With the season of spring finally here and the summertime closely peeking out from around the corner, it is the perfect time to begin growing and accurately caring for sunflowers! When individuals think of summer and the flowers that are usually blooming during this magnificent time of the year, sunflowers are usually the first plant to be thought of. These beautiful flowers can develop into a wide variety of colors, including different hues of orange, yellow, red, maroon, and brown. However, sunflowers will usually and most often bloom into a bright yellow variation with a dark brown center filled with sunflower seeds that can either be utilized to grow more of these delicate flowers or can be enjoyed as a snack.
How Long Does It Usually Take For Sunflowers To Bloom?
Sunflowers are known as incredibly fast bloomers and can sometimes mature in only 85 to 95 days. These majestic flowers often grow to be quite large, some of the largest being measured at over 16 feet in height, however, these plants can be developed to grow and reside within smaller areas as well.
Sunflowers are known to have an incredibly authentic characteristic attached to them. These flowers are heliotropic, meaning that they can sense where the Sun is positioned or located throughout the day and will turn their faces towards from sun rise to sun set! These flowers are incredibly wanted by individuals who are looking to grow and cultivate the perfect plant, duew to the fact that sunflowers are tolerant to high temperatures, pest resistant, and absolutely breathtaking!
When Is The Best Time To Plant Sunflowers?
The absolute best time to begin planting, or better known as sowing, sunflowers seeds into your soil or outdoor garden is when winter is long gone and the threat of cold temperatures has passed the region in which you are living. This means that your soil must be 50 degrees fahrenheit or above for sunflower seeds to truly blossom and begin to grow at the best rate that they possibly can. It most regions throughout the United States, the perfect time frame for you to sow sunflower seeds is between April and July. However, if you live within southern regions of the country, than you can most likely begin sowing sunflower seeds in March.
How To Choose and Prepare The Perfect Planting Site For Your Sunflowers
The best area to begin planting your sunflower seeds is in an extemely sun filled area! Sunflowers tend to grow the best when they are growing in direct sunlight for around 6 to 8 hours every single day. Sunflowers will be able to thrive best in environments that have long and very hot summer seasons. You must decide upon a well-drained area with soil that doesn’t become too wet when it rains outside or else your sunflowers’ roots will be unable to truly develop and grab a hold of the dry soil, which is what these types of flowers need to prosper.
Sunflowers, although quite easy to upkeep after they have grown to full size, are incredibly finicky when first beginning to grow into their newly appointed home. This is the exact reasoning behnd the importance of planting your sunflower seeds in a soil with the perfect pH levels for your sunflowers to thrive into adulthood. Soil with a pH level of between 6.0 to 7.5, which is perfectly balanced in between acidic and alkaline, is the perfect pH level for sunflowers to bloom into the beautiful flowers that they truly are meant to be.
Sunflowers are one of the most ravenous flower types, meaning that they need a lot of nutrients in order to keep up with and sustain the amount of growth they do within a day. Planters must understand that they need to purchase and plant their sunflower seeds in a nutrient-rich soil combined with either organic material or even manure! When you plant your sunflower seeds in nutrient filled soils, your new flowers will be able to grow in unimaginable ways!
How To Accurately Plant Your Sunflower Seeds
When you first begin thinking about your sunflower seed excursion, you must plan to sow each seed about 1 to 1-1/2 inches deep into the ground and 6 inches apart from eachother, in order to ensure that each sunflower has enough room to accurately grow and bloom into its full, potential size. You must give these fkowers plenty of room to grow to their full height and width so be sure to spread out the rows and make them about 30 inches from each other.
When you are planting your sunflower seeds, it is a good idea to mix in some fertilizer into the soil. This wil help the roots of your sunflower seeds to grow nice and strong, firmly holding the sunflower within the soil and protecting it from falling over when strogn winds and rain occur.
How To Accurately Care For Your Newly Growing Sunflowers
When your newly planted sunflower is first beginning to grow, you must directly water it right around where the roots are located, which is around 3 to 4 inches around and from the flower, on a daily basis. Once the sunflower’s roots have fully established and are sturdy within the soil, you can begin to water the flower only once a week. This will allow the sunflower to deeply root into the ground.
When you are feeding your sunflowers, only fertilize them once in a while. Overfertilizing your sunflowers can easily cause their stems to break off and fall. As you are watering your sunflowers, you can always add in some watered down or diluted fertilizer to water your sunflowers with, in order to provide your flowers with the very best nutrition that it needs. With such a tall type of flower, such as this one, you might want to add some extra support to their stems. Bamboo sticks are a great option for a sunflower that might need some added support to its stem and base.
