Growing Giant Sunflowers

Variety: Lyng's California Greystriped

This page provides instructions and photos on Growing Giant Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus). Vegetable Garden Made Easier will be using the Lyng's California Greystripe as its model for the 2010 growing season.

And we will be waiting for the head to mature into seed so we can take those seeds and dry them. After drying them we remove them from the head. At this point we can salt and roast them for eating or feed them to the birds.

The Lyng's California Greystripe is an improved Mammoth Russian with more consistent seed coloring. Attracts birds. Bright, golden-yellow flowers up to 10 inches across. Each plant produces one flower. Ht. 72-84. 120 days. U.S. Plant variety protected. Unauthorized propagation prohibited.

Germination: 7-14 days at 70-75°F. Culture: Outdoors (recommended) - after last frost, in groups of 3-4. Thin. Indoors - sow in final container 3-4 weeks prior to planting out. Dislikes root disturbance.

Growing: Hold indoors no longer than 4 weeks. Provide full sun, high fertility, good air movement. Light/Soil: Full sun; light, well-drained soil. Spacing: 9-24". Use: Cut or dried, back of beds, screen. Harvest: Fresh - flowers just beginning to open. Dried - completely open.

April 2010

Below are a pictures of the Lyng's California Greystripe I planted. We started these indoors and then transplanted them out.

I have two of them together. As you can see one is damaged. We had rain and the water from the roof damaged it. I thought I had it back far enough, but apparently not.

At first I thought a bug had gotten them but it was not a bug issue since all the pieces were laying around the plant.

I bought these seeds last year. These year my supplier is not carrying them.

The second photo is our sunflower blooming.

The others are of the progress they are making. Once the head dips down and the back turns yellow, we will harvest these.

Then we will dry them. Since this sunflower was hard to find this year I will probably use these seeds to sell as seeds.

The last picture shows some eggs. I do not know what bug these are but I will wait to see if it is a friendly before destroying them.

UPDATE--The eggs were of some sort of worm. They turned out to be bad. I had to destroy them by removing the leaf and putting it in the trash.

Below are pictures of our harvested Sunflower heads. When the head is nearing completion, it bends over and the back of it turns yellow.

I am now waiting for the heads to dry out. Then I will harvest the seeds.

2009 Season

2009

Below are pictures of a Growing Giant Sunflower. I do not know if it was to grow as tall as it has, but it is about ten feet tall. It just now starting putting on the head. I do not have the name of the sunflower.

Below are my growing giant sunflowers. They are growing very well. Some are at least twelve feet tall. Once the heads start bending down and the backs turn yellow, then they are ready to be harvested.

When you think about it, the head bending down is a neat defense design it is hard for the birds to get to the seeds.

One mistake I made when I planted these in 2009 was I planted them to close to the house so they grew at an angle instead of straight up.

Basically I did not do my homework before planting them. Prior planting can save a lot of time and hassles down the road.

For more information on Sunflowers, go to Harvesting Sunflowers.

Thank you for your visit.

Go to Sunflower Home Page from Growing Giant Sunflowers.

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