You’re not the only one who’s wondering how to transplant full grown sunflowers. Their big yellow blooms don’t fail to give any landscape a cheerful summery vibe.
Sunflowers are so irresistible, and even birds flock to mature ones to feast on the seeds. For this reason, you can plant sunflowers in some parts of a plot to attract pollinators that include birds, bees, butterflies, moths, beetles.
You’re probably aware that sunflowers are a lot like other types of flowers out there – it’s possible to grow them indoors and outdoors in the UK! If you want to get a head start on the growing season, you can choose to begin sunflowers inside your semi-pro polytunnel and move them outside when spring is in its fullest bloom. Keep in mind that the key to transplanting your sunflowers early is to do so when they’re still small.
Starting Sunflower Seeds
Are you planning to start sunflowers indoors? Be sure to plant their seeds in a feeding tray that has separate compartments. Use the potting mix to fill the tray, and make sure that you plant each seed with 1/2 inch of the potting mix covering the top of it.
Keep in mind that one must water the soil until it is moist. Ideally, the soil in the tray should stay wet, and one should keep its temperature somewhere between 65˚ to 75˚. You can expect to see something green sprouting above the soil in a week.
Transplanting Seedlings
If you intend to transplant sunflower seedlings, make sure that you move them to a location in your UK garden landscape where they can get at least 6 hours of sunlight daily. When you’re digging a hole for each of your sunflower seedlings from the seedling tray, ensure proper spacing between the holes.
To give your sunflowers enough room to grow to their full size, keeping about 1-foot spacing between the holes is ideal. Once you have done so, you may transplant the strongest seedlings from your seedling tray to get a sturdy sunflower crop.
Transplanting Sunflowers
As soon as the sunflower seedlings have grown up to about 5 inches in terms of height, you may start transplanting them. Be sure to pick a day where the weather outside is favourable for transplanting. It’s important to note that sunflowers shouldn’t be transplanted in the UK outdoors unless you’re confident that the overnight frost has already passed for the season.
Remember that it’s never a good idea to allow the sunflowers to grow taller than just a few inches before deciding to transplant them. Doing so will only cause the plant’s structure to weaken. For this reason, do your best to avoid starting the sunflower plantings until late in the spring, which is when your sunflowers have reached the correct height.
Caring for Your Sunflower Transplants
As soon as you’ve transplanted your sunflowers outdoors, you need to provide your plants with the care they need. Fortunately, they don’t require too much pampering. However, it’s essential to have at least a couple of main ingredients to ensure that your sunflower crop will have what it takes to thrive well throughout the summer season.
Just make sure that your sunflowers get full sun for at least 6 hours daily. However, it’s better if you can manage to expose them to more hours of sunlight.
As long as they get enough water, you don’t have to provide them with additional tending. When the weather is mostly dry, you need to water your sunflowers at least once a week. If you notice that the flowers are beginning to show signs of wilting, be sure to increase your watering schedule.
Thinking About Growing Your Plants Inside a Semi-Pro Greenhouse?
One of the best decisions you can make for your plants and yourself is to grow them in a semi-pro greenhouse. Polytunnel gardening offers plenty of benefits, and here are some of them:
It protects your plants from harsh weather conditions
Perhaps one of the best things about growing your plants inside a semi-pro polytunnel is the fact that you won’t have to make emergency preparations in the event of a storm, blizzard, snow, or other harsh weather conditions. The semi-pro polytunnel provides a layer of protection that can keep your plants safe regardless of the weather outside.
It keeps destructive bugs and animals at bay
Traditional outdoor gardeners in the UK have to deal with the constant threat of pests and vermin. However, if you’ve managed to set up a semi-pro greenhouse, you can be sure that your plants won’t have to contend with destructive insects and animals that will only put all of your gardening efforts to waste. The enclosed structure serves as a deterrent that keeps these creatures at bay.
It allows you to manipulate your plants’ growing conditions
With a semi-pro greenhouse, you’ll be able to control the internal environment of the enclosed space. Control means that you’ll be able to easily manipulate the levels of temperature and humidity to provide your plants with the growing conditions that would best suit their needs.
It All Starts with Knowing How to Transplant Full Grown Sunflowers
When you already know how to transplant full grown sunflowers, the next logical step would be to start the seeds inside your semi-pro greenhouse!