Sunflowers! Help!

[Dan 2]

I have had two years of utter FAILURE with my sunflowers, what am I doing wrong?????? ??? ???

Many thanks,

Dan :-)

[Dan 2]

[Jesse]

What's going wrong with them? Mine tend to get slugged if I don't start them off in pots and take extra care whilst they're still small.

[Dan 2]

Small, brown and diseased!!!!

[kenkew]

At what stage do you get the problem? (You're not starting yet are you?)

[Dan 2]

No not yet, just thnking ahead! Its usually when they're about a metre and a half high e.t.c A bit hard to remember EXACTLy when but thats roughly. Thanks, Dan :-)

[kenkew]

Strange that you loose them at that size, Dan. What comes to mind is a nutriant difficiency problem. Make sure the hole you plant them in is well dug over at least a foot around where you are going to plant. Mix compost/rotted manure into that area. Sun flower roots are suprisingly small when you look at the size of the grown stem, so by giving plenty of food in that small area will certainly help. Someone will probably come back and say I'm encouraging leaf rather than flower....it's been said!....Take no notice, put muck in yer hole!

PS. Plant garlic at the base.

[teresa]

I have heard of planting garlic between roses why sunflowers?
I hope to grow the red sunflowers this year the ones in the bird seed grow well enough where you dont want them.

[kenkew]

Teresa: Garlic?...Just trying to cover all angles for Dan. Garlic certainly helps to keep the bugs off and with a decent root start coupled with a little bug deterent...well, why not?

[Dan 2]

Yes Im growing the red ones this year! Lets hope for better results! Cheers, Dan :-)