Growing sunflowers - total novice!

[eleventy3isthemagicnumber]

I have practically zero gardening experience! But thought I'd grow some sunflowers with the kids.

We planted them and they've shot up. The instructions we got with them say not to put them outside till late May, and then to take them in at night for a while while they get used to being outside. But they're about 12 inches high already and growing fast. They'll be massive by the end of May won't they?

We live in the SE so hotter than a lot of the UK.

Do we really need to wait till late May to put them out?

Cheers :)

tbh. I would plant them out now.
we have sown some directly today.
they need to be protected from slugs and snails until the get going.

Can I just plant them in the ground? I don't need to do the putting them in at night thing?

They're currently in a (hot!) conservatory.

We've down ours directly outside in the last 2 weeks. Think they should be fine. Remember to keep the seeds afterwards for next year and the birds!

in the ground is best, they can get very deep roots.
ours are in builder's buckets on the balcony.

I’ve put mine out today. I hope they survive!!

Can I just plant the seeds in my culinary seed mix? I fancy sunflowers now!

if they are not rosted/salted. yes.
my best sunflowers one year were from a bird seed mix.

I think they might be shocked to go from a hot conservatory to outside all day and night. I would be tempted to put them outside in the day for a few days and bring them in at night before putting them permanently outside. The slugs are evil with them so go with pp idea to protect them.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

We're planning on planting them in a little partch of soil in the middle of a patio. Am I naive in thinking the slugs and snails might not venture over the paving stones to get to them?

Am I naive in thinking the slugs and snails might not venture over the paving stones to get to them?

the slimy buggers will still try...
coffee grounds and crushed egg shell around the plant help.
once it's got going it's tough enough to withstand them.

Maybe put a couple out now, stage them a bit. You'll need to figure out how to protect them from slugs and snails.

Once they get proper big the stalk gets quite thick and bristly and they aren't as tasty anymore.
Last year I spent a fortune on used sheep's wool pellets and slug defence barrier granules. Coffee grounds work if you have the proper stuff at home, if coffee shops open again they often give them away free.
Once they die off in the autumn leave them for the goldfinches and bluetits to pick. Mine arrived in dec/jan and polished off all the dry seeds.

I put a plastic sleeve made from large coke bottle round mine, to protect from slugs till they are bigger.

Thanks for the slug foiler ideas, planting ours out today.

As pp have said they are robust once they get going. Enjoy

Update: a couple of the leaves are going a bit yellow. Could the sun in the conservatory be too strong?

Or are we under/over watering them maybe?

Is it the bottom leaves?

is it the seed leaves (the first ones that come up)?
if yes, that's normal.

I was wondering that too about the yellow seed leaves, good to know that's normal!

It's the bottom leaves.

The bigger plants have leaves at the top that are green and a second set further down that are yellow. Is that normal?

The first pair of leaves that the seed produces often die off. They usually look different to the leaves that follow (I can't remember with sunflowers). I don't know why- possibly because they are needed to push through the soil in the first stage of growth and as such have a different purpose to the rest of the leaves?