One of the best pleasures is to be able to observe those big and beautiful yellow flowers Once the summer sun goes down
If you really did your job and you planted a variety of sunflowers with large petals, you will be able to enjoy them, however, when planting sunflowers you are not the only one who will harvest the seeds; since the harvest of sunflowers is one of the favorite hobbies for field micebirds, deer and squirrels. For this reason and in order to outperform the local fauna, you need to know when should you harvest exactly the sunflowers.
When to grow sunflower seeds
Collecting sunflowers is very simple, however, determining when to grow sunflowers It could make several gardeners think about it and quite a bit. Collect the seeds before the right time It can cause you to have many layers of seeds that are not of quality, so if you wait too long time to grow sunflowers and seedsThese will dry out a lot and if you wait for the animals to start finishing the harvest, they won’t leave anything for you.
You grow sunflowers the moment its petals are dry and begin to fall off. The green base of the head it should be yellow and little by little it should turn brown. The seeds look plump and the seed layers are completely black or have some black or white stripes, according to the variety to which they belong. If animals and birds represent a difficulty, you could cover the heads of the sunflowers with a fine mesh or with paper bags, as soon as you notice that the petals have begun to wilt.
How to harvest sunflower seeds
A way to grow sunflower seeds is to let the seeds fully ripen on the stem, for later, at the time when the seeds are fully ripe and start to fall, start to cut the stem about 2 centimeters below the head of the sunflower.
Then you should quickly rub them against your hand, blow to blow away the straw and let the seeds dry before putting them away.
Another way of grow sunflowers is to allow 2/3 of the seeds to mature, and then cut a longer piece of stem, approximately seven or ten centimeters. Wrap a paper bag around the head and place it in an area where they are well ventilated for at least a couple of weeks until they dry and make sure it is a warm area, but not hot.
Sunflower harvesting has a long history, as it has formed part of the diet of humans for several centuries.
Native Americans they used to collect sunflower seeds even before Europeans began to arrive, where commonly the heads were boiled in order to extract the oilthe seeds were eaten raw or baked in the oven accompanied with breads and they were also used to prepare medicinal syrups, as these seeds have a high content of potassium, phosphorus and calcium.
How to save the seeds
When the seeds have already been grownyou can use or store them and then plant them during the following season. For that you should let them dry completely before putting them away. The drier the seeds are, the longer they will last in storage, so store them in a container with a lid, label the container, and date it.
To keep them from season to season, you should place the container in an area that is cool and darklike the refrigerator and to keep them dry, we could add some silica gel or add two tablespoons of powdered milk. You could also choose to freeze the seeds, since they can normally last 1 year if stored in the refrigerator.
