Sunflowers....

[freelancer79d]

What variety of sunflowers have the biggest heads?

[Timmah!]

I hear Mammoth one of the largest varieties. Skyscraper is another tall, large-headed variety.

[g8shot1]

Does biggest head equate to the most seed? We always grow just one or two.

There is a farm stand a couple of miles from our house that plants maybe 4 rows of sunflowers that are probably a quarter mile long or so on two different sides....hmm, I'll try to post some video of them as they flower.

[Timmah!]

There are ornamental varieties & there are commercial varieties. Of the commercial varieties, there are oil & confectionary categories.

Here's a link for example: http://gurneys.com/search.asp?ss=sunflower
That Velvet Queen is rather striking. Gonna have to grow that one.

[freelancer79d]

i have mammoths and got some Sunflower Forest seeds the other day. i am looking for lots of big seeds (treats for the chickens,,,lol)

[pinakbet]

anyone got moulin rouge sunflowers here?

[DuckCreekFarms]

Johnny's has Moulin Rouge F1

Moulin Rouge (F1) - Johnny's Selected Seeds

[pinakbet]

^thanks for the link. moulin rouge is pollen-less. does it means that it will not produce seeds?

[Steve Grower]

Originally Posted by freelancer79d

What variety of sunflowers have the biggest heads?

There are a few different varieties that will grow impressive heads but the largest is a Russian Mammoth variety called Diane's strain. I have been crossing this with the Green Goliath strain. Heads usually exceed 24" from seed to seed.
You will have to support the stalks when the heads near maturity as the stalks occassionaly collapse underv the weight of a huge head.

[Sorellina]

Ciao Steve-

Wow, that's just crazy. I grew Titans this year for the fair but they didn't get anywhere near that size. I still had to stake them and then protect the seeds from squirrels and birds, though.

[tam91]

Someone told me the heads always face east - is that true?

I've thought of putting some along my fence, but if each head was going to face the back of the other one, they'd look kinda silly.

Or... do they rotate to face the sun?

[pinakbet]

Quick question....

I've grown several sunflowers last summer to attract pollinators. I witnessed several insects visited the blooms but after the flowers dried up, I got no seeds. I even tried manually rubbing 2 flowers for pollination but still no seeds.

how do you let these flowers develope seeds?

[gardenfrog]

My experience is that the sunflower heads follow the sun.

[kath]

Originally Posted by tam91

Someone told me the heads always face east - is that true?

I've thought of putting some along my fence, but if each head was going to face the back of the other one, they'd look kinda silly.

Or... do they rotate to face the sun?

Mine always rotate to follow the sun, so you do need to consider that when deciding where to plant them.

[kath]

Originally Posted by pinakbet

Quick question....

I've grown several sunflowers last summer to attract pollinators. I witnessed several insects visited the blooms but after the flowers dried up, I got no seeds. I even tried manually rubbing 2 flowers for pollination but still no seeds.

how do you let these flowers develope seeds?

There are many varieties now that don't produce pollen and seeds, I think, for cut flowers without the pollen-shedding mess they make when you bring them indoors. I planted this variety to keep the squirrels from climbing the fence and making a mess in the garden after they were attracted to the sunflower seeds. So maybe you just picked the wrong variety.