Sunflowers...

[mirroman]

Well, I went and looked at my crops yesterday and after 6.5"+ (it was still raining when I left) my sunflowers don't look so great. They have dinner palte heads, but are so heavy they are drooping to within a foot of the ground. Now not all of them are in this shape, but I would have to say most of them are. The stalks aren't broken and the roots aren't pulled.
Will they straighten back up at all? I am sure I wiil make some seed, but they look awful pitiful laying over...

[2thDoc]

if they sit on the ground, they will rot.

but since the stalks aren't broken, i would give them a chance...

if not:
get some friends and walk out there and prop them up on each other or use stakes. pain? yes. but if not, you are indeed fubar.

[mirroman]

That is what I was thinking. They aren't on the ground yet.. Hopefully there is hope. Cause I don't have any friends...

[Sportin' Woodies]

get some friends and walk out there and prop them up on each other or use stakes. pain? yes. but if not, you are indeed fubar.

you arent serious. how about fill 8000 balloons with helium and tie little strings to each stalk.

bushhog some strips (depending on how many you have planting) every week after midaugust.

hope it doesnt rain for a while.

ALL of our sunflowers at one place got whiped out by a "micro burst" last year like you just talked about. i bushhoged several strips a week and had 3 or so great shoots.

[GBelly]

I hope all holds well with our heads. They have good size, full of seed, BARE DIRT under them, and enough acres to make it really interesting this year.

Treflan and Cadre is the ticket for weedless fields.

[Boogie]

That's cute with the balloons Sportin' but I've seen folks resort to such tactics (and worse) to save a field. Things like paying kids to stand back up corn in ponds and sunflowers in dovefields so the seed doesn't rot. Sure it's a big pain in the ass but sometimes such measures are necessary. It is called game management....as you get older, you'll learn more about it. Enjoy the ride...

[2thDoc]

i have pulled cockleburs out of a duck pond by hand because my dad made me.

it was not fun....but when you're 13, you just invite your friends to "come play in the country" and get it done.

[Mergie Master]

It's sad the lengths to which a white man has to go nowdays to save a crop. He has to use and abuse his friends and even his kids.

Back in the day we had plenty of help in these type situations. Help that was all but free except for the initial purchase price at the "market" in Charleston.... [img]graemlins/afro.gif[/img] s!! With a just little incentive... [img]graemlins/whip2.gif[/img] they'd get the work done! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Moatsy]

push come to shove you can remove the heads from the field and then put them back prior to shooting... I wouldn't be above it.

[Sportin' Woodies]

It is called game management....as you get older, you'll learn more about it. Enjoy the ride...

game management? i call it having way too much free time.

oh, and by the way, my roommate and i (i prince from ghana) once shot 20 doves in one day with 5 boxes of shells and my dad is cultured and you arent and then i bent 2 of the larger doves (eurasian collards) over the balcony and double teamed those sonsabitches)
now, quickly, log back on as your other name.

[Aging Baby Boomer]

We had a few (maybe 2 to 3%) of our sunflowers blown down in a thunderstorm two weeks ago, but they're generally in good shape. But because of all the rain this growing season, we've had a lot of grass to come back after the "lay-by" cultivation. So last weekend we came over the top with Poast to swat the grass back.

Our first field is at physiological maturity, but the second field is about ten days away. Planning the glyphos burndown for all fields about August 12th or so.

We're starting to see significant groups of mourning doves (but no ECDs or pigeons) on the power lines. Let the "scientific 30-minute counts" begin!

[Catdaddy]

[Candor]

nice pics B