A Field of Sunflowers

[DrRod]

Has anyone out there planted a field of sunflowers? I think they would make a great show. Can you tell me what kind you planted, how much seed per acre, how you prepped the ground and planted, and what fertilizer you used.

Thanks

 

[PBinWA]

My field of sunflowers is just now starting to bloom. We had a late summer in the NW.

I used a bag of bird seed sunflowers for about a half an acre. They are varying in size from 2-6 feet tall. Someone else on this board recommended the bird seed thing. It worked great and the price was right. I'll be doing it again next year. I planted them in early April but it took until now for it to get warm enough for them to flower.

Considering that a 5 pound bag of bird seed goes pretty far you can be pretty lazy in throwing it around. I certainly didn't try to hard. I threw out a small quantity of wild flower seed and then covered the area with a 7 grain pasture mix. Everything seemed to take pretty well but the Sunflowers are really doing well where they got a good 1/2 inch covering of dirt.

I also bought a box of mixed sunflowers at Walmart and planted them as some edging in another area. They are nice as they have different colors from a deep brown to a light yellow. I plan on saving the seeds and using them next year.

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

I tried it on a small scale this year. In the spring I disked up an area about 8 feet wide and 100 feet long, covered it with a layer of manure, and disked that in maybe ten times over the course of a couple of weeks. When the weather got warm enough I planted three rows of sunflowers (I bought a package of 1000 seeds: Sun 3703 from Johnny's Seeds).

The first time I checked on them, I saw some sunflower seed hulls here and there where the birds had apparently dug up some of my seeds. "Ho, ho" , said I, "those rascally birds got a few of my seeds. Oh well, lots are left in the ground."

We got some nice rain and the plants started popping up. It was fun, except I noticed that a few of the new plants had been chewed off, and a few had been pulled out of the ground. "Hmmmm, must be those pesky rabbits", I said, "Oh well, lots more plants are coming up."

It kept going like that for the next few weeks, and eventually the critters ate every sunflower plant and now I have none. Sorry. I'm sure you were hoping for a success story. I suppose if I had planted a few acres, I would have had a lot of survivors.

In my area, some folks do plant whole fields of sunflowers, and they do look pretty impressive. On a small scale like mine, I guess I'll have to fence it in next time.

Good luck with yours, if you decide to do it.

Tom

 

[DrRod]

I feel your pain. There's not much we can plant that doesn't attract a horde of dinner guests. But I think you've got the right idea -- plant so much that they can't eat it all.

 

[HRS]

Sunflowers make a BEAUTIFUL accent for the garden. A few years ago I had a small pack of mammoth sunflower seed given to me. I planted them just for fun and thought that the few that came up added a special touch. The following year I bought a couple of packs of seeds that produce multiple flowers per plant. They also grow to a height of between 8 to 10 feet. Each flower is about as large as a saucer. Sorry, I can't remember their name. Thing is I haven't purchased any seeds for the last two years. I don't have too. Just let them seed up and they drop so many seeds that when you till your garden the next year, they come up everywhere. That is what happened this year. I allow the volunteers to grow along the first eight foot stretch of my garden. Tiller takes care of any beyond that point. They create a beautiful sight. When you look back towards the garden, all you see is a wall of green with hundreds of flowers. Tomatoes, okra, etc. are hidden behind them. Neighbors always comment on how nice the garden looks. This is important since I live in a subdivision, and I'm one of only two who have a desire to garden. However, they have taught me that things of great beauty have a side that is equally ugly. Once the flowers mature and start drying out, they are quite an ugly sight. Also, if you get into the type that grow tall as I've described, they have a very woody stalk when they die and dry out. I pull mine and stack in a burn pile. This scatters the seeds for next year. Next spring just till and they will grow. Now I'm guessing that these weren't hybrid seeds since the come back each year. The mammoth I first tried never came back on their own. So pay attention to the type of seed you get.

Wish I had a digital camera for some pics. Maybe Santa will bring me one for next year. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[kensfarm]

"Once the flowers mature and start drying out, they are quite an ugly sight"

But if left standing for the winter.. they are bird feeders. If you Bush hog them down in the spring.. the stems shatter apart pretty good.

 

[Ken_CT]

I prepared a nice sunflower garden in the front yard. Tilled, manure, and fertilized. Planted about a dozen different type of seeds, smaller type to the front, progressively taller towards the rear. The deer loved them. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.

 

[PM1]

We planted 1 acre of sunflowers for the first time this year, and they've turned out beautiful. There are lots of ways to do it -- here's a summary of what we did:

1) Bought 25,000 seeds from Main Street Seed and Supply through their website -- in 4 varieties. We've decided that we like the "Dove Oil Blend" variety best, although all were beautiful.
2) Marked off a 45-foot wide X 1,000-foot long plot, and had soil samples tested and learned that we needed to add 6,000 lbs. of lime and 1,000 lbs. of 10-10-10 fertilizer for our acre
3) Bought an old 2-bottom plow and disc at a local auction
4) Rented a lime buggy from our local co-op and spread 1/2 of the lime on the unplowed ground (3,000 lbs. of lime)
5) Plowed the ground, which turned that first lime application about 6-8 inches under
6) Rented the lime buggy again and spread the other 3,000 lbs. of lime
7) Bought a 3ph spreader, then bought 25 bags (40-lbs. each) of 10-10-10 from Lowes and spread the fertilizer on top of the lime
8) Ran the disc harrow over the plot multiple times to mix the lime, fertilizer, and soil
9) Applied Spartan herbicide to control weeds
10) The first weekend in May, used a 1-row corn planter and planted all seeds at 10" intervals in rows spaced about 30" apart
11) 60 days later the first blooms started to appear -- see attached photo

That's it. We're still amazed at the beautiful results. Where we used to have weeds growing in a gas-line right-of-way, we now have a thousand feet of stunning yellow blooms.

I'm sure there are easier and better ways, but we also wanted to learn about plowing, using a disc, and planting. Our best resource was our local agricultural extension agent, who helped us numerous times over the phone when we had questions.

Good luck!

Parker

 

[Nasty135]

PM1, Wow that really looks great!!! nice shot ,how about another showing the overall view.. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

We put sunflowers in our garden this year ,but something went very wrong! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Nasty135]

Those mutant puppies were 11 and a half feet tall...I'm gonna have to use an axe to chop them down /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif