[mralgae]

what to do with sun flower heads once they have died off. i have one, and others following. i want to collect the seeds from them. do i cut the heads off and leave in the shed? or leave on stem. which ever way how long and when do i collect the seeds???

thanks...

[anthonynolan]

Hi, I grow sunflowers and have kept the seed previously. I did not really know what I was doing, but it seems to have worked, so here goes.

When the petals die off I leave the flowers where they are for a few weeks to let them dry out in the sun and wind. Then I pull the whole head off and remove the seeds. I put them into a large jam jar and put the lid on. They keep in the shed and last at least a few years.

I have wondered about eating them too, but have not tried that yet. Maybe this year I will give that a go.

Anthony

[mralgae]

Hi and thanks for your reply. thats excellent i will give that a go. been hanging about for nearly two weeks now and droopy but strangely still has a few yellow petals...but fading, give it another week and see what happens. as for eating the seeds i havent a clue, i know you can buy them in pks in the supermarkets etc but dont know how or if they are treated in any way b4 hand.
i know a quite a few of the flowers and some leaves are used in cooking etc and wine making ans also medicines.

if you find out lets know, i might give them ago my self...

[JBlaney]

Hi Folks,
Last year I saved some sunflower seeds from the plants I had and have a bumper crop this year.

The question is, are all variety's of sunflower eatable ?
If the are not, they should make good feed for the birds during the winter.

Don't want to cause someone a mischief.

James