Question
Sunflower
I have several yellow Del Sol Hybrid sunflowers. A few weeks ago the large sunflower at the top of each plant bloomed and now they are completely wilted. However, there are numerous smaller sunflowers and flower buds appearing towards the bottom of each plant (see picture). I would greatly appreciate if you would please let me know if sunflowers usually get multiple flowers per plant, and if its OK to remove the large wilted flower at the top. Thank you.
AnswerSunflowers are just about the easiest thing in the world to grow. These are basically fancy weeds that have become very, very popular.
It looks like you are simply growing a very healthy plant. The shoot at the base is not unusual. Your plant is pouring out blooms as fast as it can, which is good, and sending up shoots with what's left.
You have a choice about what to do with your spent -- or, as you are saying, 'wilted' -- flowers.
You can clip them off (which is almost always the best choice of action -- except with a few annuals, including Sunflowers). Take a scissors or a sharp fingernail and cut off the 'wilted' flower. This is also a guilt free way of cutting flowers and stems for a bouquet -- you don't have to bother clipping off the used up spent flowers. The advantage of removing a used up flower is not just to keep the plant pretty. By taking the flower off the plant, you keep the plant from using up all its energy to make seeds. And believe me, it takes a LOT of energy to make seeds. These plants will make more flowers, instead. And that's why we grow them.
Actually, though, this gives us option number 2, because not everybody grows Sunflowers because they are pretty. People grow them precisely because of the seeds. Maybe even you.
We eat them. Birds eat them. People grow them again later, or next year. Sunflower seeds are unlike Marigold seeds or Dahlia seeds. They are food for some people and animals.
Should you fertilize them? Depends. The most important thing for Sunflowers is something you have never heard of and I can barely spell: Fungal Mycorrhizae. Memorize THAT for your mother next time you see her and watch to see the reaction. FUN-gull my-COR-hizz-eye. That puts you in a whole new league. Because these are new discoveries that we are learning more about every day. Look on my website to see what Mycorrhizae can do for your Sunflower, what they are probably ALREADY doing for your Sunflower as we speak, and why this is BETTER than fertilizing your Sunflower:
www.thelongislandgardener.com
For an action shot, the best I can do is this YouTube video of a Sunflower experiment with (+) and without (-) Fungal Mycorrhizae in the plant:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-enRFMXLXU
I recommend you watch it with the sound off if you have a headache.
Thank you for writing. Any questions?
THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER
