How to plant sunflower seeds in containers or pots.
Sunflowers are annual flowering plants that are native to North and Central America. The scientific name of the sunflower is Helianthus annuus and it belongs to the daisy family Asteraceae. Sunflowers come in several colours like yellow, white, brown, red and orange. They are grown as food crops or ornamental flowers. The seeds are packed with vitamins and minerals which help to improve immunity. Consuming sunflower seeds reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
There are about 70 varieties of sunflowers. Certain types grow from 12 to 24 feet. A few examples are the Russian Giant, Titan Sunflower, Mongolian Giant, American Giant and Skyscraper Sunflower. Other varieties of sunflowers grow 2 to 3 feet. A few such sunflower varieties are Elf, Firecracker, Double dandy and Sunbright Supreme. These varieties can be grown in 14-inch containers. Gardeners love to have sunflowers in their gardens as they attract lots of beneficial insects that feed on unwanted pests, plus they grow fast. The best season to grow sunflowers is during the summer season. Sunflowers grow in soil that contains lots of nutrients. A fertile soil is essential to grow sunflowers.
How to plant sunflower seeds in containers:
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Choose a container based on the variety of sunflowers that you are growing and fill it with a potting mix that contains 20 % garden soil, 20 % coarse sand and 60 % compost. Sunflowers grow best in fertile well-drained soil. Sandy loam soil is needed to grow sunflowers.
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Take a few seeds and sow them in the container. Plant the sunflower seeds half an inch deep and make sure that there is at least a 3-inch space between each seed. Sunflowers germinate within 10 days.
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Place the container in a location that gets 8 to 10 hours of sunlight every day, this helps the sunflower to grow even faster. The optimum temperature needed for sunflowers to grow well is between 25°C-32°C (77°F-90°F).
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Since sunflowers are heavy feeders, compost must be added once in 2 weeks. It takes 80 to 120 days for sunflowers to mature. After the seeds mature and start to dry up you can collect the seeds for sowing in the next year.
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When the flowers start to dry you can cut the stalk of the plant about one inch from the head. After that, you can collect the seeds from the head and dry them for a few days. Then you can store them in jars for sowing the next year.