[GPI]

Sunflower Spacing
By Daria Perse

Seed spacing is important for several reasons. Whenever we are trying to achieve the best performance of a certain plant, the best way to go (before starting the seeds) is to check and use the instructions on the seed packages. They will usually tell you the exact perfect distances between the seeds and plants.



Reason #1: Every plant needs plenty of room to grow, sunflowers especially. If their seeds are planted too close together, they won't reach their full potential. Their heads will be smaller. The cut flower growers use that to their advantage. They want to grow petite blooms that are not too heavy; therefore they crowd the plants closer together. But when you grow sunflowers in your garden, give them extra space. They will thank you by growing the biggest and most beautiful blooms possible.

Reason #2: Sunflowers that are spaced correctly are much easier to maintain. Every single plant will be easy-accessible, which means easy weeding, watering, fertilizing and pruning. About once a week cut the spent flowers from the poly-headed sunflower species. That will promote more blooming. Also, plenty of space means abundance of sunshine for each plant. When lacking sun, sunflower stems grow frail; they might even collapse in effort to reach for the sun.

Reason #3: The roots of sunflowers excrete toxin (not harmful to humans and pets) that prevents seeds from sprouting and seedlings from growing. The toxin is biodegradable but in the growing season it just might affect another sunflower shoot when planted too close together.

Sunflowers are easy to grow and not fussy about the soil. Just give them plenty of space, sun and good drainage and you'll be able to enjoy their happy faces throughout the season.
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[sunflower_info]

When going for a very large head, I try to give as much space as possible. You want a minimum of a 3 feet X 3 feet spacing. When going for really tall plants, I sometimes grow closer. Maybe 2 1/2 feet X 2 1/2 feet or even 2 X 2 feet. When they are closer, they seem to put on smaller leaves and tend to stretch a bit more in competition for the sun. Too close of spacing can definitely stunt growth. It also depends on the variety you are growing. One giant variety named Bott's Strain does much better with small spacing, while larger leaf varieties like Craven do better with larger spacings. I have had 15+ ft. tall sunflowers with only inches of spacing, but you have to leave large amounts of room around those two plants. At least 3-4 ft. all away around. They tend to grow more aggressively in competition for resources when they are that close together. It won't work if they have other sunflowers surrounding them.

[BlackBird]

Wow, those sunflowers should be an inspiration to us all. You don't have them staked either.

[schlezi]

Hello,

I'm new in the forum.. and I hope I'm writing in the right place..

I do not live in Ireland, but I would like to give sunflower seeds as a present to a friend who lives in Cork area. I wanted to ask if you think sunflowers would grow in this area? (I don't know if there is enough sun for this flower in Ireland..)

Thanks,
S.

[JennyS]

Hi Schlezi
Sunflowers grow great in Cork - it doesn't rain all the time here - tho at the moment the garden could do with some......!
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Irish wildflowers

[schlezi]

Thanks Jenny!

Sorry for being "prejudice" about the sun in Ireland.. I myself come from the mediterranean..

Do I need to buy specific kind of seeds or any sunflower seeds will do?

thanks again,
Dana

[JennyS]

Hi Dana
Can buy loads of different sorts of sunflowers (colours and sizes etc) or you could save / gather some seed from sunflowers growing in your part of the world....
Happy gardening!
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Irish wildflowers