With great difficulty, I grew some of these this year. I planted about 100; despite spraying, covering etc. the grasshoppers ate all but 4. I’m amazed I have 4… our place looks like a biblical plague zone. I try to grow them every year because they were the favorite flower of a friend who died suddenly, and in remembrance I like to see the flowers.
Aww, that’s nice. Can’t stop them growing here. Not only are they a major crop, but stray black oil seeds I put out for the birds always yields a certain amount of growing plants.
rqsays
Ugh, can’t grow them for the life of me. I do love them, but they never seem to get tall here (spec., in our backyard), despite the huge amounts of sun we get. I do love the drawing, though -- sun worshippers.
They will grow and thrive in poor soil, so if you have rich soil, it might be a problem. I know they are difficult for a lot of people. The black oil seed variety grow to massive size, the flowers are bigger than your head. They tend to grow larger than the confectionary seed variety. A lot of them will happily grow on a smaller scale though, the seed escapees around here do, and they are still lovely.
rqsays
Huh. Might be the rich soil, actually -- they never get enough height and they rarely flower. I think for next spring I will have to plan some out in the country, the soil is a lot more clay-y there. Plus great expansive fields of sunlight.
Ice Swimmersays
I think there may be a latitude issue also. While we get a lot of sunshine here in the 50s and 60s in the summer, it’s less intense than in the 40s. That may make sunflowers more picky about the soil and place.
Ice Swimmersays
To sort of contradict myself, how far north do they grow as crops i n Canada?
rqsays
Ice Swimmer
I don’t know, though Latvia is further north than most agricultural regions of Canada (the really productive ones, that is). And then there’s the fact that I’ve seen the sunflowers in other backyards, including two doors down from us. D:
lumipunasays
By any sense, a rich soil should make sunflowers grow taller rather than shorter. AFAIK, cultivars bred for northern conditions and/or ornamental use tend to be smaller.
With great difficulty, I grew some of these this year. I planted about 100; despite spraying, covering etc. the grasshoppers ate all but 4. I’m amazed I have 4… our place looks like a biblical plague zone. I try to grow them every year because they were the favorite flower of a friend who died suddenly, and in remembrance I like to see the flowers.
Aww, that’s nice. Can’t stop them growing here. Not only are they a major crop, but stray black oil seeds I put out for the birds always yields a certain amount of growing plants.
Ugh, can’t grow them for the life of me. I do love them, but they never seem to get tall here (spec., in our backyard), despite the huge amounts of sun we get. I do love the drawing, though -- sun worshippers.
They will grow and thrive in poor soil, so if you have rich soil, it might be a problem. I know they are difficult for a lot of people. The black oil seed variety grow to massive size, the flowers are bigger than your head. They tend to grow larger than the confectionary seed variety. A lot of them will happily grow on a smaller scale though, the seed escapees around here do, and they are still lovely.
Huh. Might be the rich soil, actually -- they never get enough height and they rarely flower. I think for next spring I will have to plan some out in the country, the soil is a lot more clay-y there. Plus great expansive fields of sunlight.
I think there may be a latitude issue also. While we get a lot of sunshine here in the 50s and 60s in the summer, it’s less intense than in the 40s. That may make sunflowers more picky about the soil and place.
To sort of contradict myself, how far north do they grow as crops i n Canada?
Ice Swimmer
I don’t know, though Latvia is further north than most agricultural regions of Canada (the really productive ones, that is). And then there’s the fact that I’ve seen the sunflowers in other backyards, including two doors down from us. D:
By any sense, a rich soil should make sunflowers grow taller rather than shorter. AFAIK, cultivars bred for northern conditions and/or ornamental use tend to be smaller.