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Sunflower Seeds Coming True?
LeadFarmer
Posts: 1,494
in Plants
Would the seeds from my Mongolian Giant Sunflowers come true if I saved them and sowed them next year? Or would they just revert to another variety?
Im really impressed with them, they are currently 3m (10ft) tall and should be flowering very soon. They are the tall ones in the far left corner of this photo...
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that's pretty impressive LF.
Only a guess but as they're a large strain of Helianthus annuus they'll still be pretty big but over the years will revert to something like the normal size
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks. I guess to be sure I will end up saving some, and buying another packet next year. Then I will be stuck with hundreds of them!!
the birds will be pleased
In the sticks near Peterborough
They look great!
I sowed Russian Giant last year, and in the awful wet that we had I was surprised that they even flowered, but they did - they weren't amazing, but to be honest if they'd been as big as yours we wouldn't have had room for them! The flowers were around breakfast plate size.
This year, as the last snows melted I saw some little self-sown sunflower seedlings popping up - I didn't have the heart to weed them out and sow fresh, so I let them be and kept an eye on them. They're flowering now - the biggest is about 7ft tall and the smallest about 2ft6ins. The biggest flower is the size of a small teaplate and the smallest is ........ well, quite small indeed.
So my guess is that seeds from yours will produce smaller flowers next year than you get this year - if you're saving seeds, save those from the biggest flower and obviously save the biggest fattest seeds.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.