Sunflowers

[HelloMist]

When are you starting sunflowers? Mine were rubbish last year but good the year before. Going to try succession sowing for a better chance (and a few direct although I'm not too hopeful they will come up). Maybe it will help that I have a few types, including saved ones.

Any tips?

I have mine on the window sills since Mother’s Day. Some are new seeds, others are the ones I took from last year’s sunflowers. They are shooting up already 😀

Mine grew to be something like 12 feet last year. My tips are to place them south facing, repot them into bigger pots as they grow. I can’t remember when I planted them but it might have been June. I fed them with tomato food.

I will check if I have a picture from last year. Yes I do, not a long shot though to show the height. This was from just one seed. It was covered in bees all last summer.

Good luck!

The instructions on the packet says sow directly to ground, so I’ll be interested to see what others are doing!

I still have some seeds left over. I’ll put them straight into the ground and see what happens. It would save a lot of work.
I imagine they would be devoured by snails though!

Sown mine directly into the ground today!

Are you protecting them from the slugs etc?

they are in a raised deep bed which doesn’t seem to get slugs - not sure why, I could make a fortune! Maybe pansies are a deterrent?
The viola pots however seem to be slug nurseries and playgrounds.

I always sow mine indoors in root trainers and transplant them later on. I’ll probably start some over the weekend. Never had any problems growing them.

I'll probably start some this weekend - I like the red ones best. Will start then in pots and re-pot as they get bigger, then plant out in late May probably. I have a lot of slugs so they need to be big enough to withstand a munching.

Thank you for the replies! Happy to hear updates if you want to post them. I sowed a couple indoors and some direct. 2 have planted out with half bottles over, they aren't completely munch-proof but it's something to help until they are bigger. Going to sow a few more in the next few days. @Mutabiliss it's a good idea to try and grow them on a bit first - have only really planted out when still quite small/weak. Will do this if I have room inside or in plastic greenhouse!

I find they are slug and snail magnets when first planted out. They need a lot of protection. I always start off indoors. This year I’ve been surprised at how much water the little seedlings need. I forgot one for a few days and the poor wee thing died.

Mine are doing well outside in the plastic greenhouse. I tend to treat things mean and if they die I accept that as I don't have enough space inside to be raising all my seedlings. I swear it makes the ones that do make it tougher plants. Surprisingly I've lost none so far but I do live in the south east and it's been pretty mild.

How are your sunflowers doing?

Mine have bloomed this week.

Do they continue to grow in height once they’ve bloomed? I really can’t remember

Slugs have got all mine :( so we have none this year

Mine are absolutely massive, I’m delighted with them. I will get a photo when they flowers come out.

Sorry to hear that @Beaniesmumsie

Looking forward to seeing the picture @3luckystars I love mine so much. I saw a bee on one of them today. I always pot my seeds on Mother’s Day in march, it’s my Mother’s Day tradition for myself 😀

I’ve just read back over the thread. The seeds I put straight into the ground didn’t appear at all.

Ooh, can I join? DD and I planted straight into the ground, but in the first week of July so we'll get late flowering. We've got quite a few but I desperately need to buy a few stakes. One has already been smashed by heavy rain we had this week.

I'm weirdly excited about it - it's my first time!

Welcome, @OhBling, of course!

Sorry to hear it @Beaniesmumsie.

My direct ones didn't come up either, and several others got eaten. Some small ones in a pot (that I'll transplant) and 3 others started in mini greenhouse are still going. They had decent roots before I planted them out so hopefully will flower. I had different seed varieties but not sure which they are any more!

We had a really bad storm last weekend. I still can’t believe that the sunflowers are still standing, completely unaffected.

How are all of yours?

I must remember to plant mine at different times next year, to get longer blooms