Sunflower problems

[Stephen111725]

Sunflower is looking bad like this

And has brown upper stem
Looks like part of the green on leaves peeled away and now there's grey stuff
Also yellow spots and brownish areas
And black outlines on the leaf

[applestar]

Hmmm... When I first looked at the photo without enlarging, I thought I was just looking at one of the sunflowers that has purplish coloration to the stems and leaves. What variety is this? Also how are you growing it?

The white specks I see on the right hand leaf indicates a sucking insect infestation underneath. In my garden it's usually lace bugs and tree hoppers or plant hoppers. Older tree hoppers nibble on the main leaf rib until it breaks, so I pick them off when I see them. I leave the juvies to the Garden Patrol.

[AnnaIkona]

I don't think that you should be worried. The black colour is just what that sunflower variety looks like.

[Stephen111725]

Hmmm... When I first looked at the photo without enlarging, I thought I was just looking at one of the sunflowers that has purplish coloration to the stems and leaves. What variety is this? Also how are you growing it?

The white specks I see on the right hand leaf indicates a sucking insect infestation underneath. In my garden it's usually lace bugs and tree hoppers or plant hoppers. Older tree hoppers nibble on the main leaf rib until it breaks, so I pick them off when I see them. I leave the juvies to the Garden Patrol.

I don't know what variety as I got the seed from a plain bag that said sunflower In the science lab at my school . I am growing this in a very large pot outside and I started in a small paper cup then went one step bigger than to
The very big pot . There is also lemon balm growing around the base of the plant.

The lemon balm and the stem

[applestar]

Ah HA! I found it!
-- take a look at the pictures in this old post:

Subject: Here's my new sunflower& "house"

[…]
I don't have the latest photos, but here are the Chocolate Cherries from mid-June, and an unusual speckled stemmed one from the Sun Samba mix:

Your sunflower as well as lemon balm do looks a bit pale -- sunflower is a heavy feeder, so it may need some fertilizer. It's possible lemon balm is competing with it. You should use something better suited for flowering or fruiting plants for the sunflower, not one with high Nitrogen, but the lemon balm actually doesn't need much fertilizer (I would be inclined to, well, rip out the lemon balm and plant it in its own pot -- lemon balm is practically indestructible and can also be rooted from cuttings, so I would worry more about damaging the sunflower's roots than the lemon balm's). Yeah, and sunflower needs full sun but lemon balm can actually grow in shade.

What kind of potting mix did you use? -- I WAS thinking it looks kind of heavy for potting mix... But maybe you just watered and it just "looks" dark.

[Stephen111725]

Ah HA! I found it!
-- take a look at the pictures in this old post:

Subject: Here's my new sunflower& "house"

[…]
I don't have the latest photos, but here are the Chocolate Cherries from mid-June, and an unusual speckled stemmed one from the Sun Samba mix:

Your sunflower as well as lemon balm do looks a bit pale -- sunflower is a heavy feeder, so it may need some fertilizer. It's possible lemon balm is competing with it. You should use something better suited for flowering or fruiting plants for the sunflower, not one with high Nitrogen, but the lemon balm actually doesn't need much fertilizer (I would be inclined to, well, rip out the lemon balm and plant it in its own pot -- lemon balm is practically indestructible and can also be rooted from cuttings, so I would worry more about damaging the sunflower's roots than the lemon balm's). Yeah, and sunflower needs full sun but lemon balm can actually grow in shade.

What kind of potting mix did you use? -- I WAS thinking it looks kind of heavy for potting mix... But maybe you just watered and it just "looks" dark.

Yeah it's just dark cause I just watered it and I'll try more fertilizer