware cloth would make it easier to remove the seed from the heads. The seed could then be spread out and allowed to dry.

Of course, this would have to be done where the wild birds don't help themselves to an easy meal ;). A sparrow nearly flew right into me when I was cutting the sunflowers this year. He was obviously surprised to find me there but I could feel the air from his wings on my face - surprise to me, too!

The birds visit the sunflowers all thru the growing season. Those big plants attract the bugs and I think that may be what brings in the birds. Sunflowers also provide convenient perches to survey other parts of the garden :cool:. I have never found tomato worms in my garden since I began growing sunflowers there.

Steve
 
One year I hung the heads off my clothesline in the basement- and it worked quite well.
 
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