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The mammoth sunflower. We grew our first this year and had a blast. The kids loved it so much that we’ve decided to do our best to make a tradition out of it every single year from here on out. It was a joy to see them grow taller and taller, thicker and thicker at the base until they were over ten feet tall and hovering above us. Amazing to see something so huge come from one tiny little seed.
Little Brown Flowers
I did not know this previous to growing these ourselves, but the brown center of the sunflower (see photo above) is actually made up of hundreds of tiny little brown flowers. This is where the bees come to pollinate, but really I should say where the bees love to hang out. All day. When our sunflowers were in full bloom, they were so massive that at any given moment there were at least four or five bees hovering and working their magic.
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Amazing Results
Every single one of those small brown flowers will eventually become their own seed. The flowers will close up and dry out. Below those dried flowers, the seeds will start to develop. Once those seeds develop the mammoth sunflower heads droop from the weight of deliciousness.
Some Kind of Alien
Our four year old rightly observed that, “Mom, it looks like some kind of alien!” I had to agree. Husband and I had a good laugh- decided they did look a bit like a certain creature from “Stranger Things”- if you’re familiar.
Harvesting Mammoth Sunflowers is Easy
Come September or so, the pedals will be dried up, some of the dried flowers will start to fall off, and the back part of the flower will start to turn a yellow color, with tiny hints of black. This is when you are ready to harvest. For our largest sunflower the trunk was at least four inches in diameter. We literally cut it down with a large handheld saw. It felt like we were cutting down a tree. The result is pictured below.
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Another way to tell if you’re ready to harvest is if you see any birds swooping in on the seeds for a delicious morsel. As you can see below there are seeds missing from our largest sunflower. We cut it down in the morning and left it outside on our patio table until we could harvest seeds that evening. During that short time we had a sparrow snatching up seeds and flying off with them. We saw it with our own eyes, had a good laugh and the kids got some exercise chasing it away while giggling. The best part was that the sparrow just kept coming back for more despite their efforts.
Next step is to simply remove all of the dried flowers. These will come off easily by brushing them off with your hands, as if you were brushing dirt from your jeans. It’s one of those satisfying, therapeutic things, and I wish I could describe the smell of those delicious flowers and seeds. It just smells like September with the change in season and smell of earth and natural fragrance. I can smell it now as I’m typing this.
Have Fun!
Next is the fun and social part. Many little hands make for lots of giggles and fine motor skills put to the test. We had a fantastic time as a family meticulously removing the seeds. Ours were not very pointy or sharp like I’ve read they could be, so we lucked out and the little people were loving it. To make the process faster you can also crack the head of it to loosen up a bunch of seeds.
Before we knew it, the harvesting of the mammoth sunflowers was done. We had a beautiful fall evening and lots of laughs. Once we finished, we brought them inside to prep and then bake. We decided on soaking them in a salt mixture and baking. Delicious!
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Enjoy Harvesting Mammoth Sunflowers
Harvesting mammoth sunflowers is so simple. Thanks for reading, please let us know how your sunflowers have done. We would love to hear from you. If you like what you see here at Herbs, Birds & the Bees please subscribe and grow with us! Looking forward to next time!
Herbs, Birds & the Bees
Garden, Chickens, Bees & Homestead
I was looking at my sunflowers just yesterday with great satisfaction. They aren’t the giant ones, but I love the idea that I’ve been providing nourishment to hundreds of bees, bumblebees, sparrows, gold finches and even quail and doves for weeks. I live in a city neighborhood so I imagine there aren’t a ton of options around here, so I’m glad I can help!
Great to hear Adrian! They are amazing flowers, definitely a favorite for a reason. Those bees are thanking you.
We also grew these this year for this first time and our family loved it. We didn’t eat any seeds but we left one large head in the garage and let it dry out completely. I’m hoping we can use these seeds to replant next spring. We also made the birds and squirrels very happy this fall! Maybe next year we will try roasting them as well.
Sounds like a lot of fun, it’s a great activity for kids especially. Would love to hear how your seeds do next spring!
Really interesting. My mum has grown sunflowers and harvested them, but I’ve never been part of the harvesting. Interesting to see.
I hope you get the chance to sometime in the future!