sunflower droop

[dmcness]

I planted sunflowers for the first time (2nd year gardener) I had all 4 grow to 7 feet or higher. The problem I have is that my flowers are drooping and very heavy. I have reinforced the bent stalks after straighten them a little. Is it bad to have the flower facing the ground?
Should I prevent them from bending in the future?
Will the flowers that bent still fully mature?
What should I do?

Dan

[Kisal]

When the heads begin to bend toward the ground, and the backs begin to turn brown, your sunflowers are ready to cut. Leave about 3 to 4 inches of the stem attached. They need to be fully dried, before the seeds are ripe. I used to hang mine from an old wash line strung up in my garage.

[dmcness]

Another question: they are not brown and some of the sunflowers do not have seeds appearing, should I still let the heads droop?

thanks for your input

[Kisal]

They bend toward the ground first, then the backs slowly begin to turn yellowish, and finally, brown. At least that's how I remember it. It's been a number of years since I planted sunflowers. I always had to fight a major battle with the crows, to keep them from pulling up the newly sprouted seeds.

Watch them closely, if you want to harvest any seed, because the birds will be after them soon. Cut the heads while they're still yellowish on the backs. Hang them in a protected place, so they can fully ripen and dry. I hung them in my garage, to keep the birds from stealing all the seed.

If the flowers didn't form seeds, it was probably due to lack of adequate pollination.

[dmcness]

I have taken a closer look and it seems that there is a little flower type thing on the tip of every seed. I am assuming that as the tiny bud disappears that that seed is ripe. The peddles around the main flower have dried but the back has not yellowed or browned so I will wait and see what happens.

Thank you so much for your input I don't feel like I am in the dark on this.

Dan

[a0c8c]

I had some that were still green and they've been fine. IT could be days before they turn yellow and by then birds could've snatched them away. I usually plucked a seed from the middle and outside edge and compared to see if they were all ready.