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| Dear Garden Folk
I'm going under the assumption that to get a good crop of cutting Sunflower I would need a branching variety. Is this true? Does anyone have recommendations as to what would be a good variety? Thanks so much! Dale |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I suppose it depends on whether you are cramped for space or not. I grow and sell a few thousand sunflowers each year, and I grow only single stem hybrid pollen-free sunflowers. That way I am assured of getting nice long stems, and long-lasting non-messy flowers. I've worked my way down to just two main varieties: Sunrich Orange and Procut Orange. I can't help with what's available in branching varieties, but the single stems work out very well for me. ThinMan |
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| ok...i probably sound really stupid but if you use single stemed plants don't you get just 1 sunflower at a time When you cut that flower where does the next stem/flower come from (do i make any sense? |
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| Dale, Sunflower Selections lists 22 varieties of branching stem sunflowers. Notice that I have linked you to page 1 of 3 pages. They have quite a selection of sunflowers. ZM |
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| Not stupid at all, Dale. With single stems you just have to do succession planting. Each week or two you plant another batch. By the time a batch has finished blooming, the next batch will be ready. ThinMan |
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| no room for succession planting...going with branching varieties. If they�re multi stemmed can I assume that they�ll be like Zinnia �cut and come again� and keep producing flowers? Thanks! Dale |
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| Hi there I just grew some multi-stemed for fun in a small garden. Mine tended to send up one central flower on a shortish stem, (plant height about 5 feet plus). After it was spent /when it started fading, auxiliary shoots would emerge from the leaves underneath the top. I kept deadheading and didn't put on fertilizer. Most of the following flowers were very small. Dont know the variety. I guess feeding is a crucial factor. Well, good luck, |
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| off topic a bit here... What about the tap root? Does the tap root mean I shouln't start seeds inside? Dale |
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| Dale, "Does the tap root mean I shouldn't start seeds inside?" Yes. If you want the strongest sunflower plants, you should plant the seeds directly in-ground to allow the taproot to develop in the best possible way. ZM |
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| linaria, did your branching sunflower provide more cutting stems than that of a non-branching variety? thanks zenman, i thought so dale |
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| Hi Dale, I guess 5 or more per plant BUT with non too long stems, the first Flower head quite large, the others smaller. I should have some pics somewhere, and could bring them here (by photobucket), in a couple of days. They were fine to go with Dahlias and other cutflowers but not big enough for a bundle of long stemed sunflowers. Depends what you are aiming for, I reckon. Bye, Lin |
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| smalish is good. how many bouquetable (useable) stems did you get? what variety did you use? did you start the seeds outside? Thanks!! Dale |
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| Hi there, sorry, took a while. I didnt cut many bouquets, cause the Dahlias didnt do too well + I was often too busy with my kids. variety: sorry, didnt keep the names BUT I just bought standard stuff in some garden centre with builder`s supply and some supermarket (in Switzerland), so nothing too fancy. I went for "branching, good for cut flowers" on the packet and medium height (about 5 feet). I did sow directly, about 5 seeds to a hole, and thinned out while they grew. Perhaps that helps, bye, Lin I popped some pics of the sun flowers into photobucket so you can see for yourself 22. of May
2. 0f July 12. of July
28. of July 16. of August
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| Thanks for the pic's Linaria so should i figure about 3-4 weeks from planting to flower? |
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| Hi Dale, planted seeds about 8th of May, first flowers about first week of July, so rather 8 weeks, bye, Lin |
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| Thanks Linaria! |
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