Premature Flowering

[Charlotte Sometimes]

Last year I grew Giant Single, all was fine, they grew very tall (and strong) indeed before flowering.

This year, I started them off in pots as usual.  However, I was rather poorly in May, around the time they needed to be planted out.  There was a spell of about 5-6 weeks where the plants got quite stressed, although they did not appear to be "pot bound" when I finally was able to plant them.

Trouble is, some of them have already flowered, and they are not even as tall as me (a little 5'1" woman!).  What should I do?  Can I cut the flower off and expect a repeat?  I know you can do this with dwarf ones.

[Marianne]

Hiya Charlotte 

Sorry to hear you were not well but I hope you have now recovered. 

I am not sure with sunflowers   You can deadhead other flowers and they will put out new blooms but I have not heard that sunflowers do this.  You could try cutting just above a leaf node and hope that a new flower may grow from that area 

Hopefully someone with more knowledge about these flowers will be able to help

Take care 

[Charlotte Sometimes]

Hi Marianne

Thanks for the reply, and yup, I'm quite well again now, thanks. 

Yes, I think "Giant Single" means only the one flower. 

However, there's always next year isn't there?!  In compensation, the ones I planted nearest the house have not flowered yet and I think I may get a decent size out of them (a group of 5 or so). 

[Marianne]

Glad to hear you are better.   

I hope you get them to grow well Charlotte 

Next year, I am going to try and grow those dark bronze ones... They look absolutely beautiful !

 

[Amazin]

Charlotte, I've had almost exactly the same experience as you. Last year my Giant Single lived up to their name, growing to a stonking height and bursting into flower in July - in fact, I was a little worried about the time limit for this year's A4A Sunflower competition as, going by last year, I was sure mine wouldn't be in full flower by the suggested deadline.
This year I planted them (twice - the birds got the first lot) and waited... and waited...and the weather got duller... and duller...and although the sunflowers looked healthy enough, they weren't doing any upward shifting. Then we got that warm, sunny week in June and off they went like a rocket. However, I noticed that instead of just one very tall main stem, every plant has a shorter main stem but several side stems, all with flowerbuds. My theory is that the lack of light, warmth and rain for several weeks (including the whole of May) stressed the plants into early reproduction, putting all their energy into seed production at the expense of height.
I know several others who have had the same experience this year too.

Glad to hear you're doing okay. 

[Charlotte Sometimes]

Amazin - well, well, perhaps its just the year then? 

I see you're in London, too.

A couple of the sunflowers have the side stems you mentioned, but alas they are single for the majority. 

Its a bit like buying fireworks isn't it?  Some years they are just plain disappointing.

You know what?  We had a lot of rain last year.  Although we have had some rain recently, with the dry winter and so on, I don't get the impression that there is much moisture deep down in the soil.  Perhaps this is fairly essential for good growth?  I guess those Groundhog Days of cloudy weather April/May didn't help either.

I can't complain - this is what is so much fun about gardening, i.e. the variability!

[Amazin]

I'd go along with your 'just the year' theory. My whole garden was a Sleeping Beauty during April and May and only woke up during those first few hot days in June.
I have vivid memories of last year's weather, too. The growing season started normally, with the temperature and sunshine gradually increasing, and then... July arrived, and brought a month of of solid, heavy rain. Veg which had just started coming into fruit e.g. courgettes either ground to a halt or rotted, and the only plants which seemed to carry on as normal were the sunflowers - mine had trunks instead of stalks!