American Giant Sunflower advice sought
CR Parsons
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I have a new privacy fence line that I would like to grow American Giant Sunflowers on for this first season. However, as you can see my fence shades the first Foot or so of the fence line all day. By that I mean, if I raise my hand about a foot or so up from ground level against the fence, there is sun most of the day. Anyone have any experience with these plants and know whether or not they will reach up enough to get enough sun early in their growth to work in this location? Any advice would be welcome, even if it is another plant for this season that can provide some coverage so it doesn’t just look like a new fence. i eventually plan to do some long term landscaping with conifers, but for this growing season it would be nice to have something to cover. Oklahoma BTW
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Sunflower help...
Comments (4)Scott, There is some really authoritative advice on the Tips and Advice page of the SunflowerSelections.com website. Particularly relevant is their paragraph 4, which I will quote here: "Many growers like to start their plants early and transplant them to their gardens. It is very important to realize that sunflower plants make a central tap root that likes to grow straight down into the soil. Maximum growth is achieved when this process occurs without disturbance. Plant scientists know that growing conditions such as stress and day length as early as from three weeks after emergence can trigger the plants to flower earlier. So, if you like to germinate your plants in trays under lights be aware that transplanted plants will ALMOST ALWAYS be shorter in height when they flower than if they were planted directly into soil. And if your want to grow the REALLY GIANT plants like KONG and AMERICAN GIANT HYBRIDS, you will get the best growth by planting them directly into the soil in the garden so that their central tap roots are never disturbed." SunflowerSelections is a good source of many varieties of sunflower seeds, but they aren't the only good source. For example, Pike's Peak is offered by Burpee. I ordered a packet of Pike's Peak, and they indeed do have large seeds. This is the packet that I received, with its entire contents dumped out on a piece of graph paper, with a 1-inch grid, divided into tenths of an inch, so you can judge the seed sizes fairly accurately. As you can see, I didn't get any inch-and-a-half seeds, but a few did approach one inch, and they are large seeds. They are rather expensive. I got the advertised 20 seeds for my $4.95, which makes them about 25 cents per seed. You definitely couldn't afford to plant an acre of these. However, I may order a couple more packets. I also plan to order Kong and American Giant Hybrids from Sunflower Selections. Incidentally several seed companies, including Burpee, also offer seeds that they get from Sunflower Selections, or their parent company, NuFlowers, LLC. But Sunflower Selections seem to be the "experts", so I think I will order directly from them. However, apparently Burpee gets Pikes Peak from some other source. Pike's Peak is "new". ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)...See MoreHAVE: Looking for trades!
Comments (14)Hello all, I will respond to all of your replies shortly. Thanks for the advice on providing better contact. The thing is, is that I have had privacy issues with stalkers in the past (ex boyfriends). Yes, I know sounds dramatic. But I guess that's one of the many perils of the internet these days. They've found that all they have to do is troll these boards, respond, get a response, and boom they have my email address. It gets annoying. So it's a little tricky.. Will change that, still. If you go to 'my page' you should be able to email/contact me directly now - the link is present. =) This post was edited by RiverNymph on Sun, Apr 7, 13 at 18:52...See Moregiant sunflowers
Comments (16)I don't recommend trying to move any sunflowers unless you absolutely have to. Maybe you can make a deal with the new owners to collect the seed heads when they mature. At best you may get them to survive, but they will probably not grow much taller, and you will have a stunted flower. Most likely they won't make it. The larger a sunflower is, the harder it is to move. The only chance you have is for them to avoid all mid-day sun for at least a week or so. Minute the direct sun hits them, they are finished. I had sunflowers that reached over 14 ft. that blew over when they were only about 8 ft. http://www.gardenpics.com/photos/data/500/botts_14ft_PA_08_14_04.jpg The thing that saved them was during the wind storm, they brought all the dirt with them when they tipped, and somehow it wasn't disturbed. The soil was wet enough that it all held together. We just flipped them back up straight, threw some heavy rocks on top to keep them down, and they were fine....See MoreAdvice Sought - Grow Mango In Subtropics
Comments (32)Hi Heather, I just wanted to make a couple of comments. It seems most of your questions and concerns were addressed quite well already from other members, inlcuding tips about compost and mulch which I also really reccomend. About the mango. I can't tell you for sure because I live in the American Midwest, a completely different climate from yours! However, I love tropical plants,and especially mangoes as they are my favorite fruit, hence me being on this forum, so I've read as much as I can on them and have tried to grow tropicals in anyway possible, and I've visited Hawaii and South Florida often. Mangoes are grown all over India, and many parts of India are very hot and dry, with temperatures getting into the hundreds(farenheit). Supposedly they fruit better that way. I think the leaves should get used to the sun as it gets older. And as long as you are irrigating it and mulching it,and all of the other plants you plan to plant, I really think it should be ok. I would really try frangipanis again. Three of the four that I grow seem to be VERY drought tolerant and tough. It can get very droughty here in the summer and they are in pots, plus it's very windy too, so they dry out very quickly. I have a book on them and it mentions that frangipani trees grow wild in the Central American deserts, in rock crevices, among cacti. And I've noticed that they grow very well by the ocean. And they cast lots of shade. I would definitly try date palms. They are beautiful, love hot, dry weather, are salt tolerant, and produce delicious fruit. Antother palm that you could try is the pindo palm or jelly palm. They are supposedly very heat, cold, drought, and salt tolerant. And the fruit can be made into jelly. The sea grape is another option that might work. I believe that they are almost as salt-tolerant as coconut palms, and you can eat the fruit too. Autograph trees are also mildy salt tolerant. The sea almond mentioned above is a really good idea. Try a dragon tree, I think that would proabably thrive there. There are tree-like yuccas that you might want to consider. In fact I think a lot of succulents and cacti as well would be the way to go. Apparently Crinums are salt-tolerant too. There is also the sea lettuce. Bromeliads- I believe the species would be hoyas and puyas(I'm not a bromeliad expert). There are cycads that you could grow, and there is one in particular that thrives in hot, dry areas, unfortuneately I cant think of its name right now. Good luck with your gardens. I hope you can create a little paradise!...See More
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years agoCR Parsons
3 years ago
Jay 6a Chicago
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
katob Z6ish, NE Pa
3 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
3 years ago
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