Sunflower seeds not germinating

[BeachAndSea]

Absolute novice here - my children planted a sunflower seed each in pots with multipurpose compost. We were 10 days in and no signs of germination. What might we be doing wrong? We have watered them slightly daily (as per google!) to keep them moist and put them on the windowsill. Thank you!

Give it longer. Is it a south facing window?

yes it is.

Might be too cold, they need some heat to get going. Are they near a rad? Mine are on a heated mat and have come up in a couple of days.

I have moved it to the sill above a radiator and live in hope.

Or put them in a a warm airing cupboard - they need heat rather than light to germinate. Need to check regularly though, at least daily, to keep moist and once germinated they must be moved into the light.

Have been very successful getting my seeds to germinate this way before I was gifted a heat mat which I still reluctantly use since it has an operational cost.

oh brilliant, thank you!

do you stop and give up after two weeks though if they still haven’t germinated?

It's too early. I would sow them in may. I sow seeds in a north facing kitchen window sill, which people assure me is impossible. My tomatoes, peppers, cornflowers beg to differ.

Put the pots in a plastic bag and put on a warm windowsill. The bag acts like a mini greenhouse 🤞 my windowsill is full lol

It is possible that you have some dud seeds but unless they are very old it’s unlikely that all of them are duds.

If you’ve just moved them to the warm area you need to give time, ignoring the time before moving them. I would give another 1-2 weeks. Also be careful not to over water, the soil just needs to be moist, not waterlogged.

If after another 1-2 weeks they’ve not germinated you still have plenty of time to start again.

thank you!

the problem with windowsills is that they get hot in the day but cold at night. I take things off them at night and I'm in the South of France.

Sunflowers take a short time to germinate so I'd poke a few more in the pots if it were me just to make sure.

If you have been watering them every day then I suspect they have been over watered and may have rotted away.

It’s too early for sunflowers - if they germinate they will get tall and spindly and then you’ll be needing to plant them out before the weather is warm enough. Wait 6 weeks.
plant some sweet peas if you want something to grow now that’s a reliable germinator!