Black Oil Sunflower

(Helianthus Annuus)

These fast-growing backyard beauties are beloved by birds and bees for their nutrient-dense seeds and pollen-rich faces. A classic and striking sunflower, the Black Oil Sunflower is easy to grow and can reach 6-10’ tall with flowers that are 4 to 8 inches across! Black oil sunflower seeds are meatier with thinner shells than striped sunflower seeds. Primarily grown for pressing into commercial cooking oil, they are highly prized by birders as the ultimate budget-friendly bird feed. Their high energy content and soft shells attract a wide variety of small songbirds, including cardinals, finches, chickadees, and blue jays. Sunflower plants actually form two types of flowers. What we know as the petals around the “face” are technically ray flowers, while the center is made up of literally hundreds of separate disk flowers. Black Oil Sunflowers have a stature and color that make them a good choice among ornamentals for privacy screens, borders, and flower gardens. Use them in place of corn in three sisters plantings. Pollinators also love these sunflowers.

·        Starting a garden: These plants are easy to grow from seed, often reaching 6 to 10 feet tall, and can be direct-sowed after the last frost.

·        Germination: 7-10 days

·        Maturity: 70-85 days

·        Direct sow ½” deep in full sun after last frost or start indoors 4 weeks before last frost. Sunflower roots don’t like to be disturbed, so transplant carefully. Space 8-12" apart. plants have a stature and color that make them a good choice among ornamentals for privacy screens, borders, and flower gardens. The minimum soil temperature for sowing is 50°F. While you can plant black oil sunflowers without tilling, if the soil tends to dry into a hard crust, it’s a good idea to cover the seeds with an inch of lighter soil or growing medium, instead of expecting them to break through compacted dirt.

·        Harvest when the individual flowers start to form seed heads and the petals begin to shrivel, get ready to pick! The indicator will be a brown or yellow color on the back of the flower head, and obvious seeds that form beneath the disc flowers. When you’re ready to harvest, cut off the seed head leaving about five or six inches of stem attached. You can hang them upside down in a cool, dry, well-ventilated location until they are fully.

Annual

Each pack contains approximately 50 seeds.