Speaking of "flopped over"? - Sunflowers!!!!!

[Rose]

I have planted them before and want to plant them again but does anyone here have a solution for sunflowers that (for lack of a better word) flop over?

I would love to plant them again!

Rose

"How did I ever get talked into this?"

[Ann]

[e-mail] (Rose) expounded:

As we were discussing in another thread, I'd suspect too much nitrogen. Sunflowers like a lean soil. Don't use a high nitrogen fertilizer on them like Miracle-Grow.

[Cereus-validus]

Stake them.

[Vox Humana]

I agree with staking them. Even if they are sturdy, I find that the squirrels will climb them and knock them over in an attempt to get at the seeds.

[Lisa]

In the heart. I hate sunflowers.

[Vox Humana]

There are so many varieties that with a wide range of sizes and colors. I find them fascinating. There are some farmers who plant vast fields of them next to the interstate here in Ohio. I think it is stunning to pass such huge masses of sturdy, architectural flowers. The highway department panted big stretches of them on I71 between Cincinnati and Columbus last year. I loved it.

[Stoph]

ODOT also planted a bunch here on US 35 around Frankfort, Ohio "Home of the International Sunflower Festival"...;-)

Stoph "Gardens are an excellent place to hide from the wife"

[Leon Fisk]

Hi Rose,

If they flop over, carefully pull them backup straight and stomp down the side that was tipped up. Now get your hoe out and mound dirt up and around them, maybe 6-10 inches deep. That should keep'em in place ;-) The sooner you can tip them back up the better. Don't wait too long...

You can always be preemptive and mound them up before they tip over too. I usually wait until a few tip, because in some years it isn't a problem. Usually a heavy rain with big gusts of wind tip mine over. The rain saturates the soil and then the wind does the rest.

Maybe you have been watering them a bit much and the soil is saturated? Sunflowers seem to do quite well with just the water Mother Nature provides. I only water mine a bit after transplanting volunteers and they look all droopy.

See the following link for a few images.

sunflowers on the ends of the rows and the ones standing alone by themselves rarely if ever tip over. The constant buffeting they get from the wind encourages them to grow a more substantial root system.

[Norma J. Briggs]

I use a tomato cage to keep them upright- it is cheap and easy.

[Pen]

Wow! We can really use a field of sunflowers along the highways here. Something to look at during rush hour instead of bumpers and concrete. I've heard that pleasant sceneries can calm drivers and reduce accidents.