Food Plots Which sunflower?

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BSK

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I'm going to throw-and-mow a mixture for my summer plots. It will be Hutchensun forage soybeans, cowpeas, Buckwheat, and sunflowers for the climbing beans to climb on. Considering none of these plants are going to be allowed to fully mature (they will be mowed down on top my fall seed in mid-September) what brand of sunflower should a plant?
 
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Fire_Medic890 said:
For what you're talking about, I'd simply get Black Oil sunflower seeds. No need to spend the money on Clearfield, Peredovik, definitely not RR sunflower seeds.
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Same. I didn't think peredovik was high, maybe more of a medium. Also didn't realize they made RR sunflowers
 
Fire_Medic890 said:
For what you're talking about, I'd simply get Black Oil sunflower seeds. No need to spend the money on Clearfield, Peredovik, definitely not RR sunflower seeds.r
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Fire_Medic890 said:
For what you're talking about, I'd simply get Black Oil sunflower seeds. No need to spend the money on Clearfield, Peredovik, definitely not RR sunflower seeds.
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RR sunflowers do not exist
 
After germination, only thing I'll be spraying is Clethodim to knock back grasses. That is our only major "weed" problem in our plots. Foxtail and fescue tend to overwhelm the plots late in the summer.
 
BSK said:
After germination, only thing I'll be spraying is Clethodim to knock back grasses. That is our only major "weed" problem in our plots. Foxtail and fescue tend to overwhelm the plots late in the summer.
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That's what we spray on ours. We have used seed from Walmart before in foodplots and they surprised me. They weren't bad at all.
 
BSK said:
This is all good news. I buy black oil sunflower seeds by the 50# bag all the time (for my bird feeders).
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We do as well...birds love them but the squirrels hammer our feeder and on occasion they will bury the black oil sunflower seed in our raised garden beds...they germinate well...last year I actually transplanted a couple of the seedlings to a better location and let them grow to maturity and they did well....but I've never considered using them in a food plot blend...good idea...currently paying $18 for 40lb at TSC.
 
DoubleRidge said:
We do as well...birds love them but the squirrels hammer our feeder and on occasion they will bury the black oil sunflower seed in our raised garden beds...they germinate well...last year I actually transplanted a couple of the seedlings to a better location and let them grow to maturity and they did well....but I've never considered using them in a food plot blend...good idea...currently paying $18 for 40lb at TSC.
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Good to know they germinate well.

It took a year of fighting with them to learn how to keep the squirrels out of my bird feeders. The bell-shaped pole guards, and placing the feeder where squirrels can't jump onto it from a roof or tree branch, were the answers.
 
We use squirrel proof feeders. The weight of the squirrel closes off the ports where they would get the seed. They learn pretty quick and seldom try anymore. But as for food plots I only tried one time, as an experiment I planted a 20 lb bag of black oil sunflower seed intended for birds. They were planted in very poor soil and not fertilized at all. They came up and the deer ate them so quickly they never got to be very tall only a few flowered and they were not much over knee-high. When purchased as bird seed they are cheap enough to try!
 
BSK said:
They will be throw-and-mow broadcast at a fairly low seeding rate, because of the high number of beans/peas.
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We no til with a drill now. But we have broadcasted them as well several years ago. And they still work well. We did it the traditional method. But I don't see why it wouldn't work for you.
 
From what I'm hearing from others who have used them, everyone is telling me not to expect many plants to grow tall enough for vine support. Everyone says the deer eat them pretty quick. Which is OK with me.
 
The black oil variety are smaller plants anyway. The striped seeds produce a tall plant with a very large head. That may be what you're thinking of.
 
I do not know a name but some bird seed with mixed types of seeds contains them. I think they might be the same sold as snacks for humans? The seeds are Grey and white striped and much larger than black oil seed.
 
Rifle02 got it right. They are called grey stripped or stripped sunflower seeds. Both will bring up the same seed.
 
BSK said:
I'm going to throw-and-mow a mixture for my summer plots. It will be Hutchensun forage soybeans, cowpeas, Buckwheat, and sunflowers for the climbing beans to climb on. Considering none of these plants are going to be allowed to fully mature (they will be mowed down on top my fall seed in mid-September) what brand of sunflower should a plant?
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For throw-and-mow plots where sunflowers won't fully mature, go with a black oil sunflower variety—it's affordable, fast-growing, and provides great structure for climbing beans. No need for a high-end hybrid in this case.
 
abbassaqib4 said:
For throw-and-mow plots where sunflowers won't fully mature, go with a black oil sunflower variety—it's affordable, fast-growing, and provides great structure for climbing beans. No need for a high-end hybrid in this case.
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That's what I used once I found out the grey-stripped sunflower seed was twice the cost.
 

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