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Mid-Atlantic Gardening

Sunflower Seed Husks as Mulch?

19 years ago

I refilled my birdfeeder this morning for the gazillionth time this spring and saw that my porch was once again littered with seed husks--is there any problem with collecting and using them as mulch around a few plants? I don't want to throw off the soil but it seems wasteful to just throw them all away every time I sweep. I realize I may have a few seedlings in my beds but anything else I should be wary of before I try it?

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Comments (7)

slubberdegulion
19 years ago
Here is one link about it:
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/vanderburgh/horticulture/extnotes/2004/acorns.htm

The hulls may inhibit the growth of other plants, but you might use them in compost (in small amounts) without harm. The small amount from your feeder may not even do any damage to plants, but you might reconsider it. I've noticed the grass around my back porch (where a feeder is) is sparse and weak, unlike grass just a few feet away.
breezyb
19 years ago
I wouldn't do it. Sunflower seed hulls do inhibit plant growth. Why take a chance?
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it also crossed my mind.. that if you have bird food with the seeds.. sometimes you will get rogue plants .... one would expect a plant tag to be specific to the plant.. but sometimes it doesnt work out.. i had one nursery owner complain.. that with prices on the tags.. peeps rip him off.. by switching the tags to pay less ... in other words.. someone else switched the tag .... ken
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If you don't mind tedious labor you could sift the top inch of soil with screening material large enough to let soil through, but small enough to keep the seeds on top. Other than that just let em grow and kill them as they appear. I know some say they are allelopathic, but I have had a bird feeder with just sunflower seeds for years and nothing seems to have it's growth inhibited by the zillions of seeds that get scattered.
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Wood chips take quite a while to compost, and they require some nitrogen to do it. If you try to plant in the combination before the wood chips are fully broken down, the plants aren't likely to do well, as the wood chips tie up the nitrogen that the plants need. What I usually do is use wood chips as mulch under trees or perennial ornamentals. The only place where the chips will be drawing nitrogen from the soil is at the surface of the soil where they meet, as long as you don't mix the chips into the soil. If you think that there could be a problem, get a bag of alfalfa meal (feed store is cheapest) and scatter some of it on the surface of the soil, then lay down your chips. I would put them down rather thickly, at least 4", which should discourage weeds from growing (lack of sunlight). There's nothing wrong with putting your sunflower seeds in the compost bin. Virtually anything that grew in the soil can be used as compost. Sue
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I wasn't aware of this. People grow sunflowers in their community vegetable gardens in my town every year. I found one study that showed damage to a typical weed plant grown in a hydroponic solution that contained crushed sunflower petals. You could probably compost the seed hulls without harm, but I'd probably just throw them out.
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gardener_sandy
19 years ago
Nothing grows under my bird feeder. I finally gave up and this spring plan to put mulch under it. The sunflower hulls are not particularly thick there but it seems to be enough to cause problems for plants. I saw a bed under a feeder once that was planted with things the hulls didn't seem to bother but I don't know what plants were there. (It was a long time ago and CRS has set in.)
vladpup
19 years ago
G'Day!

- Wow! Who knew! (Collectively, US!)

- i'm moving my feeders from tree branches over flowerbeds to the eves of the kennel, overhanging a cement utility pad.

- Fruitychick, i see you're in Maryland. Will you be attending the MAG spring swap? (Oh, now that NOVA and other aras have spring swaps - congrats to them! - i get to specify, the Maryland MAG Spring Swap!) i'm trying to find someone to give houseplants to and you're the first MD person whose page specifies houseplant collecting; my cat has eaten about 20% of my hundred houseplants this winter. (Lemon grass! Yum! yes, but why can't he leave some for his humans, too?)

- And you can't really claim to be "fruitychick" until you are GROWING some fruit - which means you NEED some strawberry plants. (i expect to have a LOT of surplus strawberry plants this spring; they're my main stock for plant trading.) Want some?

- Happy gardening,
-vlad
fruitychick
Original Author
19 years ago
Wow, thanks everyone--I guess I should move my bird feeder to a less flowery location before I replant the bed underneath it.

Vlad--I don't know much about the spring plant swap--I've never been to one but I'm always up for a little plant sharing. I've planted way to many seeds this spring (as usual) so I'll have a few to share. I do grow strawberries every year and this year I'm contemplating some raspberry bushes as well...I haven't picked any up so I'd be happy to maybe arrange something with you if I see you at the plant swap.
slubberdegulion
19 years ago
Aha! Raspberries you say? Perhaps I could bring you some starts (perhaps I might even remember which varieties they are). If all the spreaders are the "Fall fruiting" type, they are delicious, not that my earlier ones aren't. I believe I will be coming to the MAG exchange. I hadn't thought of bringing those...

(sunflower seeds not so good as mulch, to keep this on topic)
Kent
ibcrafter
15 years ago
I can't explain why some of you are having problems with sunflower seeds; the area of my lawn under the bird feeder (I use black oil seeds) is lush and the ground has turned from hard pan clay to a soft loam. In fact, that patch is the first to "green up" in the spring & is already 8" long. I know the sunflower plant will sometimes retard seedling emergence, but am not sure the seeds will.

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