How to Harvest Sunflower Seeds
2 Materials
15 Minutes
Easy
Summer's favorite flower is also easy and fun to harvest for seeds!
When to harvest sunflowers? This was such a mystery to me our first year. In fact, the sunflowers we had growing in our garden had been started in my son’s preschool class, so I had no idea what variety we were working with or how getting seeds even worked. Though they may seem finished growing, stretching their long stalks up to 8 feet in the air, you want to wait until the flower itself seems to be dying.
Once the petals begin to wilt and fade, the seeds themselves will become more visible, as you can see here. Wait until they dry out just enough so you can see their color change to the tan seed color we all know (bag of roasted sunflower seeds, anyone?). Also be on the watch for birds and other garden intruders who may also want to harvest sunflower seeds too.
When you’re ready to harvest the seeds, cut the head from the stalk, and prepare to remove the seeds. This can be done indoors or out, but if you choose indoors, line your table with newspaper for easy clean up. Bend the head back slightly (think ice cube tray flexing) and then begin pressing the rows of seeds to pop them out. Once you get started, you’ll quickly find your rhythm.
Once the flower head is empty, gather up the seeds and set them aside for roasting or storing. That’s it! Pretty simple if I do say so myself. The larger the sunflower, the easier the seed is to harvest, so keep this in mind if you’re just now thinking about what type of sunflowers to grow come the spring.
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Frequently asked questions
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If you dont roast them you can plant them in the spring, correct? I would like to mnow what kind of sunflowers these are...they are as tall as my house and still growing.