How to Grow Common Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus)

Few flowers are more cheerful than sunflowers. Bursting into bloom in late summer, they're an excellent addition to any garden. As the name implies, they need full sun. They thrive in poor to average soil and need little water. There is now an amazing array of sunflowers in a range of heights from 6 inches to 6 feet and in every color of the sunset.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Garden Spades
• Garden Trowels
• Plants
• Seeds
• Watering Cans
• Seeds
• Plants

1. Check out nurseries for sunflower seedlings, but these are among the easiest of plants to start from seed.

2. Plant seedlings after all danger of frost has passed in your region. Space according to label directions, anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet.

3. Plant seeds 4-6 inches apart after all danger of frost has passed, covering with 1/2 inch soil.

4. Water just enough to keep soil moist. Sunflowers don't need much water or fertilizer.

5. Trim spent blooms to encourage more flowers.

6. Pull out and discard plants in fall, once frost kills them.

Tips & Warnings

• There are both annual (grow just one year) sunflowers and perennials (which return each year). The annuals bloom the first year - unlike their perennial cousins which may take two or three years - and for a longer period of time over the summer.
• If you're growing the giant sunflowers that produce lots of seeds on a large flowerhead, cut off the flowerhead and set it out in the garden for birds to nibble on.
• Unless you have a 'hot' compost heap that heats up, don't throw sunflower seeds into the compost heap. The seeds can be carried in the compost, creating a sunflower plant weed problem.

on 11/22/2005 If you want to achieve the maximum height of a flower, rather than the biggest bloom, make sure you select an area in your garden where the sunflower's (sprouting) bloom can't search for the sun all day long. If it can head for the sun from sunrise to sunset the sunflower will choose to grow a bigger bloom rather than grow really tall (it wants to achieve as many offspring as possible and all energy going into seed-production will be deducted from plant-growth).

If you think that sunflowers aren't that smart, just take a good look at what it's bloom does right after sunset. It turns it's head in perfect position for the following sunset! If that isn't a smart plant, what is?

A sunflower needs 6-8 hours of full sun, more will always result in bigger blooms, but not necessarily in bigger plants. Just make sure the sunflower will fall into (for example) a wooden fences shadow during the early hours of the day and the evening hours. The key is to have it catch the 6-8 hottest hours of sunlight every day and than be casted into (moderate) shadow. You wouldn't believe the difference this makes in growing giant monsters.
- Give the plant plenty of space.
- Enough water during sprouting, but not too much.
- When the plant is above ground, give it a lot of water during sunny days, but keep your eyes on the local weather reports for rainy days, do not water at least a day before then, cause during rainy days the sunflower can't deal with the excess water (it can't use it because there is not enough sunlight energy to let it suck it up) and can soften the roots (which can result in a collapsing of the plant.) Once a week, use liquid fertilizer to replenish the soil with nutrients. A fast-growing sunflower really drains it's soil)

When the bloom has fully developed, be very careful with watering the sunflower plant too much or the bloom will start to gain a lot of weight and will cause the plant to bend or (even worse) collapse under the blooms weight.

on 11/22/2005 I have tried growing sunflowers many times, and though I am an amateur, I have found that to grow good sunflowers you need to make sure that they have ample room for the roots to grow, or the growth will stunt.

on 11/22/2005 When growing a sunflower, put it along a fence. This helps to prevent the flower from bending and breaking.

on 11/22/2005 Plant it in full sun. I haven't tried this myself but I am going to this year. Try starting seeds indoors and then moving them outdoors. That way, you ensure that the plants will come up where you want them to.