Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history

sunflower Sunflower

Helianthus annuus WD
Also known as Italian girasole (EN) cut-and-come-again (EN) sonneblom (EN) girasol (EN) tournesol (EN) girassol (EN) xiangrikui (EN) Sonnenblume (EN) girasole (EN) surajmukhi (EN) zonnebloem (EN) auringonkukka (EN) Helianthi flos (EN) surya mukhi (EN)

How to sow sunflower: Direct seed outdoors after last frost in groups of 2-3, thin to 1 plant when true leaves appear

Sun requirement for sunflower: Plant in Full Sun

Sunflowers are large flowers with bright to deep yellow ray florets surrounding a large circular grouping of disc florets that mature into seeds. Sunflowers are grown for ornamental purposes, cut flowers, or their edible seeds. They can reach heights of 300cm or more.

60
plantings
9
harvests
14
seed packets
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Sunflower facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
14 weeks median lifespan
First harvest expected 18 weeks after planting
Last harvest expected 18 weeks after planting

Height × spread

240cm × 60cm

Row Spacing

30cm Members' seed packets: 30cm

Germination

7–14 days median of members' seed packets

Days until maturity

85 days median of members' seed packets

When to sow

Southern hemisphere Sep–Feb
Northern hemisphere Mar–Aug
median of members' seed packets

Grown for

seed harvested 6 times
Optimal temperature 17–34 °C
Absolute temperature 5–45 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 600–1000 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 300–1600 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 6–7.5
Absolute soil pH 5.5–8
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

70–200 days
FAO EcoCrop

Max altitude

2600 m
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

very bright
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For sunflower, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 70 days at its best temperature, about 1435 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your sunflower will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Growing sunflowers

  1. Sow seeds in pots 3 weeks before planting out
  2. Dig compost into a sunny spot 1 week before planting out
  3. Stake tall plants 4 weeks after planting out
  4. Water deeply 2 weeks after planting out every week
  5. Feed with fertiliser 6 weeks after planting out every month
  6. Cut the flower heads at first harvest
  7. Pull out the stalks 4 weeks after first harvest

How members grow sunflowers

Sunniness

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Planted from

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Harvested for

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Plant sunflowers with

pomegranate

Photos

Sunflower crops

Sunflower plantings

IMG_1469
IMG_1469
by Pdiff
Red Sunflower
Red Sunflower
by neotoma
IMG_0395
IMG_0395
by shiny
IMG_0391
IMG_0391
by shiny
2026-10-28_09-28-53
2026-10-28_09-28-53
by shiny

Sunflower harvests

IMG_20180122_191251
IMG_20180122_191251
by shiny
IMG_20180122_191249
IMG_20180122_191249
by shiny

Sunflower seeds

IMG_20180124_110210
IMG_20180124_110210
by shiny
IMG_20180122_205131_000
IMG_20180122_205131_000
by shiny
More photos

Video

Where sunflowers grow

Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.

What people are saying about sunflowers

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First strawberry!

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I had the first tiny strawberry of the season today! I'm looking forward to many more.

Also, I transplanted a lot of seedlings into the community garden today: 2 cucumbers, 3 green beans, 2 tongue-of-fire beans, an ornamental [sweet potato](/crops/swee…

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Can you grow other stuff in a lavender bed?

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Our landlords tried to make our rental property's garden low-maintenance by filling it the beds with all kinds of perennial shrubs and small trees. Unfortunately they planted everything really close together and it's caused all kinds of problems – things under trees not getting enough l…

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Sunflower harvests

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Find sunflower seeds

Time to harvest

If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 70 to 200 days.

From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.

Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Helianthus annuus L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Asteridae
Asterales
Compositae
Killing temperature growth: 0 °C, rest: -10 °C
Life form herb
Life span annual
Habit erect
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture medium, light
Optimal soil fertility high
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity low (<4 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours)

Licensed under CC-BY-4.0.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) ECOCROP, the crop ecological requirements database. Version 1. https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog/dataset/ecocrop. Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/ecocrop_1/.

Learn more about sunflowers

Resources outside Growstuff.