How to Grow Sunflower in a Pot

Pot Size: 10 inch per plant

Germination Soil: 70% coco peat & 30% compost

Soil: 50% garden soil, 25% compost 25% coco peat

Spacing: 5 inches apart

Sowing Time: Mid Feb to end of April

Flowering Season: Summer & rainy season

 

You can buy sunflower seeds from your local nursery, garden centers or even the hypermarket's garden & outdoor section.

 

Sunflowers reach the terminal height as much as their genetics will let them get to, and then they produce the sunflower head. Once the sunflower has completely bloomed, you will have 10 to 15 days to enjoy its beauty.

Sunlight☀️

Once you have sown the seeds, keep the pot where it gets direct sun, with 6 hours of full sun. Sunflowers need full sun to have thick stems in order to support the large flower head. 

 

When the flower is young and in the stage of blossom, the flower heads turn and follow the sunlight. This is called heliotropism. After the flowers have finished blooming, it usually faces north-east.

 

Water💧

Keep the soil moist and water as soon as the soil starts to dry out.

Ideal Growing Temperature🌡️

Ideal growing temperature for sunflowers is between 77°F to 82°F (25ºC to 28ºC) and they can tolerate temperatures between 46°F to 93°F (8°C to 34°C). Sunflowers can tolerate high heat if the moisture requirements are met and the soil does not dry out due to high heat.

 

Fertilization

Sunflowers have tap roots so they can go deep into the soil to fetch nutrients, hence they don’t need too much fertilization.

Pruning

Once a flower withers down, remove it from the sunflower plant so the plant can focus its energy into fresh growth and more flowers, instead of seed production.

 

Collecting Sunflower Seeds

After 100 days since sowing of seeds, the sunflower will turn brown and seeds can be harvested. You can also use the dried stems of the sunflower as kindling wood.

 

Look out for the following to know if your sunflower is ready to harvest sunflower seeds.

 

• When the ray flowers on the outside of the sunflower have fallen off, and the sunflower is drooping; that is the first signal that you are close to harvest.
• Look at the back of the head of the sunflower. It is no longer green in color and should start turning yellow while the ribs of that back will start to turn green to brown. That is when you know that your sunflower is fully ready to harvest.
• At this point, snip the head off, let it dry in a cool well ventilated place. If you rub the disc flowers, they will easily scrape off and you can see sunflower seeds underneath it.

Sunflower not Flowering

The reasons for poor flower formation in sunflower plants are either overfertilization or lack of enough sunlight. Sunflowers have tap roots so they can go deep into the soil to fetch nutrients, hence they don’t need too much fertilization.

 

Also check out how you can grow sunflower microgreens at home