Will we get the sunflower seeded?

Oh my goodness! We have had about an inch of rain since 3:00 AM this morning and there is more in the forecast. Of course this has shut down our seeding operations on the farm and our sunflower crop isn't completely in the ground yet. We think this rain is going to keep us out of the field til about June 2nd now which is getting quite late for seeding sunflowers.

Speaking of sunflowers, did you know that black oil sunflower is the top choice for seed eating birds. You just can not beat black oil sunflower in a feeder. You can feed black oil sunflowers in shell or you can feed the sunflower kernels (we call these sunflower chips). Sunflower chips especially chips that are not whole and have been chopped in some way are the perfect no mess bird food solution. They will not sprout under the feeder, there are no shells to clean up and birds love them so much that they will totally clean up the feeder and the ground if any spill.


Now back to the agronomics of sunflowers. Sunflowers have a fairly long growing season. Fields are seeded usually well before now in the spring and then sunflowers will grow quite tall - up to 50 - 60 inches tall at maturity. Sunflower fields burst into bloom in early August and are a beautiful sight to behold. We have calls from people asking us when the sunflowers will be in bloom so they can come and take pictures. By late August, though, the blooms are starting to die off as the field ripens.

Sunflowers are usually the last crop to be harvested in fall, since fall frosts are necessary for drying down the crop. Most of our sunflower crrops do not come off the fields until late October to mid November.

We still plan on seeding the remaining fields we have penciled in for sunflower. We just have to hope for a long and mild fall.