Harvesting Sunflower Seeds

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Another question that I've also posted at CS . . . . .

How do I know when the seeds are ready for harvest? The flowers/seed heads have lost the petals around the outer edge or else they're limp and dried up. The little flowery things on top of the seeds, however are still there. Some of them they brush off easily -- in other spots, the little flowery things still are hanging on fairly tightly. The stalks are still somewhat green in color. I hope I've told you everything about them that is necessary -- if not, what else do you need to know?

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Answers

I'd like to know the answer to the same question, Joy. Your sunflowers sound like they're at the same stage of development as mine! I have the Mammoth ones and the heads are bent over because they're so heavy. What to do...??

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Me too, me too!!!

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Joy... and other fellow sunflower growers... how this page helps...

Joy... the link will not be live... could you do it??? And how do you make links live on lusenet?? I can do ezboards and others but here!!! darn darn darn..

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/hortihints/0108c.html

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001


You have to know how to do HTML to make "live" links on Lusenet. Those other boards make it easy for us, with UBB on one for sure, and probably all the others too. If you want to see how I made these links, you can Right Click on this screen, then choose View Source -- this will pop up another screen where you can look at what I did. Once you use HTML, within a post, however, you must use it all the way through. That means putting in the paragraph codes too!

sunflowers

Here is a Lusenet forum where you can test your HTML efforts: link

And here is a site that will help you learn HTML. It's for kids -- so, should be about our speed, eh? ;-)

WebMonkey

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001


Thanks for monkeyweb... it is my speed!!! tee hee

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001


Joy, and everyone else with sunflowers!!! They are ripe for picking when you notice the finches all over them, or, when the little small "hair" like things on the seed tops themselves brush away easily. You can also test them by trying to pull an individual seed out with your fingernail or small needlenose pliers, when the seed cracks open easily, they are ready to pick. Watch them closely, or they will be eaten by the finches before you even notice!!!

Yours are probably more than ready, mine here are already eaten up by the birds!!! But since we plant them for them anyway, that's just fine, they don't want to save any for the winter months I guess!!! They know I'll be putting out plenty of oil sunflower seed for them all winter, the little smarty pantses!!!

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001


Thanks, everyone. Now, who can tell me how to get the seeds out of the shells? I want to be able to grind them into flour, and certainly have better things to do than to shell them all by hand!

Thanks, in advance.

JOJ

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001


JOJ, I have been wondering the same thing!!! I like to put them in things instead of nuts and have never figured out how to shell them in bulk. Anyone know?????

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

I don't have altzheimers. I have sometimers. I just remembered that I'd asked this question six months or a year ago, and someone sent me a url for a catalog which had the tool for this. Now I can't find it. When I heard about it, my sunflowers had just been stripped by all those pesky birds :) Now, I'm ready for it, and can't find it. :-(

JOJ

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001


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