3 Succession-Planting–Harvesting Programs for Single-Stem Sunflowers
3 Ways to Expand Your Sunflower Harvest
A season-long sunflower harvest can be achieved through succession planting. There are two basic ways to plant for a successive harvest, and a third, combination approach:
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A single planting of multiple varieties that have different days to maturity.
EXAMPLE CHART 1 -
Multiple plantings of the same variety at 7–14-day intervals.
EXAMPLE CHART 2 -
Planting multiple varieties with varying days to maturity at 21–28-day intervals.
EXAMPLE CHART 3
Use these charts as a guide to plan for a full season of blooms, modifying your dates according to the varieties you choose and your growing conditions.
Days to maturity (DTM) for our sunflower series are listed below the charts.
Example Chart 1 • A single planting of multiple varieties
The easiest way to succession-plant sunflowers is to grow several single-stem varieties with different days to maturity, planting them all at once, then harvesting over several weeks.
Example Chart 2 • Multiple plantings of a single variety
A second way to extend your sunflower harvest is to plant a single variety on multiple seeding dates (7–14-day intervals). You then continue seeding and harvesting as long as your growing season will allow.
Example Chart 3 • Multiple plantings of multiple varieties
The third approach is to plant multiple varieties with varying days to maturity. This combined approach requires fewer seeding dates (21–28-day intervals) and provides for the longest sunflower harvest window.
Single-stem varieties are uniform and predictable about bloom times during the main season, and take about a week longer to bloom in early spring and fall. We recommend the ProCut Series as the earliest and most dependable series for early- and late-season plantings.
