Sunflowers

cj maxx

I've took a notion I'd plant some sunflowers, anyone done this ? and any tips. Cheers

looksee

'Most' people have done this at some time or another. Put the sees in individual pots, keep watered and leave on a sunny windowledge, as soon as they are past the first real leaves stage plant them out into bigger pots in a compost /soil mix and put in a sheltered (ie frost free) spot. When they get to about 8 inches high or so plant them out in a sunny sheltered position in decent soil, keep them watered and feed them. The shelter is so they don't get blown over, you could put canes on them to give them support. This is assuming you are growing the giant ones which are fun. If you want more flower and less falling around the place you could grow the shorter ones.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118912596#Comment_118912596

I'll try the big ones. Good tip about the supports. Like wattles for peas ?

Is it indoors on a window or outside?

Google says plant in late May , are they seeds easy found? Sorry for the 101 questions 😅

HeidiHeidi

I used bamboo canes left over from when I had to get rid of the bloody stuff before it lifted my entire patio.

I grew absolute monsters last year, they were in those seed bombs which I was given as a Christmas present. They were about 9 or 10 feet high!! So you could just toss seeds into the ground and they will probably grow. But I think you'd need to leave that until you're guaranteed no more frosty nights.

Previous years I've done the little pots on the windowsill thing, and it's fun nursing them along.

HeidiHeidi

Found a pic 🤣

Dempo1

I planted some last year, cheekily used the seeds you get for birds , I didnt think they would grow but astonishingly they did. I planted in small pots in march , kept near windows and then replanted into larger pots and then out side late April.

The big problem I found was giving them support , so used bamboo canes. I had some success, given I was just experimenting , watering is crucial and I just used compost , also kept weeds out . One thing I did learn was its advisable to remove dead leaves that remain at end of stems.

But of fun and color .

Dempo1

Forgot the seeds I used, purchased in Dealz, I buy them for birds but grew perfectly and cheap, Black Sunflower seeds

Thelonious Monk

i have a few going in the garden now, although two of them already perished, I think the wind snapped them. Just started them indoors and then put them out at about 30cm high. This is my first time so I'll be happy if even one of them make it to maturity.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118912648#Comment_118912648

Lovely but one broke its leg 🤣

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118912726#Comment_118912726

I think two keeled over because I never got around to staking them. Couldn't take their own weight!!

You'd want to have seen the size of the rootballs when I went to clear the bed 😱

Dempo1

I meant to say plenty of sun exposure needed and if possible protection from wind. I didn't put mine outside to avoid frost and last year and indeed this year there was frost very late , I'm in the mountains so wind protection was important.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118912737#Comment_118912737

They looked good but yes the support bamboo important and timing when you put them in, I actually made an entire support rack , a little over the top but it was fun and they brighten up my garden .

Dempo1

Not a great pic but I have a large bench so just built a support structure onto it

cj maxx

Am I a late late for this year,?

HeidiHeidi

Definitely not! I think it was May when I threw the seed bombs down last year.

Just go for it, they're almost foolproof!

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913024#Comment_118913024

Yes agreed, frost risk gone now I think, I'd just maybe plant in small pots, keep inside to let seeds sprout, plenty of water, compost and keep near windows.

magicbastarder

about 15 years ago, i threw a load of kelkin 'eating' sunflower seeds down on some fresh soil i'd put down in place of the gravel that had previously been there, in my little front garden in phibsboro. i had a jungle of sunflowers that summer, some probably 3m tall. the neighbours loved it, like a tiny field of big sunflowers.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913444#Comment_118913444

If can can find my pots in this crammed house ( moved from a 3bed semi to a 2 bed bungalow) , and took everything) I'll give it a shot inside and move outside when then weather's better.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913486#Comment_118913486

Get cracking and post pic's of updates , let see how much of green fingers you are 😁

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913486#Comment_118913486

Handiest things are the little fibre pots you can get in a garden centre (or the likes of Woodies, probably) that you can bring your seedlings on in on the windowsill, and then just stick the whole thing in the ground. You get a sleeve of about 30 of them for a fiver or so.

looksee

I got a freebie pack of sunflower seeds with an order earlier this year, I feel inspired to grow them just for fun 😀 I have something of a wind tunnel garden so I am not sure where I will plant them, but I'll give them a go!

HeidiHeidi

Those ones in the pic I posted earlier had flower heads the size of dinner plates! Not sure if it comes across in the photo just how huge they were.

I was all set to cut them for a vase (I was going to be away for a bit so would miss the best of the flowering) - but when I saw the bees absolutely glued to them, I couldn't do it! So I left them until they all fell over, then cut the heads off and left them on top of flower pots - they rotted in, the birds fed on the heads all winter as far as I know, and now I think I have a maze of new little plants growing from the old heads...... I haven't done a thing, though, including not protecting them from frost, so they may not come to anything....

But they're brilliant food for the bird/bee life, and so pretty, and they just cheer me up to look at them.

Everyone should grow them!

looksee

I had a sunflower head hanging upside down from the bird feeder the year before last, the bluetits finally figured out how to hang upside down from it to get the seeds, but few other birds could manage it, they had to wait for windfalls.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913654#Comment_118913654

Would you tip all 30 into the pot ?

10-10-20

I took a head home from France one year and planted the seeds in the greenhouse the next. As the light wasn't great, they grew very tall and by the time they were fininshed in late August, they were out the greenhouse's roof window and were about 9 if not 10 foot tall.

I got a pack of minis this year for my daughter, I'll be planting them in the coming days.

looksee

All 30 what? If you mean 30 pots of sunflower seedlings, no, they need space, once they are established plant them about 50cm apart.

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913918#Comment_118913918

All 30 what??

You'd put some compost into the pots, and one seed per pot, and let them germinate in the sun on a windowsill - and then when the plant is a few inches high, just bung the lot pot and all into wherever you're going to grow the plant to full size.

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding your question.....

ETA - as looksee said above, you need to plant them well spaced out, especially the giant ones - the rootballs can wind up the size of footballs!

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913935#Comment_118913935

Dead on , I'll start on it tomorrow :)

Supercell

Just sowed some last weekend into pots on a southwest facing windowledge.

Grow them most years, pretty fool proof, definitely not too late if you havent sowed already. Some varieties have multiple flowers on them which last longer.

Living Off The Splash

Mine were over 11 feet tall last year with multiple flowers on the heads. Up to 6 flowers. They really have to be staked well because they topple over very easily. We had over 100 flowers spread around the garden. Really lovely but very difficult to manage. This year we are growing the smaller variety, still beautiful but without the maintenance.

josip

Grew some giant ones in window boxes on the balcony of an apartment we were renting 20 years ago.

But in July we bought our own apartment. Didn't have the heart to chop the sunflowers, so we transported them, in our car, a Megane coupe.

The new apartment didn't have a balcony, so we kept them inside near the window.

It was 2.4m high ceiling and they went all the way up and then seemed to stoop back down to peer out the window.

We lived in a greenish semi-darkness until September.

Happy days.

hirondelle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118912747#Comment_118912747

Indeed. In France they are called Tournesol- "turns to the sun" (much like the invasive Winter Heliotrope (Heliotrope is Greek for "Sun follower")

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118920881#Comment_118920881

I didn't know that, but its so true, its amazing to watch them follow to sun 😉

Thelonious Monk

How did you get on? I have a couple of multiheaded huge bastards over 8ft tall, and a smaller one with a lovely face. Never planted them before, the bees seem to like them.

GavPJ

I planted some around April/May and nothing.

Anyone know if the Sunflower field is there this year in Ballyboughal?

Stunning it was last year.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119340454#Comment_119340454

did you start them indoors?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119340454#Comment_119340454

Same here, planted them in fresh compost well watered and still not a thing.

Could have something to do with the crap May and June I wonder

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119340399#Comment_119340399

Look great, I didn't plant this year but had great success last year 👌

GavPJ

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119340468#Comment_119340468

No. Complete rookie mistake.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119340498#Comment_119340498

thanks, did you take seeds out of them?

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119340595#Comment_119340595

Honestly, no, I actually planted black sunflower seeds (bird feed woukd you believe) thinking no chance, heres tge results last year, I'd not have the patience to take seeds of plants 🤣

Dempo1

I've actually a perennial species of a type of sunflower, when in bloom, extraordinarily beautiful, very Hardy and just requires a pruning annually, I'm not sure what's it called but this one has grown from a single potted plant to this and I've a few cuttings around my garden. Due to bloom shortly.

Butterfly's thrive on it and the foliage creates a natural barrier for weeds

wildwillow

Thats Rudbeckia. Comes in all sizes, including very tall.

My sunflowers tend to self seed every year so appear in odd spots. Birds will often eat seeds sown in the soil so better to start in pots.

Can be a real nuisance to remove the roots of the really large ones. Birds love the seed heads.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119341007#Comment_119341007

Thank you, yes birds too love this plant, I've located these in areas we're it's not a concern re roots etc, obviously sun light exposure important but just a Hardy plant that needs little care 😉