Sunflower Seeds

[Mancblue]

I've recently been talking to a friend of mine, who happens to be vegetarian. She was telling me how much she enjoys nut of every kind, even sunflower seeds (toasted and put into a salad).

My problem is, i've said she can have any seeds I don't keep for future plants. But, my dwarfs have all but died off and have produced no seeds, is this because they were not pollinated? If so, would it be bees that pollinate them and if this is the case i'm worried because i've only seen a handful of bees this summer. Is there any hope of my normal, quite large sunflower getting pollinated?

[Boots]

Hey mate,
You can hand pollinate if you are worried - but probably not necessary if you have seen bees at it. One bee can service several plants so if you've seen a few bees, I'd reckon your safe. Hand pollination is best done in the morning when the plant is first flowering.

Could be that you didn't plant confectionary sunflowers? Maybe. If you are planting to eat/for seed you want seeds with nice wide white stripes. If the seeds you planted were the black ones, they are for stock feed, flowers or cover/rotation crops. They are usually thick stalked and short.

All the best with it

[Mancblue]

Hi Boots,

My Sunflowers don't have heads yet (although they look like they're getting there), that's why i'm worried, plus we've not seen a bee for a while, just the lack of bees was worrying me too. We had alot more last year busying themselves around the flower beds. If I need to hand pollinate, how would i do this?

Also, i'm not sure as to which type of seed we planted, we seem to be leening toward the nearly all black type. Would the seeds be of the same type when they harvest ie: planted black - recoup black?

If so we'll try and get the White stripes (seven nation army) next year!

[Boots]

Just rub the eye of your flowers with your hand or a soft paintbrush. Best done when they first flower and are raising their faces to the morning sun. As in tilted up. You'll need to do it every few days for a couple of weeks.

And yeah, what you plant will lead to similar seed. Strains develop over multiple plantations, so I don't think you would see any massive change in one collection. If you want to plant for food, buy your seed from a rural supplier, rather than a garden shop (who usually just sell flower varieties) and tell them you want confectionary seed.

Power to the sunflowers.

[the.fee.fairy]

or you can buy one of those budgie mix type things. I stole some seeds from my cockatiel's mix earlier this year.

He'll be grateful when the heads are all seeded and i put them in his aviary for him!

[Mancblue]

Brilliant, thanks. I'll be sure to do as stated and maybe i'll get a huge stash of seeds to eat, feed to the birds or send one (or maybe two) to who ever might want them!

Bring on the flowers!