Volunteer Plant - Never seen them in our yard before. Growing fast

[Nifty]

Thanks for the nice comments about the smaller sprout. She looks so old in that pics (compared to how I see her in my mind).

Regarding the sunflower: Anybody know what type it is? Again, I thought the sunflowers used for edible seeds only had one big main flower, but this plant has quite a few.

I'm sure it will have seeds, but not sure they would be the edible type. Was I suppose to pluck off the smaller flowers to focus energy on the main flower?

 

[TillinWithMyPeeps]

I'm thinking it is a Black Oil Sunflower like the ones found in bird seed. I have a volunteer plant in my yard too, and it is already going to seed.

Your chickens will love the seeds!

 

[lesa]

If you cut the small flowers off, you will not get that gigantic head you are thinking about. One type of those is called the "mammoth" for good reason. Yours looks just like the tons that are growing around my bird feeder. Black Oil Sunflower Seeds. They make cute cut flowers and the birds and chickens will enjoy them! I love garden surprises! You should plant some of those giant ones, for your little one next year. They will tower over her and I bet she would get a kick out of it. Mine were way over my head last year! You can plant them so they grow into a kind of fort, as well.

 

[sparkles2307]

I used to work at the sunflower processing plant for the north/central region of the USA and Canada. That is a Black Oil most likely, BUT it could be a Con-Oil, which is a cross between a confection and an oil. They yield a mid-sized seed with few stripes on the deep black hull.

 

[Nifty]

You guys were all spot on!! We saw a few birds out at the sunflowers and when we went over we brushed away some of the dried blossums and beneath were TONS of little black seeds!!

How do you know for sure where they are fully "ripe"?

For next year, we'd like to have a bunch more. Should we use the seeds from these plants or buy a bunch of new seeds from the store?

Now I'm off to research how to harvest the seeds for the chickens... or should I just throw the whole thing out for the chickens to pick at?

 

[Reinbeau]

You guys were all spot on!! We saw a few birds out at the sunflowers and when we went over we brushed away some of the dried blossums and beneath were TONS of little black seeds!!

How do you know for sure where they are fully "ripe"?

For next year, we'd like to have a bunch more. Should we use the seeds from these plants or buy a bunch of new seeds from the store?

Now I'm off to research how to harvest the seeds for the chickens... or should I just throw the whole thing out for the chickens to pick at?

Rob, all sunflower seeds are edible for us, the BOSS are small, though, and not worth it unless you're a bird . They are fully ripe when they are easily removed, run your finger over them and they'll pop right out. I always give them the full head, they have a blast with them.

 

[Nifty]

Thanks Ann!

Another question: Some of the wild ones didn't have much success in growing as big as the first. They went through the whole process, but just micro size (like 1.5 feet tall). Will these just have proportionally small seeds? If the seeds from the tiny plants were planted what would happen?

 

[sparkles2307]

Wild sunflowers (no matter how tall they get, and they are capable of reaching 12 ft) always have a very small head, only a couple of inches. They have very tiny seeds which are so small that they are just a hassle to hull for eating or any other use. So if you planted seeds from these plants they would grow the same way year after year unless you had a male sunflower nearby to cross pollinate. But male sunflowers arent common in birdseed or commercial products so it'd be a very slim chance that youd get a male.

 

[Reinbeau]

I've got all kinds of different sunflowers coming up all over my yard, every other year or so I plant different seeds that I buy to beef up the gene pool. I get huge tall ones with large heads, smaller ones with even larger heads, multistemmed ones, etc. Once you get them going in your hard it's fun to see what comes up next year.

 

[Nifty]

A local older man (who is big into chickens and beekeeping) has a yard FULL of the super tall sunflowers that are the more "decorative" variety (small heads with super super tiny seeds). He started with a few and then they literally took over his yard. He gave me some and I'm actually scared to put them into my compost for fear they will take over our yard too. I wouldn't mind the more "productive" varieties taking over, but not that kind.

Also, when I was at the farmer's market in SF they had some really pretty ones. The man said they were a hybrid and actually bad for birds to eat?

Anywho... if you guys have recommendations for some really good starter stock / seeds / varieties, let me know (mostly looking for ones that are good seed producers for birds). I'm kinda getting into this whole sunflower thing... especially because they grew so well without much attention.