I can't imagine where the flower heads went. There's no trail left on the ground, the petals had fallen off so they weren't that pretty.
There were no seeds on it... in fact it was hit taken over by aphids and the leaf stems kinda turned brown and started dying. What would steal the flower heads with no seeds?
Is there some kind of animal that would do such a thing?
-- Jim Carlock Please post replies to newsgroup.
"Jim Carlock" wrote in news:J1toe.66294$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.tampabay.rr.com:
yup. squirrels. lee
Thanks, Lee. What about possum? Thought we saw a possum out side last night hobbling down the road.
What does a squirrel do with a 1 month old sunflower head with no seeds?
How long does it take for a sunflower to get seeds after the petals fall off?
I'm thinking that one had a problem with aphids that did it in.
-- Jim Carlock Please post replies to newsgroup.
"enigma" wrote: "Jim Carlock" wrote:
yup. squirrels. lee
"Jim Carlock" wrote in news:5xDoe.67695$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.tampabay.rr.com:
maybe. i've never had possums bother my sunflowers, but if it disappeared overnight rather than in the day...
they eat the base of the flower. yup, even without seeds.
well, the immature seeds are there before petal drop (before the flower actually but they don't become actual seeds until they're pollenated). i haven't paid much attention to length from bloom to ripe seeds really because i grow them for the birds & squirrels, but i think it's 5 or 6 weeks. could be less, but the wildlife don't wait for them to ripen usually.
mine get aphids & mildew :p they still make seeds though. lee
Thanks much. I've got a few more sunflowers growing. One in particular, the leaves are about 8" round, the stalk is about 5/8" thick and it's a good 3 feet tall. The leaves span maybe a 2 foot diameter if you look at it from the top. I was pretty proud of the other sunflower that the squirrels(?) nabbed. I think it grew too fast, though because it started leaning over the fence and the stem wasn't strong enough to hold itself up. The stem is still out there but the leave stems have pretty much turned brown, but there are still some really small buds on it that are blooming. All in all it's looks pretty wimpy, tiny buds, sick looking leaves, stem turning brown from the top down.
Do you mulch around the base of your sunflowers?
-- Jim Carlock Please post replies to newsgroup.
"enigma" wrote: "Jim Carlock" wrote:
maybe. i've never had possums bother my sunflowers, but if it disappeared overnight rather than in the day...
they eat the base of the flower. yup, even without seeds.
well, the immature seeds are there before petal drop (before the flower actually but they don't become actual seeds until they're pollenated). i haven't paid much attention to length from bloom to ripe seeds really because i grow them for the birds & squirrels, but i think it's 5 or 6 weeks. could be less, but the wildlife don't wait for them to ripen usually.
mine get aphids & mildew :p they still make seeds though. lee
Hmm...the mention of leaning on a fence suggests...
Well,I seem to recall my neighbor said she watched a groundhog clip off and devour theflowers on her sunflowers while sitting on top of the fence they were planted along. Despite their looks they are good climbers, and I've seen one sunning itself in a maple tree, and seen signs of them feeding up in mulberry trees. (Mulberry leaves are one of their favorite foods, at least in my neighborhood.)
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