Growing black oil sunflower from feed seed

[farmerbrowne]

Has anyone tried to grow black oil sunflower from the big 50 pound bags? Buying the little seed packets are just so expensive

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have, so have all the wild birds I feed. They seem to have about the same germination rate as those sold as seeds. Always lots of bird planted volunteer sunflowers around here each year.

 

[sourland]

Not on purpose, but the blue jays hide seeds all over and forget about them. My flower beds are filled with sunflowers that the birds have planted. I can't see any reason they would not do well. They are the smaller type sunflowers.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yep. If you are not particular, and just want to grow more sunflowers for a fall treat for the birds, simply sow some seeds from a bag of bird seed.

My local Blue Seal sells bulk seed, and often has a nice mix of sunflower seeds in the bin. I believe this is the blend they use:

http://www.edenbrothers.com/store/s...JopDUjBBHIkTuYg2iK78HT6HSEMnXgoQaAtqsEALw_wcB

I bought some one year, and have never had to plant them again. Simply transplant the volunteers that come up in my garden.

 

[The Angry Hen]

I haven't meant to grow it... But I got a bag at the beginning of the year. (They were meant to feed my non-domesticated birds). When the gold finches scratched around by the seed, a few months later I got these tall sunflowers. (About four feet. )

All I'll say is that it is possible I agree with the experts above's information.

Good luck!

 

[happyhllfarm]

A friend if mine did and said it worked fine. I did not see the results as it was on a hunting property not near me. I also just priced 50 lb bag of sunflower seed from my local Growmark and it was $18 a bag.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sunflower seeds are expensive. You would have to grow a lot of sunflowers to even fill up a 50# bag, so I will keep buying them. The blue jays around here clean the sunflowers out pretty early in the drying season too.

 

[farmerbrowne]

A friend if mine did and said it worked fine. I did not see the results as it was on a hunting property not near me. I also just priced 50 lb bag of sunflower seed from my local Growmark and it was $18 a bag.

wow thats cheap! the cheapest i can get is 25 canadian

 

[sonomacluck]

Interesting on the black sunflowers and duckweed (but it's aquatic carpet plant?).

Here's a similar thread to this one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/good-bushes-to-plant-for-chickens.542354/

 

[dunnmom]

Yeah, accidentally. I bought a huge bag and the garage flooded when I had 1/4 bag left. Molded. I dumped the bag in one of the back corners of our lot, and they started growing. The birds must have scattered it, because they covered a really big area. Had to mow most of them down.