Help me with my Sunflower!

[gibba8]

I am not a gardener by any means but I have been looking after my daughters sunflower she brought home as a tiny plant from school.
It is now in a larger pot and is nearly 6 foot tall. We have had terrible weather here the last few days and it has taken a battering! I am surprised it has lasted this long!
Yesterday I noticed the leaves have lots of dark brown patches on them and are looking very unhealthy indeed. The sunflower head is there but not opened yet.
Now for my probably silly questions-
Can sunflowers be overwatered as there has been torrential rain here in the north or can they be overfed with artificial plant food? Thanks.

[loveverona]

Some of our sunflowers have patches on the leaves but otherwise seem to be doing OK. Overwatering - difficult one,. I would have thought in a way no, because they grow in abundance in Italy which of course has little rainfall., But if I don't water mine almost every day they start to wilt (we haven't had proper rain for weeks in East Anglia).

I was always under the impression that SFs didn't need much special treatment and were pretty easy to grow.

One thing I would say is that it may now be wanting to spread its roots. If it's 6 foot tall and still in a pot, it's probably time to get it in the ground somewhere.

HTH.

[gibba8]

Thanks for your reply.
Since I posted yesterday the leaves have gone totally brown and brittle and very quickly died!
Gutted because I have looked after it for weeks and it was doing so well until the rain and being overfed!
Next year I will learn by my mistakes and put it in a much bigger pot also.

[Chatelaine]

They will do better outside in a sunny spot , tied to a stake if you can manage it. The roots will be stronger and after that the plant/leaves should recover.

[gibba8]

It is in a sunny spot Chatelaine and also tied to a stake. All the leaves are totally dead but the flower head definetly seems to be emerging. There is hope yet!

[Meglet]

can you put it in the ground? I think they do best with space to spread roots and gallons of water.

See my profile for last years monster SF's.