Hi all - I live in the Washington DC area, zone 7. I'd like to grow sunflowers from seed this year and I'm wondering if anyone here can tell me if it's too late in the spring to plant them in my area. Any information is appreciated.
Thanks!
Rhonda Alexandria, VA Zone 7
Washington DC area?
Sorry dude but your tag says are supposed to be in northern Virginia, across the Potomac river. That must have been some freaking intense Memorial weekend partying you must have been doing if you wound up wandering around lost in DC!!!
You can still plant the sunflower seeds but the plants may overshadow your ganja crop!!!
Okay, maybe not ALL information is appreciated.
Thanks. I wish.
Depending on the variety you get, it will take between 2-3 months for you to get to flowers on your plants. Given that, I would think that you can still most likely grow them. Your seed packet should provide this information.
For Cereus - If Fairfax is considered part of the DC Metro area, Alexandria certainly qualifies. Since most people are not familiar with NoVA, it is fairly common to use DC as a point of reference.
Suja
I suppose by your definition, Suki, I live in the Washington DC area too.
Just because the Wash>
That's why I said I'm in the Washington AREA. And the Beltway doesn't pass through southern MD; Prince Georges and Montgomery are in the central part of the state.
Assuming you already have the seeds, check the packet for maturity timing. Sunflowers don't like frost, so count back from the first expected fall frost date to find the last date you can plant the sunflowers.
Maturity times range from 60-100 days for various sunflowers. I seed the shorter varieties as late as early August in New England. (They don't always make it). For a continuous crop of sunflowers, I seed every other week using several varieties with different maturity times. Since I use the hybrid pollenless sunflowers (for cutting) and since the seed is as much as $70/ounce (700 seeds for that variety) I start the sunflowers in the greenhouse and transplant them to the field rather than direct seeding. Transplanting also produces a more uniform stand. Transplanting is not required for cheap seeds. Broadcast and thin.
If you're planning on collecting seeds from the sunflowers, add a week or two to the maturity timing, since it is generally calculated to the flowers (most people's interest).
If you are planting sunflowers from birdseed without any maturity information, most birdseed maturity times are in the 70-80 day range.
Thanks for the great info!
Rhonda
Hi Rhonda,
I'm just planting mine in zone 5 (it has been too wet so far). Going by past experience mine will be fine. Sunflowers are EASY and grow really fast.
If you happen to feed birds, save yourself some money and plant some of the black oilers. Just sort through them and pick out the nicest/fattest looking seeds. All sorts of strange and interesting things develop from oilers ;-)
See the following for some images of oilers:
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