Sunflowers

[Barndog56]

Did a throw and mow of sunflowers in June. There was winter rye growing there at the time. I sprayed, broadcast, and mowed the rye down on top. No fertilizer applied. Got good germination, but lots of marestail and grass came up as well. Browsing was pretty light, with about 1/3 of the sunflowers having the tops browsed off. Last week I chopped the tops of the marestail off, or pulled it up, to prevent seed set. Sunflowers are about 3 foot tall with 2 or 3 inch heads.


At the same time I broadcast those, I planted a row in my garden. Garden was fertilized with composted horse manure, was watered when necessary, and weeded. These grew 6 feet tall, with either a single 12" head, or several 4 or 5 inch heads.


I didn't expect there to be quite this much difference between the two. I guess I'll worry a little more about fertilizing my plots in the future.

 

[JohnL48]

Soil tests are your friend :-)

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[Bill]

I like it. No way that field would have a flower around me. The neighborhhod deer love new sunflower shoots. Heck 1 deer would eat all those in my area. Maybe the rye hid them..

You got me thinking of planting some in Sept just to have some shoots in with my rye. Deer candy.

 

[g squared 23]

I like it. No way that field would have a flower around me. The neighborhhod deer love new sunflower shoots. Heck 1 deer would eat all those in my area. Maybe the rye hid them..

You got me thinking of planting some in Sept just to have some shoots in with my rye. Deer candy.

I put some in with my brassica mix this year as "candy" and forgot about it until now. I didn't notice any sunflower plants at all last weeks, and I doubt it's because none germinated....

I'll have to check more closely the next time I'm up there.

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[Bill]

and I doubt it's because none germinated....

Yep. I've had deer walk across my concrete patio and eat them out of pots.

 

[Tree Spud]

Yep. I've had deer walk across my concrete patio and eat them out of pots.

Yep! We have deer 12' from our kitchen picture window eating bird seed out of a 5.5' bird feeder ... while we are in the kitchen.

Our patio flowers are only saved during the day by a 90 lbs lab barking in the window ...

 

[mikmaze]

you are lucky, I planted 100 lbs of perodovic this spring, I think I had one flower, the size of a bumble bee......... dang deer ate em, ate em hard.. had em hidden in a mix of corn, oats, and lentil. not hidden well enough.

 

[Tree Spud]

you are lucky, I planted 100 lbs of perodovic this spring, I think I had one flower, the size of a bumble bee......... dang deer ate em, ate em hard.. had em hidden in a mix of corn, oats, and lentil. not hidden well enough.

Too much short stuff ... corn also drew them in. I have had success planting with milo, hybrid sudan grass, & german millet.

They need to hide to allow the tops to flower. Plant the sunflower 2 weeks after everything else is planted. Don't make them the main attraction ...

 

[TreeDaddy]

I know fellas that put sunflowers in the fall mix for the attraction value of the baby shoots

bill

 

[pointer]

Glad to see you got them to germinate in a throw and mow scenario. I will be broadcasting 8# of sunflowers into hopefully falling over WR and standing clover then rolling it down with the cultipacker. It's the plot closest to the blind and I'm hoping for some of that attraction many report to have deer really using that plot for the youth season the end of September. Hope it germinates! If not, it's a pretty cheap experiment...

 

[jsasker007]

The sunflowers in the field look like they have a lot of competition from whatever else is growing with it. jmo

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have tried fall/late summer planted sunflowers a couple times now, I never saw any come up. I am not sure if they even germinated. I have planted them in the spring, and the deer dont touch them until the plant gets about 3-4 inches tall, then they mow them to the ground.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I planted sunflowers this spring as a screen around my split soybean sugar beet field. My ph was 7.6 and didn't call for any P or K. I don't know the variety I planted. They were from the MDHA and the price was right so I thought I'd try them. I'm guessing they are 7' tall and have 8" flowers on them. I didn't notice a single one of them being eaten though. I'm guessing the turkeys will find them this winter. I'm hoping to plant cereals today so I'll get some pictures.

 

[pointer]

I have tried fall/late summer planted sunflowers a couple times now, I never saw any come up. I am not sure if they even germinated. I have planted them in the spring, and the deer dont touch them until the plant gets about 3-4 inches tall, then they mow them to the ground.

That'll probably be the result I get, but for $8 I figured I'd throw them out with the WR, clover, and chicory I'm overseeding with.

 

[Barndog56]

The sunflowers in the field look like they have a lot of competition from whatever else is growing with it. jmo

Yep, winter rye last fall was the first planting in this area. Lots of years worth of grass seed in the seed bed, so lots came up with the sunflowers. Probably the biggest reason that sunflower growth was stunted. Guess it doesn't matter too much since the deer didn't eat them all.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

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[j-bird]

I mixed some in just for giggles into my corn/bean plot. The corn and beans where RR so when the weeds got too bad I sprayed but left the central part of the plot. Not sure of the type of sunflower as it was just seed left from feeding birds and the like. They flowered and have done OK but they are only 3 or 4 feet tall. Sorry I don't have a recent pic.

Quite a difference you have there. Goes to show what soil fertility, competition control and watering can do.

 

[Ben Glantz]

I did a throw and roll with sun flowers, millet sorghum last year. The deer left them along and they did pretty good. Then the tweetie birds and turkeys found the plot. The heads were cleared of any seed in about 2 weeks. This year I had left over sun flower seed that I threw into a july planting of brassicas for giggles. The deer at the SF down to the ground. They never got going.