- Choosing Sunflower Varieties | Single-Stem, Branching, Pollenless or "Regular"?
- Tall Sunflower Varieties | Comparison Chart (PDF)
- Video: ProCut® 'Orange Excel' | Excellent, first-to-market sunflowers + field performance
- Tall (Single Stem) Sunflowers | Key Growing Information
- 3 Sunflower Succession Planting-Harvesting Programs for Maximum Quality & Yield
- Single-Stem Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Production | Tech Sheet (PDF)
- Video: Sunflower Production | Planning, Spacing & Sequencing Tips
- Dwarf Sunflower Varieties | Comparison Chart (PDF)
- Dwarf Sunflowers | Key Growing Information
- Branching Sunflowers | Key Growing Information
- Video: 'Sonja' & 'Soraya' Branching Sunflowers
- Perennial Sunflowers | Key Growing Information
- 3 Easy, Reliable, Productive Cut Flowers: Sunflowers, Zinnias & Rudbeckia
- Cut-Flower Harvesting & Post-Harvest Care | Best Practices from Pros in the Slow Flower Community
- Cut-Flower Kit | Guide for Market Growers (PDF)
- Getting Started in Cut-Flowers | Top 15 Cuts
- Heat & Drought: How Flower Farmers Are Adapting to Changing & Challenging Climatic Conditions
- Pricing & Profitability for Flower-Farmers | Pointers from a Diversity of Pros
- Sustainable Farming Methods | A Survey of Flower Farmers' Best Practices
- Just Add Flowers | An Introduction to Companion Planting for Vegetable & Herb Gardeners
- Slow Flowers | Celebrating Fifth-Season Regional Design Elements
- Succession-Planting Flowers | Scheduling & Planning, Sowing Frequency, Recordkeeping & Recommendations
- Instructions for Growing Sunflower Shoots | Tech Sheet (PDF)
- Jang JP Roller Trial | SUNFLOWER VARIETIES Cross-Reference Chart (XLSX)
- ProCut Series® Sunflowers—Comparison of Orange Varieties
- Sunflower Growing Tips: Single-Stem vs. Branching
- ProCut Horizon® Sunflower Variety
- 'Desert Sun' | Branching Sunflower Variety
- How to Air-Dry Cut Flowers | Easy Instructions from Johnny's
- Modern Everlastings: Guidance on Dried Botanicals from 4 Far-flung Farmer-Florists
- Top 10 Cut-Flower Varieties for Direct Seeding
- 2019 American Flowers Week: Combining the Art of Floral Design & Couture
- Johnny's Edible Flower Guide | Printable 4-pp Brochure (PDF)
- Johnny's Planting & Harvesting Programs
- Video: Tips & Recommendations for Dried Flowers • Tutorial with Joy Longfellow
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:
- EXAMPLE CHART 1 • A single planting of multiple varieties that have different days to maturity.
- EXAMPLE CHART 2 • Multiple plantings of the same variety at 7–14-day intervals.
- EXAMPLE CHART 3 • Planting multiple varieties with varying days to maturity at 21–28-day intervals.
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.
On This Page
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.
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
105
112
119
126
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Seeding
❮ --- 50–60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 60–70 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 60–70 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 70–80 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
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.
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
105
112
119
126
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Seeding
❮ --- 50–60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 50– 60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 50– 60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 50– 60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 50– 60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
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.
DAYS
MONTHS
WEEKS
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
84
91
98
105
112
119
126
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Seeding
❮ --- 50–60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 60–70 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 70–80 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 50–60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 60–70 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 70–80 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 50–60 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 60–70 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Seeding
❮ --- 70–80 Days to Maturity --- ❯
HARVEST
Days to Maturity (DTM) for 5 Single-Stemmed Sunflower Series
During the main season, single-stem varieties are uniform and predictable about bloom times. In early spring and in fall, they take about a week longer to reach bloom times. We recommend the ProCut Series as the earliest and most dependable series for early- and late-season plantings.
