Growing Sunflowers in Kent

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
100 day sunflowers 3 weeks after drilling. These were planted after a cut of hay the last week of may. The land had been in grass for 7 years and didn't turn over very well so I am pleased with the result even if the germination is a bit patchy. They had a litre/ha of Novall pre emergence. The drill used I would add is nearly 40 years old and is not that great at maintaining an even depth.

View attachment 1043774

hi
What’s the end purpose for these ?
for the seed ?
I will just say that sunnies are fairly critical to get an even spacing between plants to get an even size on the heads & similar maturity
For seed production, we’d have them on .75m - 1m rows, for a population of around 40,000 / ha ( 4 plants per metre on 1m rows )
I would only ever grow them zero till ( for max soil moisture retention & best / softest soil conditions ) & spend a lot of time getting seed spacing spot on ( precision planters are the best way to go, with seed singulation ) & in our situation, seed depth & placement can make the difference between getting a crop or complete failure.
Good luck with them, I hope they are a good crop for you.
After having not grown them for about 10 years, I’m thinking of putting in about 200 ha this spring, if I can only find out where they can be delivered to. A lot of the domestic crushers no longer process them . . .
 

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer
I see what you mean but it looks a good stand. I think we might try 8 ha next year. Can they be drilled with an Accord combi if I block some of the pipes off? Also what type is best/most reliable for a beginner 😂 ?
For the accord the answer is yes but don't expect great results. Plus you need to drill extra seed which, as its hybrid, is expensive. We mostly precision drill them now. Our drill is ancient and does the job reasonably well and you can pick up old 4 row drills for less than 1000 euros so if I were you i would start looking for a proper drill. Just make sure it's got the plates for sunflowers and not just maize as these could cost more than the drill.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Next door have got a few flowers out already. I thought it was way too early and possibly this hot spell? The flowers are only about 100mm across at most.

head size can be dependent on many things, including plant population.

ie - bigger heads on low populations, smaller heads if population is too high . . .


the “flower” isn’t actually a flower

it is made up of many many flowers, one where each seed / kernel eventually forms
 
For the accord the answer is yes but don't expect great results. Plus you need to drill extra seed which, as its hybrid, is expensive. We mostly precision drill them now. Our drill is ancient and does the job reasonably well and you can pick up old 4 row drills for less than 1000 euros so if I were you i would start looking for a proper drill. Just make sure it's got the plates for sunflowers and not just maize as these could cost more than the drill.
Thank you. I like an excuse to go shopping 😂.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
As I said earlier, seed spacing is pretty crucial with sunnies to get even growth & maturity, so I would only ever plant them with a precision planter
But just as important as seed spacing, is seed placement & making sure each seed germinates.
No point having exact / precise spacings if half the seeds end up on top of the ground or sitting in dry soil & not germinating
 
Last edited:

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer
hi
What’s the end purpose for these ?
for the seed ?
I will just say that sunnies are fairly critical to get an even spacing between plants to get an even size on the heads & similar maturity
For seed production, we’d have them on .75m - 1m rows, for a population of around 40,000 / ha ( 4 plants per metre on 1m rows )
I would only ever grow them zero till ( for max soil moisture retention & best / softest soil conditions ) & spend a lot of time getting seed spacing spot on ( precision planters are the best way to go, with seed singulation ) & in our situation, seed depth & placement can make the difference between getting a crop or complete failure.
Good luck with them, I hope they are a good crop for you.
After having not grown them for about 10 years, I’m thinking of putting in about 200 ha this spring, if I can only find out where they can be delivered to. A lot of the domestic crushers no longer process them . . .

Yes they are oilseed types grown on 80cm rows but really should be narrower, modern drill set ups are 50-60 cm for sunflowers. We plant around 70,000 seeds per ha so 5-6 plants per m on this drill.

These were after long term grass and so direct drilling wasn't an option. The old turf ploughed quite badly and left the ground uneven, we had to balance an extra cultivation passes to get the ground level with the potential loss of moisture so went with only one pass.
 

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer
As I said earlier, seed spacing is pretty crucial with sunnies to get even growth & maturity, so I would only ever plant them with a precision planter
But just as important as seed spacing, is seed placement & making sure each seed germinates.
No point having exact / precise spacings if half the seeds end up on top of the ground or sitting in dry soil & not germinating

We stopped growing sunflowers about ten years ago but used to grow quite a lot. The drill we used is seriously out dated, the depth control wheels are far too far away from the point where the seed is placed, but we had a few fields that we could drill this year so the old drill came out of the shed. Totally agree on depth control for moisture and also we have the problem that earlier in the season the soil is much colder at depth so we start shallow and get deeper.

Another issue this year that affected the germination on some field has been capping after heavy rain which was responsible for some of the poor germination in the first photo. Of course if we direct drill them we wouldn't have so much trouble with capping etc
 
Location
salop
In a small field it would be quite possible for rooks to take every seed at emergence. (We learnt the hard way)
Crows and rooks love em so much that they take no notice of a banger. Beware.
 

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer
In a small field it would be quite possible for rooks to take every seed at emergence. (We learnt the hard way)
Crows and rooks love em so much that they take no notice of a banger. Beware.
That and slugs and wireworm etc. Arvalis (our french crop research boffins) say around 20% field losses are normal and up to 50% is acceptable, probably one of the reasons we plant more seeds than the australians. People in the UK are drilling 100,000 seeds per hectare to achieve a reasonable stand.
 

Hjcarter

Member
Very frustrating that we don't have the climate to grow what the world apparently wants....sunflowers,soya, year round fruit and veg,seeds,nuts,olives etc etc.
We're good at growing cereals and grass for feeding to livestock for meat/ milk production. And what are the public repeatedly being told to cut back on?
Money trees seem to do quite well around London!! ;-)
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
How late do you think you can sow them in UK? Just to look pretty rather than an actual crop.
I sowed some a little while back but they are not showing much. Maybe too compact, too many rabbits or crows.
Have I got time to start again or have I missed the boat now?
 

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer
How late do you think you can sow them in UK? Just to look pretty rather than an actual crop.
I sowed some a little while back but they are not showing much. Maybe too compact, too many rabbits or crows.
Have I got time to start again or have I missed the boat now?
Like maize they are day degree dependant so can hardly change in colder periods and romp on when its warm. A lot depends on your local climate.

They are planted not far from here as a cover crop after wheat harvesting so late july/ early august and in flower when we are drilling cereals so I would have thought you should get flowers eventually if you drill now. Frost will kill them though.

Where are you on this map? Its out of date but its from the ADAS sunflower guide.


1655704641351.png
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
Like maize they are day degree dependant so can hardly change in colder periods and romp on when its warm. A lot depends on your local climate.

They are planted not far from here as a cover crop after wheat harvesting so late july/ early august and in flower when we are drilling cereals so I would have thought you should get flowers eventually if you drill now. Frost will kill them though.

Where are you on this map? Its out of date but its from the ADAS sunflower guide.


View attachment 1043941
I am in a yellow bit, so I do still have a chance or at least worth a try anyway. I only want some flowers, no expectations of seeds.
 

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer
Roy I have to say they look pretty impressive, what sort of yields would your crops achieve and do your yields vary much from year to year? I am assuming these are dryland?

Our varieties rarely produce such big heads even when given space.

The main concern when looking at varieties even half way down France is how early they come to harvest. We are almost bang on the 46th parallel north. From a southern hemisphere perspective 46th South is the southern tip of New Zealand and way south of the whole of Tasmania.

We only grow early, very early and ultra early types due to a lack of day degrees, these tend to have smaller heads than the late varieties grown in southern Europe.
 

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