Sunflowers

Are there any tricks to keep them growing? I've attempted to grow sunflowers for the past couple of years with no luck, bugs usually have gotten the best of them. This year I have several that are doing good (probably around 3ft tall now) I spray them about every 2-3 wks with some kinda bug stuff that seems to be working well. Once they get so tall should I tie them up?

You should stake them when the get tall.


I usually grow the dwarf kind. It's fun to see the party the squirrels and the birds have when the seeds are ready

I grow a variety of them. The dwarf varieties like Sunspot that grow only 2 - 5 feet tall don't need staking. They usually have very thick stalks and smaller sized seed heads.

If they are the giant sunflowers - the ones that grow 6 feet and over - I usually grow them near fences so they have something to lean on when they get tall and the seed head gets heavy.

My biggest enemy so far have been deer. They just came through and ate the tops off of the tallest ones I had. I would spray them one a week with a general insecticide to keep the worst pests off.