edible sunflower seeds and cabbage trees

[snoppers]

Has anyone grown sunflowers to harvest the seeds and if so whats the best varity do you think. I would nt mind growing something a bit different this year. Also what about  cabbage trees, i ve ordered a packet , has anyone had a go on those before, cheers for any advice , my first post so stand by for even more questions!
   cheers snoppers

[snoppers]

[Apple Dumpling]

Hello and welcome snoppers.

Never heard of cabbage trees. I assume they grow very tall.  Are the the same as the walking cane Kale?

Apple

[the_snail]

Cabbage trees are not really edible. They are grown as a palm.

A cabbage tree is a cordolyn see link bellow.
http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/photos/flora/cabbagetrees/
http://www.treesforsurvival.org.nz/TREEINFO/cabbagetree.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbage_tree_(Cordyline_australis)

Hope that helps

The_Snail

[snoppers]

its not cabbage tree its the walking stick cabbage, sorry about that,thanks for your links anyway ive tried to download a picture but i have nt got a clue really how to do it.cheers

[Ceratonia]

Cabbage trees are not really edible. They are grown as a palm.

I've eaten one (well, tasted the cooked leaves/shoots of one, anyway)  :)

The Maori cultivated them for food for hundreds of years. I imagine that's how they got the cabbage part of their name - they don't look much like cabbages, but early european explorers presumably had to eat them too.

[Meg]

What about the sunflower seeds. Am waiting for reply. What puts me off is the creepy crawlies all waiting to jump out. If I had a shed I wouldn't mind but I live in a flat so they might be a little to close for comfort. It was bad enough having my tomatoes round the curtain rails while they went red!!

[Roy Bham UK]

I've never heard of a cabbage walking stick tree before, they sound like fun to grow and easy too! ;D
Ken could possibly increase his range of walking companions with the stems, I can just picture a group of them round my shed with my banana plants adding a little more to the exotic theme. ;) 8)

http://www.thisisjersey.com/code/showarticle.pl?ArticleID=000453

[the_snail]

Well you learn something new every day!

The Walking Stick Cabbage.
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/us/en/product/779/1

The_Snail

[Roy Bham UK]

 ;D Here's the British site with postage at 99p I think I will give it a go for the fun of it. ;D I know I'm :( sad ;D

http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/product/779/3

[the_snail]

You will have to tell us how they grow. Take some pics  ;D

I was reading on the site that you can leave them over winter and they grow bigger in the second year.

Interesting. But not for me this year. I got to much seed as it is.  ;D

The_Snail

[CityChick]

I haven't done it before, but I am going to try growing sunflowers for seed this year.  Two sorts, one for us, one for our chickens!

For us I'm simply going to sprout the seed we buy to eat.  I've done sunflower seeds in the kitchen to eat as little sprouts: soak for 2-4 hours, then rinse 3 or 4 times every day.  Eat from 1 to 3 days.  Reallly like them - taste even better than plain sunflower seeds and supposed to be highly nutritious. Anyway, to get to the point, I was supprised how well these seeds sprouted as they'd already been hulled.  So when I want to grow some plants for us to eat the actual seeds, I'll just pick out a few of the best sprouted ones and pot them up and see what happens.  Don't know the best way to hull them yet though...  Hadn't thought about any creepy crawlies.  What about putting them in a large (thin) brown paper bag?  I'm just wondering if that would still allow them to dry out properly, but not let anything escape?

For animals, from what I've read so far, the best sunflower seeds to feed them are the small black seeded sort (IIRC because they are higher in oil?)  So I'm going to buy some loose sunflower seed at the pet shop, as is sold for birds, and try growing those. 

Just felt I ought to add that the chickens will only get the sunflower seeds as part of a mixed and varied diet - AFAIK they're too low in calcium to make up a large part of their diet, but they are high in good oils which is why I want to feed them.  And I think they're a lot easier to grow for them than wheat!  And just a bit of fun...