Content

• Advice
• What you need

• Short-day plants: These plants need a long night time to stimulate flowering. You should plant this plant in the late summer (or start growing indoors in mid-spring).
• Perennial plants: Long-day trees usually bloom in mid-summer.
• Average daily plants: Plants of this type can be planted at any time during the growing season.
• Plan ahead based on when the plant will bloom. Most sunflower varieties with only one stalk will bloom 60 days after sowing, while branched sunflower varieties will bloom 90 days later.

Drills. Flower growers usually plant large flower sunflower seeds with a single stalk at a minimum depth of 2.5 cm. In a home garden with high quality soil (not too dry or too sandy), you can plant your seeds more than 1cm deep.

• Sow more seeds if there is more room. You can prune after the seedling grows, and some of the seeds may be lost due to pests.

Water the seedlings daily. Sunflowers in the rooting stage need plenty of water. You need to keep the soil moist but not soaking wet until the seedling emerges. This process takes about 5-10 days, but it can take longer if the weather is cold. When the seedlings have sprouted, water them about 7.5 to 10 centimeters away from the plant to stimulate root growth.

Reduce watering as the plant matures. Sunflowers are quite drought tolerant when the roots of the poles have plunged into the ground. They will do well with regular and deep watering, especially during bud and bloom, but allow the soil to dry completely between watering. Watering too much often harms the plants more than watering too little.

• Try not to get the flowers wet to avoid damaging them.

Place stakes for plants in windy areas. Wind can cause severe damage to most branches and trees over 90 cm high. Use a cloth or soft material to tie the stem to the sturdy poles. You may need to put up a windbreak for sunflowers that are too tall. advertisement

Part 3 of 3: Harvesting sunflower seeds and flowers

1. 

   Cut flowers when they bloom ¼. At this stage, the petals prick up perpendicular to the central disc. You should cut the flowers at this time for a durable flower (usually 5 days, some varieties are even more durable):
   • Cut flowers in the early morning or early evening.
   • Use a knife or scissors to cut clean plants.
   • Discard any leaves below the water level in the bottle.
   • Plug the flowers into the water immediately.

2. 

   
   
   Cut flowers to dry. In this case, it's best to wait for the flower to half bloom and the petals to fall out. After cutting the flowers, there are many ways to preserve them. The easiest way is to tie the stalks in bunches and hang them upside down in a warm, ventilated room.

3. 

   Protect the seeds to prevent birds and squirrels from being lost. If you like to self-harvest seeds, you will have to "fight" with the animals around. Cover the flowers with paper bags and linens as the flowers begin to droop and drop their petals.
   • Most sunflowers will have more seeds if you attract bees into your garden to pollinate them.

4. 

   Harvest the seeds. You can cut off the seed-bearing heads when the disc in the center of the flower starts to change color from green to yellow. Store in a cool, dry place until the flower disc turns dark brown and the seeds are edible. You can eat them raw or roasted.
   • Store the seeds in a cloth bag to allow air circulation. This helps prevent mold.
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Advice

• Prune the plant by removing the weakest seedlings if you want the flowers to fully bloom.
• Falling seeds on the ground can cause harm next year if you are not careful. To control the number of plants, prune the dead flowers before the seeds fall off.
• Sunflowers will shade themselves over the weeds. You only need to clear the grass while the seedlings are growing.
• Sunflowers usually don't need pruning. Prune the bottom leaves if they are wilted, and cut dead flowers from the branching plants.

What you need

• Sunflower seed
• Country
• Pile