Sunflowers -I think ive done the wrong thing.

carchic, Feb 27, 3:59am
Heya. First time with sunflowers they were hanging and nearly snapping as heads were so big so i chopped them off and thought i would dry them out then roast them.or save for replanting. My question is now i have cut them willl they still dry out go blackish and hard! Should i leave the head in sun as a whole or pull seeds out on a tray or have i destroyed this option by cutting them off! Will they never harden! I read afterwards you are meant to wait till back of thw head goes yellow/brown.At the moment they are cream colour and soft Opps. Any help would be great.
lilyfield, Feb 27, 8:50am
Yes you have done the wrongthing. The seeds are not ripe enough to germinate next year
carchic, Feb 27, 8:55am
can i dry them out to eat them!
lilyfield, Feb 27, 9:53am
the edible variety of sunflower seeds are not avaiable in NZ to my knowledge. the dried out husks are impossible to get off the kernel.
peter148, Feb 27, 10:14am
My chickens didn't eat the heads, I had to break them open and there were only a few small seeds inside.
carchic, Feb 27, 10:27am
o so there is nothing i can do=o( what a waste 4 HUGE heads
malone4, Feb 28, 7:04am
make nice dried flower decorations though.
mottly, Feb 28, 7:18am
depends which ones you've got, if the petals had died, sure, you can cut them off - hang them by what's left of the stalk, upside down, somewhere warm and dry - the ceiling somewhere preferrably.Wait till they've dried enough that you can shake the seeds out - and munch away. How big are the heads!The ones I've got this year are around 1 1/2 feet across.yummo.the last few years I think they've been packaged wrong, because the plants that grew, sure weren't what was on the packets!
carchic, Feb 28, 9:08am
I have taken all the seeds out and got them in my dehrydrator will see what happens, so far so good! so hopefully not a waste yes some of the heads were over a foot wide! hence why i didnt want to waste them. soaking half of them overnight in salt as i saw that online. Then will dehyrate them too. I guess trial and error thanks peoples for your help!
accroul, Feb 28, 6:56pm
I have a head in my garage that was picked while still white over 4 weeks ago & it's still white. Very dry, but still white.
carriebag, Feb 28, 8:30pm
All parts of sunflowers are edible. Petals are great for salads.I grew red sunflowers and got this infornation from King seeds.
uke17, Feb 28, 11:05pm
Keep us posted on progress with the drying, carchic.
whitehead., Mar 1, 3:19am
i have found that i had to leave the flowers on the plant till the seeds went black befor i picked it for seeds but i also had to keep the birds off because they love them too and i got sick of cleaning up their mess on my deck where they left the shells
mottly, Mar 1, 4:11am
reckon that's why they tip over like that - so the birds will leave them for us to enjoy :)watch out for rats n mice too - esp when you're storing them to dry.They dont' 'have' to be black to eat - the white ones are fine too, just make sure they're nice n dry.
parryduck, Mar 1, 4:37am
I left mine alone, and they self-seeded.everywhere!Russian giants.Interesting thing I have noticed about sunflowers, is that they will grow according to the conditions. ie. Where I planted them in good soil & nurtured they were enormous, but when the seeds ended up in a dry, arid, ignored spot, they were only small, as were the flowers, but they still flowered!
I think if i put them in a pot, they would flower & grow according to the pot size.now, there's a thought:)
carchic, Mar 30, 8:40am
Heya, so far its going great! obvisously taking a while to dry, they are formed seeds inside the husks are they! so when you crack that open i have seeds that are pretty good! I am onto my second batch, these ones i have soaked overnight in a salt brine (I got this idea from utube) then you dry them out and they are great! so x fingers. I just hated the idea to throw them all out! Although its quite a job to take them out of there shell LOLthanks for alll your help! =o)