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Sunflowers in a field

RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
in Plants
Hi all,

Work wants some sunflowers planted in our field. It's dry, clay, grassy....

Do I grow in pots then dig a hole and plant when 1ft tall (for example)

Or do I dig holes (6" deep) fill with compost and put seeds in and let them do their thing?

Or do I do something else...?
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,968
    Sunflowers in a field will need support … farmers are being advised to how them with field maize. You could seek advice from here https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/sunflower-planting-campaign-launched-to-help-ukraine-farmers

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,846
    Depends on the height of the sunflowers.  Here in France and also Italy we see whole fields of them around 80cms high and self-supporting.   If you want the tall ones then you'll have to stake them somehow.

    I would start them off in pots and plant out when strong enough to cope with the conditions.  I am growing both kinds so I have a supply of sunflower seeds for the garden birds and our chooks next winter.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,968
    edited May 2022
    The thing is when they’re all grown together closely in a field as a crop they’re not actually ‘self supporting’ like a tree is … any more than an individual stem of wheat is … they form a block and shield each other from the wind and effects of heavy rain. 

    If they were more widely spaced they wouldn’t remain upright in ‘weather’. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,846
    That means they are effectively self-supporting!

    I have never had to stake short sunflowers growing in borders as small groups of 3 or 5 whether in a sheltered garden in Harrow, a very exposed one in Belgium or this garden which is open to the elements.

    Tall ones do need supports.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    edited May 2022
    These will be tall ones. I was thinking a line of them, maybe 20 down one side of our patch and then 20 down the other (not a whole field, just in the field area)
    Just thinking in terms of easiness for me!
    Don't want too many, as I know I will have to stake them.

    Right now I can get them in pots, but I can't get them in the field yet, so would have to wait. But if that was the best, I would make it happen asap.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,968
    Welllllll … only self supporting if grown ‘en masse’ 😊  I don’t think that’s what @RoddersUK was planning …. although if ‘work’ aren’t gardeners or farmers it may be the image that have in their mind’s eye.  🌻 🌻 🌻 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    Just sowed 30 seeds in pots.

    They certainly don't want a field full! And if they did....tough  :D
    Unless they buy me a big tractor.... ;)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,968
    edited May 2022
    How do they want them set out in the field? 😊 
    Is there a fence they can be grown up against?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    Pretty much however I want, I kinda have free reign.

    I have a mowed section with our fruit trees, so I was thinking down the edge of that, which goes to longer unmown meadow grass.
    It will decide the areas a bit then. Or I could clump them in groups.
  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    Old photo, when I started this, but you can just see the mown line. I was thinking along that?
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