My husband eats a lot of sunflower seeds, so this year I tried growing Sunseed sunflowers from seed. I liked the description of 4-5 foot plants and tasty seed. I grew Mammoth Gray Stripe last year and thought maybe I was ready for something shorter that might be easier to manage in a more typical raised bed.
True to it’s package info, the plants were not quite my height. This didn’t keep most of them from leaning across the garden walkway when the flower head was heavy with seed. That made the path basically unusable for 3 months. But, only a couple of them went as far as going face down in the dirt. With the Mammoth Gray, I had had several plants laying horizontal. Obviously, for either variety, I need to problem solve some support.
The real test came when I asked my husband to give me a taste test report. He says the seed tastes good, but it is too small to be cracking with the fingers before putting in the mouth. I guess he alternates methods of eating, and is fine with just cracking them in his mouth, so the seed will be used.
The hardest part, for me, is getting the seed out of the flower head. I read somewhere that it might just fall out. I waited. That only happened to the seeds that ended up left in the garden. …or if the birds help…. The flower head makes the perfect platform for the birds to sit on while they reach down and under to get their lunch. Fortunately, my husband has no objection to adding loosening-sunflower-seeds-from-the-flower to things that are done while sitting on the couch watching TV.
If I want to have some of either kind of seed for my salads or bread making, I’ll have to come up with a way to get those shells off. It sounds like a rolling pin might be something to try. Whichever variety I decide to plant next year, I think I will tie them up to the outside of my wooden trellis:
It will be interesting to see how that affects them turning their heads toward the sun!
I like taking the seeds out of sunflower heads, so if I’m over there and you need it done, just ask! 😀
That’s great and you can help, but… how do you know you like doing this??
haha, I planted 3 giant sunflowers this year (they were up near the barn) so fun but so so droopy toward the end of the season. They were for looks for the wedding. We lopped the flower off and left it on the ground for the chickens and other birds this winter. They’ve been enjoying them.
Glad to hear it. Has any one done other back-to-back comparisons using a only open-pollinated sunfloweres? Was wondering, for instance how Grey Stripe, Super Snack Mix, and Mammoth Russian compared to each other. Also, the names are confusing me. I guess Giant Grey Strip is the same as Grey Stripe…But, is Russian Mammoth the same as Mammoth Grey Stripe or are these simply interbred ??
Any one else have fire ants making a home in the stalks?
Hi, Wynn. No, I have not done or read of any comparison specifically like that. It would be hard for a home gardener to do in the same growing year due to cross pollination. I do have a suspicion that some seeds are the same, but have different names from different sources, or at least that the differences are so small as to be indiscernible. Sort of like there are some flowers with multiple names.
I am very glad to say that I, anyway, do not have fire ants where I live. But I do have trouble with the ants I have eating my broccoli, of all things! I have decided that daily doses of diatomaceous earth on their hives/hills and on their zone of destruction have the best effect. If I do that a few days in a row, it really helps. I do have to go back and keep an eye on whether or not they have remobilized, though.