The sunflower ( Helianthus annuus ) is a fascinating plant to grow, especially for children. exercising the following advice will help provide your sunflowers with the best conditions for good growth and health.
Selecting A Sunflower Species To Grow
There are 67 kinds of sunflowers across the world with single or multiple stems, growing heights, head sizes and colors. Read through the details of each popular species below to help make an informed choice on the sunflower you plan to grow.
Music Box is what is suitable for growing to a maximum height of 28 inches, making it suitable for container growing.
Teddy Bear species of sunflower less than Music Box, growing to around 12 - 18 inches.Italian White sunflowers, also a small variety but with an attractive cream colored flower.
Autumn Mix unlike the above, normally grows over 6ft in height with yellow and rust colored flower head, 5 - 6 inches in diameter.
Largest Sunflower Species such as the Russian Giant grows in excess of 15 feet tall with a large head diameter up to 20 inches. Obviously, larger sunflower species will demand more space than the other species mention previously. Great fun if you have room to grow them though.
What & # 39; s The Best Location For Growing Sunflowers
This will help grow the stem grow straight and protect the sunflower from wind damage.
When the sunflower matures, the heavy weight of the head on the tall stem leaves the sunflower vulnerable to wind damage. Because wild sunflower only grows between 2 and 6 ft in height, the risk of wind damage is far less than that of the domestic sunflower.
What & # 39; s The Best Soil For Growing Sunflowers
Consider adding manure to the garden soil where Milacle Grow potting mix has has good water retention, enriched with plant food. you intend to plant your seeds or seedlings.
Tips For Germinating Sunflower Seeds
Sprinkle seeds evenly over the wet paper towel before placing them in a warm space such as as 10, of at least 10 sheets of absorbent kitchen roll paper towel placed. an airing cupboard. The more sheets of paper towel you use, the better the water holding capacity, meaning less frequent watering will be required.
When your sunlight. With your sunflower seeds begin to germinate, plant into potting compost mixed with manure into your garden at a depth of 2 inches, spaced 1 - 2 ft apart.
Sowing Sunflower Seeds In Pots
If you like it, sing a single seed in each pot at a depth of 1 inch in 3 inch diameter pots. Use good quality potting compost such as Miracle Grow potting mix, before covering the top of the pot with clear cling film.
Turn the plant pot 180 degrees in the morning and again in the evening, checking to ensure that the soil is gone the most sunlight through the day kept moist.
Because sunflowers have long taproots capable of growing 4ft deep, need the plant to long in, there is probably be the heavy build up of the pot. reach this stage in pots will severely hamper growth.
Remember to take care not to damage the remaining healthy roots in Robin in the garden. Overcrowded roots can be safely removed by cutting off more than 1/3 with a sharp knife. Break away and discard dead soil surrounding the roots in the sunflower before planting in the garden. the process.
Sowing Sunflower Seeds In The Garden (Recommended)
Sow your seeds directly into the garden is my preferred method in which I have had the most success. Sow in love sole at last depth. around 50 mm (2 inch) spaced 1 - 2 ft apart. Water seeds regularly even until 2 ft high when the second set of leaves appear. Liquid fertilizer should be added to the water for feeding from this point forward.
Sunflower Facts
- The sunflower ( Helianthus annuus ) is a fascinating plant to grow, especially for children. up to 30 cm (1 ft).
- The head of the sunflower, often erroneously referred to as a flower, consist of 1000 - 2000 individual flowers. The petals surrounding the head are ray flowers.
- Sunflowers are one of the fastest growing plants in the world, growing up to 30 cm (1 ft) per day.
- A fascinating characteristic of the sunflower is its ability to track the direction of the sunlight by pointing the sunflower head towards the sun. This behavior is referred to as heliotropism .
- Wild sunflowers have smaller seeds, growing several branches and / or stems with more than one head. It is only through with hundreds of years of careful, hand-picked seed selection is domestic sunflower much larger with a single stem and flower head.
- The sunflower is the state flower for Kansas, USA and the national recognized flower for Russia.
- According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest sunflower ever grown was in 1986 by M Heijms in Oirschot, Netherlandsat a height of 25 ft 5.5 inches (776 cm).
- The largest sunflower head ever recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records measured 32 1/4 inches (82 cm) in diameter, grown by Emily Martin from Maple Ridge, Canada in the hot summer of 1983.
- But native to America, 60% of the world population of sunflowers are grown in Europe and Russia. Popular species with sunflower growers starting with the tallest: Moonwalker, Pastiche, Velvet Queen, Russian Giant and the smaller Teddy Bear and Big Smile species.
- Sunflowers are very effective for attracting butterflies, bees and birds.
- Sunflowers are used to produce sunflower oil. As a seed, they are used for bird feed and as a healthy snack for children and adults.
- Sunflower seeds have a 50% polyunsaturated fat content and are rich in Omega-6 which has been proven to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Sunflower seeds are rich in calcium along with a number of other vitamins and minerals.
- The scientific name for sunflowers; Helianthus derives from two Greek words, Helios meaning sun and Anthos meaning flower.
- Sunflowers are perennial plants that grow each year.
- Sunflower seeds are toxic to grass so distance them from your lawn which would be killed by falling seeds.
They are visually appealing, attract a range of insects such as butterflies, bees and birds in addition to being easy to grow.
I may be able to encourage friends or neighbors to compete with. I have a memory of my 9 years old child, competing with my next door neighbor. to grow three sunflowers at a height of about 6 ft. being being so young, everything seems larger than that age, so I may well be be wrong. I know, I should not boast, but naturally I did win .... naturally of course . :) Sorry !!
The BBSRC ( B biotechnology and Biological Siences R esearch C ouncil ... phew) have produced a sunflower growing activity eBook for young children to grow their very own sunflower, while learning how plants grow.
Sunflower Plant Care
If using chemical weed killer, make sure it is suitable for use on sunflowers or pull weeds out by hand. Over-watering sunflowers will likely damage flower heads, especially 20 days before or 20 days after full bloom.
Pour around 2 gallons of liquid fertilizer solution each week around the roots of the sunflower, taking care not to pour the solution over the stem as this has been found to cause sunflower stems to rot.
If heavy winds are forecast, put off watering until the wind has passed to prevent the sunflower from getting blown over.
