Growing and Harvesting Sunflowers

Growing and harvesting sunflowers is a fun, joyful project for children and adults alike. With their sunny yellow, orange or fiery red petals and massive flower heads that follow the course of the sun through the sky during the day, sunflowers are an iconic symbol of late summer and the golden autumn days to come.

Sunflowers are prey to several pests.

Growing and harvesting sunflowers is a garden project the whole family can enjoy.

Sunflowers (Helianthus annus) hail from North America and are thus ideally suited for the American garden. They aren't terribly fussy about soil, but they do need plenty of sun-drenched, warm days to thrive and grow their tremendous flowers.

Choose sunflower seeds from the garden center ready to plant. Sunflower seeds sold in grocery stores as snacks probably won't grow. Most are roasted at high temperatures, which makes the seed unable to germinate.

One of the most fascinating aspects of growing and harvesting sunflowers is to observe heliotropism in action. Heliotropism is a fancy word meaning that the flowers actually follow the sun. From the time they are tiny buds, the plant can sense the changes in light, and actually turns its flower to follow the sun. Watch your plant carefully. In the morning, it will turn towards the east to greet the rising sun. By noon, the buds will face south. And by evening, it will bid the sun a fond farewell as it sinks in the west. Overnight, the flower gradually returns to an eastern orientation.

How is this miracle accomplished? Special cells called pulvinus cells in the stem near the bud allow the stem to flex and bend. When the full sunflower heads form, these flexible cells lock the heads in place facing east or slightly southeastern, so that they are forever greeting the dawn with their nodding heads.

You can start sunflowers indoors in pots in early to mid spring or sow seeds directly into the ground in late spring and early summer. They prefer well drained soil and enjoy a dressing of compost or compost mixed into the soil when planted.

Plant seeds about one inch deep in the soil and water daily until they sprout. If rains are sufficient, about an inch per week, they probably won't need additional rain.

You may want to place a protective sleeve around the newly emerging seedling. Many critters enjoy a tasty sunflower seedling snack, or dig up the seeds. Chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits and mice all prey on newly planted sunflower seeds or nibble at the emerging seedling. To make a sleeve, take a paper cup and carefully snip around the base of the cup until you can remove it. Discard the base, and use the cup to slip over the seedling.

Sunflowers can attract insects, most notably grasshoppers. While they aren't likely to kill the sunflower plants, they can leave big holes in the leaves.

During the long, languid summer months, the sunflowers will grow to their full height. Sunflowers come in an astonishing range of heights, from giants over six feet tall to dwarf sunflowers only a foot or two high.

The flowers will develop and bloom in late summer and into early autumn. When the petals fall away, and the back of the sunflower head turns brown, it's time to harvest.

You can leave the sunflowers standing in the garden. Birds love sunflower seeds, as do squirrels and other wildlife, and they will visit the garden and eat the seeds until they are gone. They will drop seeds back to the ground, however, which may develop into new sunflower plants next year. If that sounds like a great idea, then leaving the flower stalks to die back naturally and be consumed by wildlife might be a good way to enjoy sunflowers until the first snows of winter.

If you'd prefer to harvest the sunflower seeds to enjoy them as snacks or perhaps save the seeds to plant again next spring, here's how to harvest them.

1. Let the sunflower heads dry naturally on the stalk. When the petals fall off and the back turns brown, you can cut the head off the stalk.
2. Store the sunflower seed head in a dry, warm, place with good air circulation. A garage or basement might work if it is dry enough. Spread newspapers on the ground or on an old baking sheet and lay the seed heads down.
3. Allow the seed heads to further dry for several weeks.
4. When ready, hold the sunflower head over the newspaper. Rub your hand over the face of the seed head. The seeds should fall out onto the newspaper. The drier the sunflower head, the easier the seeds fall out.

Discard or compost the empty seed head or place it in the garden or near a bird feeder to allow the animals to peck out the rest of the seeds. You can save the seeds as they are in a clean jar with a tight fitting lid and replant them next year in the garden. If you planted several varieties, note that sunflowers may be open pollinated, and the flowers may cross with one another, so the plants that grow next year may or may not resemble what you grew last year – it depends on what other sunflowers were growing nearby, either in your garden or a neighbor's garden.

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