Hi,

I'm very new to growing plants from seeds and I've started with growing red sunflowers from seeds. All was going well during the first few weeks now I'm not very sure what to do as they've grown so tall about 2 and a half feet.
The stem is also very thin still, not sure if thats how it should be.

Can someone please advise me if they are going to grow more tall and when should I expect them to flower. Will the stem gain more body and how often do I need to feed the plant food.

Any response is really appreciated and thanks in advance.

"pearle76" wrote in message
news

Hi,

I'm very new to growing plants from seeds and I've started with growing
red sunflowers from seeds. All was going well during the first few weeks
now I'm not very sure what to do as they've grown so tall about 2 and a
half feet.
The stem is also very thin still, not sure if thats how it should be.

Can someone please advise me if they are going to grow more tall and
when should I expect them to flower. Will the stem gain more body and
how often do I need to feed the plant food.

Any response is really appreciated and thanks in advance.


I might be wrong but don't they grow to a similiar height as yellow
sunflowers. Our yellow ones are about 3 to 4 foot high just now. We have
tied them to stakes gently using fury/fluffy ties the garden centers sell.
No flowers yet.

pearle76 wrote:
Hi,

I'm very new to growing plants from seeds and I've started with
growing red sunflowers from seeds. All was going well during the
first few weeks now I'm not very sure what to do as they've grown so
tall about 2 and a half feet.
The stem is also very thin still, not sure if thats how it should be.

Can someone please advise me if they are going to grow more tall and
when should I expect them to flower. Will the stem gain more body and
how often do I need to feed the plant food.

Any response is really appreciated and thanks in advance.

Sounds like lack of light... etoliation. Where are they growing? Are they
in full sun?

Les


--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.

"These people believe the souls of fried space aliens inhabit their
bodies and hold soup cans to get rid of them. I should care what they
think?"...Valerie Emmanuel

Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

On 29/7/07 13:51, in article , "Les
Hemmings" wrote:

pearle76 wrote:
Hi,

I'm very new to growing plants from seeds and I've started with
growing red sunflowers from seeds. All was going well during the
first few weeks now I'm not very sure what to do as they've grown so
tall about 2 and a half feet.
The stem is also very thin still, not sure if thats how it should be.

Can someone please advise me if they are going to grow more tall and
when should I expect them to flower. Will the stem gain more body and
how often do I need to feed the plant food.

Any response is really appreciated and thanks in advance.

Sounds like lack of light... etoliation. Where are they growing? Are they
in full sun?

Les


I'm a little bit concerned about the use of the words 'plant food'. I
wonder how much the OP has been feeding and how often.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On Jul 28, 5:06 pm, pearle76
wrote:
Hi,

I'm very new to growing plants from seeds and I've started with growing
red sunflowers from seeds. All was going well during the first few weeks
now I'm not very sure what to do as they've grown so tall about 2 and a
half feet.
The stem is also very thin still, not sure if thats how it should be.

Can someone please advise me if they are going to grow more tall and
when should I expect them to flower. Will the stem gain more body and
how often do I need to feed the plant food.

Any response is really appreciated and thanks in advance.

--
pearle76

I think I see what's confusing Sasha.
Feeding a plant is fine. As long as the "food" is not say, steak and
kidney pie.
One does not need to feed (the) plant food.
Plant food does not require feeding, but is fed to plants.
(you did say any replies and I'm just jeolous my sunflowers have been
gobbled up)

pearle76 wrote:

I'm very new to growing plants from seeds and I've started with growing
red sunflowers from seeds. All was going well during the first few weeks
now I'm not very sure what to do as they've grown so tall about 2 and a
half feet.

It all depends if you're growing them in a container or in plain soil.
In the first case that's probably their final height, in the second case
(and of course unless they are a dwarf variety) you can easily expect
four more feet.


The stem is also very thin still, not sure if thats how it should be.

For a start yes, it grows thicker later on: you should notice a
difference when the flower buds start appearing.
You should think about support, IMNSHO: they can be fragile in the wind,
either because the stem is thin or because there are few of them to hold
steady together. Some string and poles could help.


Can someone please advise me if they are going to grow more tall and
when should I expect them to flower.

A few more weeks of warmth and sunshine, maybe. It's pretty quick once
the buds start growing.


Will the stem gain more body and
how often do I need to feed the plant food.

Plant food? Unless you have a very poor soil it shouldn't need any food
at all. If you're going to do something, it's usually much better to add
compost, that way everybody enjoys it!

I overdid it on plantfood once, before I gave up altogether: the
sunflower ended up a monster à la John Waters, close to 4m tall and with
a flower over 50cm wide.

Good luck!



Greg

--
Ah, Lydia!
She was the most glorious creature under the sun.

No ficus = no spam

In article ,
(Les Hemmings) wrote:

Are they in full sun?

Erm, this is a UK group and the year is 2007 :-)


Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/