How to grow sunflowers

SUNFLOWER FOR SUU

a non-violent campaign for democracy in Burma one sunflower at a time.

How to grow sunflowers

Grow a sunflower or two (or few hundred!) to show your support for Aung San Suu Kyi and human rights in Burma.

It’s easy…here’s how in 9 simple steps.

Get your sunflower seeds. The best (and cheapest) way is to buy sunflower seeds from the pet section in the supermarket. They are sold as bird feed. This way you get untreated seeds at a far cheaper rate. If you buy them from the garden store be aware that these seeds are treated and do not reproduce.
Wait until the days are starting to get longer. Sunflowers don’t like the cold. If you live somewhere that gets a frost (or worse) then you need to wait until the last frost of the season has passed. The warmer the soil the better!
Position in full sun. Funnily enough sunflowers like the sun. So position your seeds to get as much sun as you can.
Plant the seeds in the soil. Plant your seeds about 5cm below the surface. Sunflowers are big plants and need a bit of room, so best not to plant them too close together. If they are cramped, you can move small sunflowers to a roomy location – it is best to leave about 30cm between each plant. The more you cram into a space the more competition there is for water and nutrients.
Feed and water generously. Sunflowers will get pretty tall. The more water and feed they get the bigger and healthier they will be. Don’t over do it, but show your love.
Watch. Baby sunflowers will pop up about 1 – 2 weeks after planting. Keep the seedling area weed free and keep watering but other than that, they should not need much maintenance and should grow quickly, taking about 90 days to reach maturity.
Stake if necessary. Consider staking the sunflowers to help them grow taller and survive wind and getting knocked. When in flower, sunflowers can be really top heavy. Nothing looks more sad than a droopy sunflower.
Enjoy the beauty of your sunflowers. And, if you wish, you can harvest the seeds also. They will fall from the flower head when ripe if you snip off the flower head and gently wipe it across a clean cloth.
Take a photo of yourself and your sunflower. Send us a photo of you sowing your support for Aung San Suu Kyi and we will post it to our site. Email us your sunflower for suu at mysunflowerforsuu@me.com