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Container Gardening

Sunflowers in a 16 inch container

17 years ago

I have grown some sunflowers from seeds in my kitchen window. There are about 12 two inch sprouts right now, not big enough to repot. I would like to move as many as possible for my daughter to a 16 inch container on my patio when the next set of leaves sprout. I don't know if I move about four into such a small pot if they will still grow, but not as tall....or if I should just put one in the pot...anyone know? It would be nice to put all of them in the 16" pot if they would still bloom but at a shorter height...I don't think the pot is big enough to support something 6 feet tall lol! I know you're supposed to thin them out in a real garden too...does anyone have any advice?

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Comments (5)

donn_
17 years ago
Sunflowers in the ground will develop a pretty large root system. A 6' plant will have an immediate rootball larger than a basketball.

You can, however, grow them in fairly small containers. A few years ago, I started way too many from seed, and ended up with a few dozen living in 1/2 gallon orange juice cartons and 1-gallon water jugs for the entire season. I had all the containers crammed into a nursery wagon, and moved it around to capture the sun as needed. They did great. None of them reached their in-ground mature size, but they bloomed profusely, and made quite a display.
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donn_
17 years ago
I knew I had a pic of the Sunflower wagon.

{{gwi:28120}}

As you can see, there was a 2.5-gallon All laundry detergent container in there as well. It had 4 Sunflowers in it.

This wagon was a HUGE Goldfinch attractor.
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Hello DaisyLover! Here's my method. I removed each seed completely from their seedcoats using a small wire cutter, but I suspect nail clippers would also work. I made holes about 1" deep in small pots filled with moistened germination mix. I placed each seed "standing up" in the holes, sprinkled them with more mix to cover them, tamped down the soil and spritzed the tops with water. I kept them under growlights and bottom-watered. This was Saturday afternoon. By Tuesday night they had erupted from the soil. I could hardly believe my eyes! Those were Mammoth Hybrids. The temperature in the room varies between 70-85 degrees. Last night, flush from my success (LOL), I decided to try it again, with another type, Chianti Hybrid. I repeated the process but the holes were not as deep because the seeds were much smaller. So now I wait. It might have been a fluke. I'll know in a few days, one way or the other. I'd like to hear from anyone else about other seeds that can be germinated after removing them from the seedcoat, but perhaps that question is better asked on the seed-starting forum. Anyway, DaisyLover, that's it. Let's hope it wasn't a fluke. If you try it let me know how it works for you.
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Hi mblabe, Your big pots should work fine. The potting soil in them will be fine. You can put more zinnia plants together in a pot than sunflower plants. The zinnias will grow to 1-3 feet tall, the sunflowers along the lines of 4-7 feet. Zinnias aren't fond of their roots being disturbed, so be gentle when you transplant them. Leave an inch or two between the plants. Put your pots in a sunny location. As you can see from my picture, I used 15 inch planters that I placed a full packet of seeds in each. It may look a little crowded but they are growing well. BTG
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I have fairly good luck with starting sunflowers in newspaper pots. The pots are about two inches across and 3.5 inches long. I fill them with potting soil and push in a seed just enough that the top of the seed is covered. Depending on the outdoor temperature I might put the pots in a plastic bag while the seeds germinate. When the seedlings are large enough to handle (around when they have their first true leaves, though sooner is fine too) I dig out a hole where they are to be planted, watering the spot first if the ground is dry (aim for moist, not soaked). When I plant the seedling I unwrap the paper (though you don't have to do that) and sit it in the middle of the hole (which is around the depth of the root ball), and fill the dirt in around it. To help things settle I'll watter the spot a little. Another way to start them is to sandwich the seeds in damp paper towels against the side of a glass or in a plastic bag. When you see roots just plant them out roots down with a half inch or so of dirt covering the top of the seed. If those known-to-be-sprouted seeds don't come up, or die soon after, then something is eating or killing them.
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gwendolyn718
Original Author
17 years ago
Oh my! What a show!!! Unbelievable!!! I'm so glad you posted that reply. I have 7 baby sunflowers that are doing well in the kitchen window...I'm going to transplant three into a small garden area where I grow tomatoes & I'll use your idea and put the others in empty milk cartons for my daughter to really mess around with!
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patskywriter
17 years ago
wow! who knew you could grow sunflowers in small containers?! i think i'll try it, too!

pat
durham NC
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sunflowerocity.com
17 years ago
Many people donÂt know that the dwarf varieties of sunflower like the Sunspot, Teddy Bear, Elf and others do great in pots. Most dwarf varieties are 1-3 feet tall at maturity. I donÂt generally recommend smaller than a 6' pot, but a 4' pot can be used for single plants and in 8' pots and larger you can get away with 3 dwarf plants. The important thing is to make sure that the pots have drainage holes because sunflowers like moist, but well drained soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: SunflowerOcity
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