How to Troubleshoot Sunflower Growing Problems

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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Growing sunflowers is very rewarding but special care is required to tackle problems as they arise. Learning how to troubleshoot theses problems and effectively treat them will help you maintain beautiful sunflowers for many seasons to come. Here are solutions to keep fungus, weeds, insects and birds from taking over your sunflower garden.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Herbicides
Pesticides
Silk stockings
Fungicide

Step1

Control weeds with herbicides from Lowe’s, Home Depot or a nursery. Although sunflowers are very strong plants, they are in danger the first weeks after planting if weeds overpower them.

Step2

Buy an herbicide that is safe to use on sunflowers. Treflan, Prowl, Sonalan and Eptam are safe to use on sunflowers. A few weeds should just be pulled by hand.

Step3

Destroy harmful insects like grasshoppers, caterpillars and moths. Moths develop larvae quickly and can cause some severe damage to the plant. Purchase organic pesticides to get rid of insects with proven brands like Asana, Warrior, Striker and Endosulfan.

Step4

Protect your sunflowers from birds. As the sunflower matures some of the seeds will start to fall off and attract birds. Lure the birds away from your plants by sprinkling extra seeds away from the sunflowers. Try covering the head of the sunflower with silk stockings to collect the falling seeds where the birds can't get them.

Step5

Stop the invasion of fungus in the sunflowers with fungicide patches. Excessive moisture sometimes causes harm to the seeds by developing fungi.

Step6

Plant the sunflowers only every three to four years to control leaf diseases.