why not ..

the birds do it from the bird food tray ... lol ...

but as with all genetics.. who knows what you will end up with.. odds are.. it wont be what you started with ... so if you really like the ones you have.. you will have to rebuy those seeds ...

why the question.. you want to do it??.. what did you plant.. give us some facts.. and perhaps we can go further with answers ..

otherwise .. give it a try .. experimenting is fun ....

ken

? ... odds are.. it wont be what you started with ... With sunflowers? Curious as to why you say it wont be what we started with?

The sunflower "flower" on a mature sunflower is actually a "flower head" (also known as a "composite flower") of numerous florets, (small flowers) crowded together. So the bee or breeze usually fertilizes each one with pollen from another floret that is a millimeter away so the odds are that it will be what you started with.

Yes. There is some far off chance that it will not be what you started with.

When the flowers are finished being pollenated, the head will turn down. After a few weeks, the seeds should start falling out. That's when they are ready.

At Sun, Jul 17, 11 at 15:04 I completely forgot about F1 hybrids. If you have an F1 hybrid, if I recall correctly, only 25% of the seeds would be expected to look like the parent - assuming they were hybridized for appearance.

Join The Hunt for Bees! : The Great Sunflower Project, may be of interest to sunflower growers.

i think albert finally agreed ...

if the OP is talking about plain old giant sunflowers ... odds are.. he will get a plain old giant sunflowers ...

but if he is asking about the foo foo multi-colored dwarf foo foo.. thingees [otherwise known as F1 hybrids]... odds are.. you might end up with some foo foo ones.. and some giants.. and a bunch of stuff in between ... if they are sexually viable in the first place. .. as many F1's are sterile ...

i am just going from a genetic angle.. unless there is something special about sunflowers i dont know about .. and i do not claim much genetics background ... just enough to know.. most things do NOT come true from seed .... especially once you get out to the foo foo ones ..

and.. lol.. the last thing you need is a 12 foot giant.. where you thought you planted a seed for a 2 foot dwarf ... you wont know.. until the thing grows taller than you ... lol ..

change the link search to 'dwarf sunflowers' .. after enjoying the monsters ... and i am suggesting that these foo foo ones.. you must rebuy the seed.. to INSURE you get what you want ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: opps.. its not dwarf .. lol ...