It started out simply enough in the summer of 1998. The guy next door
gave me a packet of very old sunflower seeds. I planted them, got three
nice, tall sunflowers. The following summer, I planted some, and noticed
other volunteers. The volunteers were bigger than the parents, so I
saved some seed and decided not to be too careful about cleaning up the
seeds the birdies miss. Year three, no volunteers came up (there was a
drought in 1999), so I planted some of the saved seeds, and get even
bigger, taller sunflowers. A few send up a second or third bud after the
initial flowers.

Fast forward to last year. I get a zillion volunteers, some growing out
of the crack between the edge of the raised bed's wooden boards and the
cement patio. I pull most of them, but leave about a dozen scattered
plants. The tallest eventually get 12-15 feet high - towering over my
trellis, and almost as tall as the peak of my neighbor's garage. They
have one large flower, and after that, develop side buds and branches
that have more large flowers, then taper off into smaller flowers on the
end of each branch. One plant has dozens of large and small flowers, and
I seem to be running the goldfinch feeding station for all of Bergen
County. My elderly neighbor is out there taking pictures for her
scrapbook. I'm taking pictures, too. The plants do have their limits,
tho, because the long branches are weak at their forks where they join
the main stem, and the longer they get, the more likely they break off
under heavy rain or strong wind. A few of the plants also get top heavy
with seed and have to be tied up to the trellis. By Labor Day, my raised
bed looks like the sunflower rain forest, as the poor tomatoes are
growing up overhead between branches in search for the sun. Does not
seem to stop them from producing fruit, and I have to stand on a step
stool to pick it before the frost gets here from the now-dying
sunflowers. Big mess to clean out all those tall things and get the
debris into the recycling barrel!

This year, I again have a lot of volunteers. I transplant or give away
most of them, leaving what seems like a reasonable number in May. Here
it is, July, and I have one plant that is over 8 feet tall, and several
that are over 6 feet. I have been striping the bottom two pairs of
leaves off the plants so that the tomatoes and everything else that is
also thriving will get better light. Bear in mind that this bed is about
three feet wide and twenty feet long, and it's two months before these
things stop growing! When I transplant them, they do not get as tall as
the volunteers I leave in place, but even the row of nine I planted
against the house are at least chest high.

The question is: does anyone think there is a market for these mutants?
Anyone have any idea how to find out? I can save seed (even if I have to
goldfinch-proof a few plants), but I don't have a clue as to what to do
after that. Everyone that has seen them has asked me where I got them or
where I got the seed. The ones that I give away as transplants seem to
do quite well in other places, so it's not just my brown thumb or some
peculiar magic in my yard. Apparently, I've stumbled into some genetic
mutation magic that works!

Rick wrote:

You might consider partnering with an agricultural school in your
state. They might pay for the patent process and split the proceeds
with you.

I'm in NJ, so that would be Rutgers. I don't know if they have an
interest in something so borderline in terms of a "food" crop, but I
never thought of even calling them - thanks for the idea.

"Evelyn McHugh" wrote in message
news
It started out simply enough in the summer of 1998. plants.

SNIP

The tallest eventually get 12-15 feet high - towering over my
trellis, and almost as tall as the peak of my neighbor's garage.

More snippage

Don't your kids have sunflower contests in US?

Every summer here in UK the local papers are full of pictures of the
grinning little monsters with sunflowers as tall as the house, staked with
all manner of timber supports.

Maybe you could market them as world's tallest or whatever. It's one of the
prime methods of getting kids interested in gardening over here.

Steve

Rez wrote:

There is a good market for sunflower oil, sufficient that it's a cash
crop in Canada and elsewhere.

wondering how they'd do here in the desert, where the tomatos look
like mutunt weeds from outer space



Trust me, it would look like mutant TREES from outer space. I measured
the leaves on the really tall one today, and it's 22 inches across the
widest part from side to side. Three of them, and I'd have a bikini, but
I'd probably frighten the neighbors...

shazzbat wrote:
Don't your kids have sunflower contests in US?

Every summer here in UK the local papers are full of pictures of the
grinning little monsters with sunflowers as tall as the house, staked with
all manner of timber supports.

Maybe you could market them as world's tallest or whatever. It's one of the
prime methods of getting kids interested in gardening over here.

If they do that over here, they don't do it around here - I'm in the NYC
suburbs, where kids are too sophisticated to leave home and come in
contact with actual nature not on a GameBoy.

I don't think these are the world's tallest, but they are sure strange.
And BIG. The flowers are not terribly impressive as sunflowers go - they
remind me of the ones sold as cut flowers for arrangements. It's just
that there are so MANY of them on one plant at a time. Most of them
start with three or four topmost buds open at first, and as the season
progresses, keep opening new side branches with new flowers.

I gotta post some pictures somewhere. It's not easy to explain them. I
could almost see them as a cultivare for the sheer number of cut blooms,
and cutting them does not seem to slow down the parent plant a bit. The
birds seem attracted to them more than regular sunflowers, too, probably
because they get good protection by the foliage when they are feeding
off the seeds on the spent flowers.

"Evelyn McHugh" wrote in message
...
shazzbat wrote:
Don't your kids have sunflower contests in US?

Every summer here in UK the local papers are full of pictures of the
grinning little monsters with sunflowers as tall as the house, staked
with
all manner of timber supports.

Maybe you could market them as world's tallest or whatever. It's one of
the
prime methods of getting kids interested in gardening over here.

If they do that over here, they don't do it around here - I'm in the NYC
suburbs, where kids are too sophisticated to leave home and come in
contact with actual nature not on a GameBoy.

I don't think these are the world's tallest, but they are sure strange.
And BIG. The flowers are not terribly impressive as sunflowers go - they
remind me of the ones sold as cut flowers for arrangements. It's just
that there are so MANY of them on one plant at a time. Most of them
start with three or four topmost buds open at first, and as the season
progresses, keep opening new side branches with new flowers.

I gotta post some pictures somewhere. It's not easy to explain them. I
could almost see them as a cultivare for the sheer number of cut blooms,
and cutting them does not seem to slow down the parent plant a bit. The
birds seem attracted to them more than regular sunflowers, too, probably
because they get good protection by the foliage when they are feeding
off the seeds on the spent flowers.

Yes, please do, I'd like to see them. I had one went bananas a couple of
years ago and produced loads and loads of heads, but only at about 4ft tall

Steve ( I still think you should work on the kids)

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 22:32:12 -0400, Evelyn McHugh
wrote:

shazzbat wrote:
Don't your kids have sunflower contests in US?

Every summer here in UK the local papers are full of pictures of the
grinning little monsters with sunflowers as tall as the house, staked with
all manner of timber supports.

Maybe you could market them as world's tallest or whatever. It's one of the
prime methods of getting kids interested in gardening over here.

If they do that over here, they don't do it around here - I'm in the NYC
suburbs, where kids are too sophisticated to leave home and come in
contact with actual nature not on a GameBoy.

They used to around here, in South Carolina, I used to see pictures of
them in the paper.

I don't think these are the world's tallest, but they are sure strange.
And BIG. The flowers are not terribly impressive as sunflowers go - they
remind me of the ones sold as cut flowers for arrangements. It's just
that there are so MANY of them on one plant at a time. Most of them
start with three or four topmost buds open at first, and as the season
progresses, keep opening new side branches with new flowers.

How familiar are you with the different sunflower varieties? Seed
Savers www.seedsavers.org offers 20 varieties, Seeds of Change
www.seedsofchange.com offers another 15 or so. Those are just 2
companies I know the URLs to that also have a lot of sunflowers. All
of these are open pollinated, there are probably some hybrids
available from other seed companies.

I gotta post some pictures somewhere. It's not easy to explain them. I
could almost see them as a cultivare for the sheer number of cut blooms,
and cutting them does not seem to slow down the parent plant a bit. The
birds seem attracted to them more than regular sunflowers, too, probably
because they get good protection by the foliage when they are feeding
off the seeds on the spent flowers.

After reading your first post on the subject, I would hazard a guess
that the original seeds were hybrids, and your second generation
volunteers were like one of the parents. I suspect what you're seeing
isn't a mutant, but just recessive traits expressing themselves in the
second and third generations.

If they continue to bred true, you might have something new, or you
may find you have recreated an old variety.


Penelope

Evelyn McHugh wrote:
It started out simply enough in the summer of 1998. The guy next door
gave me a packet of very old sunflower seeds. I planted them, got three
nice, tall sunflowers. The following summer, I planted some, and noticed
other volunteers. The volunteers were bigger than the parents, so I
saved some seed and decided not to be too careful about cleaning up the
seeds the birdies miss. Year three, no volunteers came up (there was a
drought in 1999), so I planted some of the saved seeds, and get even
bigger, taller sunflowers. A few send up a second or third bud after the
initial flowers.

Fast forward to last year. I get a zillion volunteers, some growing out
of the crack between the edge of the raised bed's wooden boards and the
cement patio. I pull most of them, but leave about a dozen scattered
plants. The tallest eventually get 12-15 feet high - towering over my
trellis, and almost as tall as the peak of my neighbor's garage. They
have one large flower, and after that, develop side buds and branches
that have more large flowers, then taper off into smaller flowers on the
end of each branch. One plant has dozens of large and small flowers, and
I seem to be running the goldfinch feeding station for all of Bergen
County. My elderly neighbor is out there taking pictures for her
scrapbook. I'm taking pictures, too. The plants do have their limits,
tho, because the long branches are weak at their forks where they join
the main stem, and the longer they get, the more likely they break off
under heavy rain or strong wind. A few of the plants also get top heavy
with seed and have to be tied up to the trellis. By Labor Day, my raised
bed looks like the sunflower rain forest, as the poor tomatoes are
growing up overhead between branches in search for the sun. Does not
seem to stop them from producing fruit, and I have to stand on a step
stool to pick it before the frost gets here from the now-dying
sunflowers. Big mess to clean out all those tall things and get the
debris into the recycling barrel!

This year, I again have a lot of volunteers. I transplant or give away
most of them, leaving what seems like a reasonable number in May. Here
it is, July, and I have one plant that is over 8 feet tall, and several
that are over 6 feet. I have been striping the bottom two pairs of
leaves off the plants so that the tomatoes and everything else that is
also thriving will get better light. Bear in mind that this bed is about
three feet wide and twenty feet long, and it's two months before these
things stop growing! When I transplant them, they do not get as tall as
the volunteers I leave in place, but even the row of nine I planted
against the house are at least chest high.

The question is: does anyone think there is a market for these mutants?
Anyone have any idea how to find out? I can save seed (even if I have to
goldfinch-proof a few plants), but I don't have a clue as to what to do
after that. Everyone that has seen them has asked me where I got them or
where I got the seed. The ones that I give away as transplants seem to
do quite well in other places, so it's not just my brown thumb or some
peculiar magic in my yard. Apparently, I've stumbled into some genetic
mutation magic that works!

There are a lot of seed and plant swapping websites out there e.g
www.seedsavers.org, www.gardennut.com, even ebay etc
You could try your hand at selling or swapping them for some more goodies

Conor

Evelyn McHugh wrote:
It started out simply enough in the summer of 1998. The guy next door
gave me a packet of very old sunflower seeds. I planted them, got three
nice, tall sunflowers. The following summer, I planted some, and noticed
other volunteers. The volunteers were bigger than the parents, so I
saved some seed and decided not to be too careful about cleaning up the
seeds the birdies miss. Year three, no volunteers came up (there was a
drought in 1999), so I planted some of the saved seeds, and get even
bigger, taller sunflowers. A few send up a second or third bud after the
initial flowers.

Fast forward to last year. I get a zillion volunteers, some growing out
of the crack between the edge of the raised bed's wooden boards and the
cement patio. I pull most of them, but leave about a dozen scattered
plants. The tallest eventually get 12-15 feet high - towering over my
trellis, and almost as tall as the peak of my neighbor's garage. They
have one large flower, and after that, develop side buds and branches
that have more large flowers, then taper off into smaller flowers on the
end of each branch. One plant has dozens of large and small flowers, and
I seem to be running the goldfinch feeding station for all of Bergen
County. My elderly neighbor is out there taking pictures for her
scrapbook. I'm taking pictures, too. The plants do have their limits,
tho, because the long branches are weak at their forks where they join
the main stem, and the longer they get, the more likely they break off
under heavy rain or strong wind. A few of the plants also get top heavy
with seed and have to be tied up to the trellis. By Labor Day, my raised
bed looks like the sunflower rain forest, as the poor tomatoes are
growing up overhead between branches in search for the sun. Does not
seem to stop them from producing fruit, and I have to stand on a step
stool to pick it before the frost gets here from the now-dying
sunflowers. Big mess to clean out all those tall things and get the
debris into the recycling barrel!

This year, I again have a lot of volunteers. I transplant or give away
most of them, leaving what seems like a reasonable number in May. Here
it is, July, and I have one plant that is over 8 feet tall, and several
that are over 6 feet. I have been striping the bottom two pairs of
leaves off the plants so that the tomatoes and everything else that is
also thriving will get better light. Bear in mind that this bed is about
three feet wide and twenty feet long, and it's two months before these
things stop growing! When I transplant them, they do not get as tall as
the volunteers I leave in place, but even the row of nine I planted
against the house are at least chest high.

The question is: does anyone think there is a market for these mutants?
Anyone have any idea how to find out? I can save seed (even if I have to
goldfinch-proof a few plants), but I don't have a clue as to what to do
after that. Everyone that has seen them has asked me where I got them or
where I got the seed. The ones that I give away as transplants seem to
do quite well in other places, so it's not just my brown thumb or some
peculiar magic in my yard. Apparently, I've stumbled into some genetic
mutation magic that works!

There are a lot of seed and plant swapping websites out there e.g
www.seedsavers.org, www.gardennut.com, even ebay etc
You could try your hand at selling or swapping them for some more goodies

Conor

Evelyn McHugh wrote:
It started out simply enough in the summer of 1998. The guy next door
gave me a packet of very old sunflower seeds. I planted them, got three
nice, tall sunflowers. The following summer, I planted some, and noticed
other volunteers. The volunteers were bigger than the parents, so I
saved some seed and decided not to be too careful about cleaning up the
seeds the birdies miss. Year three, no volunteers came up (there was a
drought in 1999), so I planted some of the saved seeds, and get even
bigger, taller sunflowers. A few send up a second or third bud after the
initial flowers.

Fast forward to last year. I get a zillion volunteers, some growing out
of the crack between the edge of the raised bed's wooden boards and the
cement patio. I pull most of them, but leave about a dozen scattered
plants. The tallest eventually get 12-15 feet high - towering over my
trellis, and almost as tall as the peak of my neighbor's garage. They
have one large flower, and after that, develop side buds and branches
that have more large flowers, then taper off into smaller flowers on the
end of each branch. One plant has dozens of large and small flowers, and
I seem to be running the goldfinch feeding station for all of Bergen
County. My elderly neighbor is out there taking pictures for her
scrapbook. I'm taking pictures, too. The plants do have their limits,
tho, because the long branches are weak at their forks where they join
the main stem, and the longer they get, the more likely they break off
under heavy rain or strong wind. A few of the plants also get top heavy
with seed and have to be tied up to the trellis. By Labor Day, my raised
bed looks like the sunflower rain forest, as the poor tomatoes are
growing up overhead between branches in search for the sun. Does not
seem to stop them from producing fruit, and I have to stand on a step
stool to pick it before the frost gets here from the now-dying
sunflowers. Big mess to clean out all those tall things and get the
debris into the recycling barrel!

This year, I again have a lot of volunteers. I transplant or give away
most of them, leaving what seems like a reasonable number in May. Here
it is, July, and I have one plant that is over 8 feet tall, and several
that are over 6 feet. I have been striping the bottom two pairs of
leaves off the plants so that the tomatoes and everything else that is
also thriving will get better light. Bear in mind that this bed is about
three feet wide and twenty feet long, and it's two months before these
things stop growing! When I transplant them, they do not get as tall as
the volunteers I leave in place, but even the row of nine I planted
against the house are at least chest high.

The question is: does anyone think there is a market for these mutants?
Anyone have any idea how to find out? I can save seed (even if I have to
goldfinch-proof a few plants), but I don't have a clue as to what to do
after that. Everyone that has seen them has asked me where I got them or
where I got the seed. The ones that I give away as transplants seem to
do quite well in other places, so it's not just my brown thumb or some
peculiar magic in my yard. Apparently, I've stumbled into some genetic
mutation magic that works!

There are a lot of seed and plant swapping websites out there e.g
www.seedsavers.org, www.gardennut.com, even ebay etc
You could try your hand at selling or swapping them for some more goodies

Conor