Sunflowers

JayDB

Eight Pointer
Hi.

Going to plant 2-3 acres of sunflowers this year for dove hunting.

Never planted sunflowers before.

What type/brand do you use?

Have you had better/worse success growing sunflowers broadcasting or planting them (for example with a row planter, not a no till drill)?

Any lessons learned/advice from those who have planted sunflowers previously?
 

remingtonman

Four Pointer
It’s kind of hard to get the population right with broadcasting the seed. More often than not u get them to thick. Now would be a good time to collect and send in soil samples for the area to be planted. They cost $4 each right now but it will save u money on soil amendments
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Most people use a corn planter. I don't have one, so I broadcast them. And yes, the mistake is usually getting them too thick. It is hard to plant them thin enough for proper growth when broadcasting. I have been doing it for several years now, with good success, but every year I say I should have planted them a little thinner. They still come up fine and make a great plot. The issue with getting them too thick is they don't make very big heads. Small heads produce very little productive seed, whereas one large head can produce more seed than 10 small-headed plants. The heads just don't fill out well when planted too thick. Planters work better because you can space the plants properly. I will buy one in the near future.

The cheapest and easiest seed is black oil sunflower seed that they package for the birds. It comes up just fine and cost half of what the certified seed does. I can't tell the difference.

Other lessons would depend on how you plan to plant them. I spray about 4 weeks in advance, then disc, spray pre-emergent weed killer, disc, drag, seed, fertilize, drag/cultipack. Cultipackers work good, but a drag works just as good as far as I can tell. You don't have to be that specific about it. Get good soil contact that's smooth and relatively firm, and then make sure the seed is covered, and it will grow if there is sufficient soil moisture.

I try to have them planted by May 1st if possible. Last week of April is good. I have seen it too wet and had to wait until the 10th-15th, but that is the latest I would want to plant.

Weeds can become an issue. I spray to kill mine in August after the seed heads are fully formed and are beginning to turn brown. It kills the weeds, and dries out the sunflowers faster too. Lime as soon as you can according to your needs and then periodically as needed.

They are fun to plant and watch grow. Especially if it's somewhere that you can keep an eye on them regularly. I would say 2-3 acres is the minimum needed for a good shoot, and also to keep deer damage down.
 
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woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
A buddy of mine used to plant them up in Harnett county - deer would mow the tops out of them
 

B-KayCh

Six Pointer
Sky Hawk summed it up. I use a seed drill that plants on 7” rows, we block off so rows are 21-28”(both work well) and look for 6-8 seed per foot. I’ve used regular black oil seed, Pennington and a blend called Dove Kandy from Quail Forever. All worked well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

hnbarnes

Six Pointer
The black oil bird seed has a lot more weed seed in it than certified seed does. Germination will also be better. It's worth the extra cost for certified seed
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
Skyhawk seemed to sum it up as good as anybody but I’ll add one thing no one has mentioned. I would be more inclined to plant later than sooner. I learned that lesson this past year. I broadcast seeded mine. Everything came up great and I intentionally planted mine heavy expecting some deer damage. I also planted them early. Like mid April early. Since they were planted heavy, weeds were not that big of an issue because the sunflowers shaded out the ground.

I said all that to say this. Because I planted them so early, they matured early. The grackles absolutely wiped out every seed off the head before mid August. I could look down on my patch from living room window and there was 500 or so grackles every evening perched on the heads. I don’t mind feedIng a few finches and other song birds, but the dam grackles were a pain in the @$$. I bushhogged my sunflowers and there was not one single sunflower seed to be found. So that’s why I’d try to wait as late as possible to plant.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I said all that to say this. Because I planted them so early, they matured early. The grackles absolutely wiped out every seed off the head before mid August. I could look down on my patch from living room window and there was 500 or so grackles every evening perched on the heads. I don’t mind feedIng a few finches and other song birds, but the dam grackles were a pain in the @$$. I bushhogged my sunflowers and there was not one single sunflower seed to be found. So that’s why I’d try to wait as late as possible to plant.

That's interesting. Here it's the goldfinches. By the hundreds. And you're right, if you plant them too early, the non-target birds can work on them pretty good. I have found May 1st to be a good date to shoot for around here. The last couple of years, I have been a little later than that, and I have wished that I had just a little more time between maturation and our hunt. But it is a tradeoff with the birds. Another reason why you need at least 2-3 acres. The deer will eat some and the other birds start eating them out of the heads way before they are dried down.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
When I have planted sunflowers in places with lots of deer before they ate the plants at the seedling stage.

Just my experience.
 
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