{"id":2436,"date":"2020-03-29T07:11:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T07:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=2436"},"modified":"2020-03-29T07:11:21","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T07:11:21","slug":"sunflower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/29\/sunflower\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunflower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Helianthus annuus<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong>: The sunflower is native to North America and was long grown by\nNative Americans, but first became an important commercial crop in Russia. This\noccurred after breeders produced a variety with unusually large, oil rich,\nseeds. Their use quickly spread throughout eastern Europe until they were the\nmost important oil seed crop grown there. It is now an important crop in its\nnative land as well, though even today many varieties are of Russian origin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people think of sunflowers as an ornamental, rather than an\nedible crop, but the seeds are highly nutritious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crop use<\/strong>: The sunflower is valuable as a source of high protein seeds, but\nit could also be important as a garden scale source of oil (fats can be hard to\ngrow in the garden). It is also very pretty (spectacular even) and provides\nfood for beneficial insects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ease of growing:<\/strong> This is a pretty easy crop to grow if\nit has fertile soil, plenty of water and warm weather. It is rarely bothered by pests up until the seed starts to ripen\n(then birds and squirrels can be a\nproblem).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate:<\/strong> Sunflowers like warm, humid growing conditions, similar to those for corn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutritional content<\/strong>: Sunflower seeds contain about 20% protein, 20% carbohydrate, 40%\nfat (which is very rich in essential fatty acids), several B vitamins A,\ncalcium, iron potassium and zinc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all of that fat and protein it\nshould come as no surprise that the seeds contain over 2500 calories per pound.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Sun\ufb02ower<\/strong> \u00a0
Germination temp: 70 – 85\u00b0F
Germination time: 7 – 14 days
Seed viability: 3 – 5 years
Hardiness: Tender
Growing temp: 50 (60 – 75) 95\u02daF
Plant out: 2 weeks after last frost
Yield: 3 lb \/ 100 sq ft.
Days to harvest: 90 \u00a0
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

pH<\/strong>: 6.0 to 7.0<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunflowers are very hungry plants and for good growth they need\nrich moist soil with an abundance of nutrients. They like phosphorus and\npotassium, but not too much nitrogen as this may encourage leaf growth rather than flowering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil preparation<\/strong>: Sunflowers are hungry crops, so enrich the soil generously\nbefore planting. Incorporate 3\u02dd of compost or aged manure, along with wood\nashes, colloidal phosphate and kelp powder (or an organic fertilizer mix). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When<\/strong>: You can start planting sunflowers 2 weeks after the last frost\ndate, when the soil has warmed up to at least 50\u00b0F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rotation<\/strong>: Sunflowers have a reputation for exhausting\nthe soil if continually planted and harvested on the same piece of land. Always\nleave at least 3 years between crops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indoors<\/strong>: Sunflower are often started indoors for an early and protected\nstart. The seedlings grow rapidly, so are best started in 4\u02dd pots (to give them\nplenty of room). Plant 2 – 4 seeds in each pot and when all have germinated you\ncan thin to the best one\n(or two). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outdoors<\/strong>: Sunflower seeds germinate and grow so rapidly they are usually\ndirect sown. Plant them \u00bc\u02dd deep and keep moist and they will germinate and grow\nrapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spacing<\/strong>: Space the plants 12 – 24\u02dd apart, depending upon the variety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Care<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeds<\/strong>: The young seedlings can\u2019t compete with weeds very well, so weed\nthem carefully. Once they get going they will soon outgrow any weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water<\/strong>: Sunflowers are thirsty plants and for maximum production they\nneed a constant supply of water.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mulch<\/strong>: In hot climates a mulch is useful to conserve soil moisture and  keep down weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pests and disease<\/strong>: Birds love sunflower seeds and can be a major pest in some\nareas. Squirrels and raccoons\nmay also develop a taste for them and become a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvesting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When<\/strong>: When the seeds are ripe the whole head will start to droop and\nthe seeds will be fat and plump. Open a few seeds and see (and taste) if they are fully ripe. Watch carefully\nor birds will get the seed before you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How<\/strong>: The easiest way to harvest the seeds is to\ncut off the whole heads. Dry them in the sun and then rub the heads against a\nscreen (or against each other) to free the seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storage<\/strong>: The seeds must be dried carefully if you want to store them for\nany length of time, otherwise they will mold. Store the dry seeds in a cool, rodent-free place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unusual growing ideas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sun\ufb02ower\nlettuce<\/strong>: Sunflower seeds\ncan be grown indoors as a seedling salad crop. Soak the seeds for 3 hours and\nthen spread them out, one seed deep, on trays of soil, peat moss or wet kitchen\npaper. Keep them in a warm place and mist daily. When the seeds begin to germinate\nmove them into full light. The greens will be ready in 1 – 3 weeks (depending\nupon the temperature). Cut the plants with scissors when they are 3 – 6\u02dd tall,\nleaving about an inch of stem behind. See Microgreens<\/strong> for more on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smother crop<\/strong>: Their luxuriant and rapid growth makes sunflowers useful as a\nsmother crop. A dense stand of the tall plants will crowd out and eradicate\npersistent weeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canary\nplant:<\/strong> Sunflowers\nare very sensitive to low soil moisture and can be used as indicator plants for\nthe whole garden. Watch your sunflowers and when they wilt it means soil\nmoisture is low and it is time to water the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temporary screen<\/strong>: These tall growing flowers can be used to make a quick (and\npretty) temporary screen. If you feel ambitious you could try growing a sunflower maze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fertilizer<\/strong>: Sunflowers use four carbon photosynthesis which makes them more\nefficient when growing under high heat and light intensities. This means they\ncan grow very quickly and produce an abundance of organic matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are sometimes grown as a green manure\ncrop, which is incorporated just before the flower buds appear (which is when\nthe plants start to turn woody). They can also be grown to produce organic\nmatter for the compost pile. If you want to try this its cheaper to use bulk\nraw seeds from a whole food store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently even their hunger for nutrients has been put to use.\nThe plants have been used to remove an excess of nitrates from the soil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seed saving<\/strong>: Sunflowers are cross-pollinated by insects, so you can only save\nthe seed from one variety at a time (they may also cross with any wild sunflowers). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saving the seed is pretty easy, except for the fact that birds and\nsquirrels may take every full kernel if you don\u2019t protect them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varieties<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots or ornamental sunflower varieties, but most don\u2019t\nhave large enough seeds to be very useful for food. The best edible seeded varieties include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skyscraper\n<\/strong>– As you might imagine\nit is tall, with huge seed heads (75 days)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mammoth\nRussian <\/strong>– The\nclassic heirloom sunflower (80 days).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snack\nSeed <\/strong>– Big fat\nseeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kitchen use<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The raw or roasted kernels can be used like nuts: eaten out of\nhand, in baked goods, granola and trail mix. Native Americans often ground the\nwhole seed to meal for baking bread and thickening soups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edible oil<\/strong>: Modern varieties of seed may contain up to 60% oil. This can be\nextracted by pressing the crushed seeds using a hand press such as the Piteba.\nYou can also do as Native Americans used to do, boil the kernels in water and\nskim off the edible oil that floats\nto the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sprouts<\/strong>: The raw whole seed can be sprouted for salad greens (see Sprouting\nseeds<\/strong>). Don\u2019t let the sprouts get too big or\nthey may develop an\nacrid taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating sun\ufb02ower seeds<\/strong> \u00a0

If you are to grow sunflowers for their edible seeds, you might want to learn how to shell and eat them. Start by putting a seed vertically between your molars (chewing teeth) so the seed holds in the indentations. Crack the seed gently, then use your tongue to separate the smooth seed from the rough shell. Finally you spit out the shell. This is harder to do than it is to describe and it takes quite a bit of practice to get it down smoothly. Eventually you can have a store of seeds in one cheek, crack them on the other side of your mouth and spit out the shells in a continuous stream. \u00a0 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Helianthus annuus Introduction: The sunflower is native to North America and was long grown by Native Americans, but first became an important commercial crop in Russia. This occurred after breeders … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seed-veg","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Sunflower.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2437,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436\/revisions\/2437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}