Thank you for answering a question I had regarding no till - whether or not to remove the roots of annual plants after harvest. Makes perfect sense! Mark, I think we will be ever grateful you found our channel and commented, and in turn we discovered the wealth of information you have to offer on your channel. God bless!
I love everything about this video. Thank you for making it. I am growing sunflowers for the first time and I love watching them develop and the pollinators come. I didn't even think about how it would also benefit my soil. That makes so much sense. Thank you again!
I have no till 7 layer food forrest and I use the sunflowers to dig down accompanied by dates and root edibles and beans !!!! A guild if you will! Much love thank you for your videos blessup !
Hey what's your take on Bermuda grass it's taking over ! And I have about 6 inches of woodchips from the forrest It won't stop ! What would you do about this embrace it ? Or dig it up ?
I love growing sunflowers in my yard. The birds love to eat the seeds when the head is drying out at the end of the season. I grow all the different heights and colors.
You are such a vast wealth of knowledge! We have learned so much for you. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. How lovely to give all those flowers to a charity. Wow I would buy them if I lived nearer. May I ask if you do this earlier in the year do the sunflowers ever try and grow back again. Thank you
THANK YOU for your kind words.. The roots and stems never go back . But if you wait one more month and dis not cut them you can get seeds from them and just plant them again & again....
Brilliantly communicated once again Mark! You may have wondered why a small Vegetable farmer like myself has a sunflower icon? My crops are mostly tomatoes and peppers. This is exactly why. I use a system I designed myself: a little heavier on the grasses and a little lighter on the sunflowers and I cover the paper for the crop with hay instead of cattle panels, but otherwise with regards to function, this is exactly what I do! I cut down the grass and cover crop not disturbing the roots, unroll paper over the ground covered with hay, and plant through it with seedlings. I also leave grass covered paths between each crop row and once a crop harvested make a new row where the grass was before. This makes sure that there is a living root in the soil at all times, either my crop, a cover crop, or my grass aisles. But since I have a formatting problem that makes it impossible to upload vids from my tablet, it has been difficult to explain it. Now I can just send people who ask to your channel!
THANK YOU. With your KIND HELP you have OPEN my eyes about the Native GRASSES. I started with the sunflowers native to my soil..here first, left to Europe. And is back again. BUT NEVER thought of LARGE native grasses, mostly cover crops that are sold. Have learn a little bit so far and will keep learning HOPEFUL with your HELP... THANKS AGAIN..
I am having problems identifying it myself. Sorry. Looks a lot like bluestem but I never saw that shade of green in bluestem. Of course a nutrient excess or deficiency or ph and many other factors can change a grasses color. Are you sure it is a grass and not a sedge? 2 or 3 way axis?
I was not aware the benefits of planting sunflowers for the soil, I planted my 1st 300,000 for purpose of attracting wild turkey and other wildlife this spring (2017). hope I get a large yield. we had tons of rains to help them out.
GREAT, as you know they have large roots to brake up the soil and top get it open even after the sunflower dies. But if you plow are disturb the soil to mush you will lose all the work they have done. THANKS for watching.
I really love your information !!! And I need it here in southern Nevada where (in my section of the valley) the soil needs constant maintenance to keep it going good. I've about giving up and ready to go to pure bags of commercial potting soil. But now you've given me new hope. Also, would you make a video about other food uses for sunflowers besides the seeds? Haphazard Homestead has a great video about sunflower buds as artichoke substitutes. I'd like to know if the leaves can be used as a fermented food. And different ways to use the leaves and stalks .
Mark, I live in northern Mississippi. We have a clay pan under 4-6” of topsoil that I’ve never found the bottom of. I’ve dug footings 5’ deep and it’s still solid clay. Will the sunflowers still work to break up and improve the soil? We’re working on building the back to eden method using wood chips, but several acres are in grasses/weeds.
Yes, Sunflower are very native to your area. They grew wild all down the east coast.. by the millions in each state. I gave the same soil type you do...
Great video!! I love sunflowers! I live in the city and have very very little space but I love to have a few sunflowers. Spring is starting in a couple of weeks and I just transplanted the ones I have two weeks ago. They are being attacked by little nasty red spidermites and they will sure atack my tomatoes too. I don't use any pesticides. Should I just let nature do her thing?? I hope the sunflower sale is a success for the kids!
Hi, Mark! Thanks for another great information! I wonder if You sow the sunflowers at the same time as the clover and grasses? Can the sunflowers keep up with them? And: Could You mow an existing grass-/ clover field sowing sunflowers in that? How short would You mow then?
YES, you can. I was thinking the same thing. SO - I planted a short sunflower( big Smile ) 2 ft tall with annual rye grass (which is very fast growing) and it did just fine.... I have not tied that mowing grass or clover first then plant sunflowers . BUT what I see all the time on farm is sunflowers growing in clover and grass the is 2 years old never cut. Because seed had drop in there from other fields. I would just tray laying sunflower seeds in the clover and add 1/2 inch of soil or compost on top and see what happens..Do not cut clover or grass just push down with your foot...Let me KNOW. THANKS ALWAYS...Mark
Thanks Mark, great information. Quick question for you, I have clover growing up thru my wood chips, should I cut it at the base to keep the nitrogen in the ground, or will all it's energy go into growing back new shoots? I am torn between cutting at the base, like your sunflowers, or pulling and putting under the mulch. Thanks again , I appreciate your videos.
Clover is Great as is. Please let it grow, do not touch. I will go over clover / legumes in the future. It supplies nitrogen to the plants all the time. I saw other garden channel that said something different. They are wrong and I have the proof to prove it...If the clover is not bothering you, just leave it alone it is the good thing to have...THANK YOU...
Hello! New to your channel. I never knew this info regarding leaving sunflowers roots in the ground. I have been wrestling with their removal for several years! A back-breaker! Do you leave other vegetable roots in the ground at harvest time? Tomatoes, chard, etc? Thank you, very informative.
Hey Mark...love the info man. My 12 hens are currently prepping my fall garden area mixing wood chips, food waste, their manure, etc. into compost as a top layer. You have me fascinated with cover crops to help even further. My initial idea was to do some variety of sunflower, a legume, and grass. With my hens creating compost for the soil, I was wondering if I could get away with just planting sunflowers to be like mini trees (Paul's B2E style). Or if there is further need for legume/grass additions. Thoughts?
Please tell me will sunflower seeds sprout in somewhat tilled heavy clay soil or will I need to amend it some first? Grass won’t grow and weeds struggle to.
I wonder how the black oil sunflower seeds purchased for birds. ~ $20 for 40 pounds - Would do for field sunflowers. I’ll be trying it next year! Thanks for your great process!
Hi Mark. Question regarding leaving plant roots in the ground. Most I don"t worry about, but I grew a bed of Corn this year and know that their root systems can be quite massive and intermingled. Will it decompose enough to plant in by mid spring? Had about 2-3 inches of hay mulch and just a little wood chips topping it off. I can add more chips now that I have a good source for them. Corn was picked or eat by raccoons about a month ago. I've left the plants in, thinking they might still be helping the mycorrhizae, but wonder if I should have chopped off the stalks right away to get decomposition going quicker. Your thoughts?
I UNDERSTAND your concern. But just think of the millions of acres that grow corn in the US. The farms do not pull them out. They just plant the new row in the spring between them. If unsure try half of them and see the results. The best thing is you can leave them their all winter and decide in the spring...THANK YOU
Beautiful sunflowers, and a beautiful place. We have a lot of beautiful flowers and trees in the garden, but I love sunflowers the most. I also made a video from our garden. If you want to look, maybe you'll like it. Beautiful greeting from Prague, Thanks for the nice video and I wish you all the best.
I read some sources online that say that sunflowers are alleopathic meaning that they give off certain toxins into the ground that suppress growth of other plants in close proximity. What would you say about it? (Btw I have also planted quite a few sunflowers this year in my garden after watching your many videos. But now the information about toxins made me worry a little )
Do not worry. I have growing proof it does not. Plus they tell you not to grow strawberries also with tomatoes. Here is a video part 5 . Note large sunflower. This is the link, th-cam.com/video/X3P3uCOXhhY/w-d-xo.html .
Hello! Great video again as always! I have a question, It is sept 4th. And I am starting to empty out some garden spots. I am hoping to get some tractor time to re-shape my gentle hillside into a terrace with swales to retain surface water, and to allow me to straighten up the rows a bit. So I am curious, if I was starting with some really barren, clay rich soil, say a week from now and looking to build some tilth for a spring planting. I know I don't have much time, however what do you think I could possibly ground cover to get some roots into the clay to start building some food web, before winter strikes. I am zone 5B. I do have a dozen partially decomposed round bales. Should I layer up the straw heavy and let it lay, or should I try to get some type of greenery going?
WINTER RYE for SURE. Grows and stays green all winter. And some types of legumes that is best for your area. Just ask the seed company. And some types of native grass to your area too...THANKS for asking. This a great first start..enjoy.
Mark, how long does it take for the roots to decay? If I leave the roots in the ground over winter, will I be able to plant on top of it in the spring?
How do you keep the deer from eating them? I’ve been using a spray made from an egg yolk and baking powder and it does pretty well, but there’s always the “Mikey” deer that will eat anything.
I had to spend about 10 thousands $ 15 years ago and put up a 8 foot high fence. The deer would eat down an acre of green beans in just one night.. THANK YOU.
All weeds / palt roots when left to rot wil become fertilizer for the soil. Thay is why the left the land to felow for a year an then farm on it the next year. But to fasten the process you can mow the weeds plant and leave it as a mulch. What do you think of this syste,???
I am lucky my neighbor keeps pigeons and I get all the dropings and ther is always a lot of seeds in it lots of sun flowers and other things and they all start to grow I just chop and drop it works well for me and the pigeon muck kills all the weeds it hoter than chicking muck
What plants can’t be grown with sunflowers? I heard that they have a strong alelopathic effect, and I’ve only heard that cucumbers and lettuce do good with them.
I AM ORGANIC GARDENING okay. Maybe it just affects germination i didn’t find too much info on it. I’m not sure, but this year I’m going to plant a garden plot with sunflowers and cucumbers with a few other crawling plants like watermelons and pumpkins. I hope that they do okay. I’m trying to plant this garden with early-killing plants so that I can establish a winter cover crop after. It’s been heavily tilled for nearly thirty years now, and has become nearly a swamp. The soil is clay and doesn’t drain and has almost no aggregate. I’m thinking this may help to fix that. The winter cover crop will be cereal rye, balansa clover and canola. My grandpa got so tired of tilling his soil and the plants getting diseases from being too wet that he gave up gardening this plot (currently 71 year old and smoked since age 12) and I wanna show him that he can do it without having to move his heavy soils. Should I use a mulch? There’s about 12 inch tall cereal rye (seriously it looks awful and is a very light green and is about to head out) that I’m going to mow down, but I’m afraid that a mulch will drown my plants.
The pollen is used from other sunflowers near by. It is like growing seedless watermelon you have the seeds for the the seedless one that have some seeds still and a pollenate watermelon type planted close to them to pollenate them still.
As long as you have sand, silt and clay in your soil. And you can have any % of each you will all the nutrients you need. But you need the Soil Food Web to be working. The Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air, change it into liquid carbon to feed this soil food web. The micros in the soil food web make acids that break down the sand, silt and clay into nutrients that the plants can use. ONLY when you run out of sand. silt and clay you have no more nutrients. I KNOW YOU THINK THIS IS SO WRONG because you never heard of this. But I grow sweet corn in soil in the same spot every year and all is GREAT. Pleas see my sweet corn crop this year, THANK YOU for asking.
But you're taking nutrition from the soil to grow the sunflowers, aren't you? Are you just breaking even with soil nutrition? I mean that's good thing too, but I'm curious
What I teach and share on my channel is that as long you have sand, silt and clay in your soil you have all the minerals you need. The many soil microbes ( soil food web ) extract the nutrient's from sand, silt and clay to feed your plants . Only when you run out of sand, silt and clay you run out of nutrients. Nature has been doing this from day one.
@@iamorganicgardening Well I am going to have to start watching more of your videos then. This was my first actually. Very cool to get a response from you on top. Subscribed. Notifications on :)
Plants take nutrients from the soil, you've got it all wrong. 4:58 what are you talking about with "keeping the soil alive"? The plants take nutrients from the soil, unless you chop them up and put them back on the ground you've lost Nitrogen, potassium, etc from the soil. How do you think plants grow? They require nutrients from somewhere. This is why people use a mulching lawn mower instead of bagging their lawn clippings.
I thought the same thing...But I was so very wrong. Please when you have a moment watch this and it will explain everything. Plants GIVE back 51% of the growth to the soil. It is not the top part only.. All those roots feeding the soil. PLEASE watch : th-cam.com/video/keZwuqbSWJk/w-d-xo.html . If you have any more question please write back. THANK YOU.
Hi john, im an ecologist and my husband and i do biodiversity farming. So have you ever wondered why weeds exist? Its because nature hates bare soil. Bare soil allows for the loss of nutrients through wind and rain. Bare soil becomes dry and hard which kills the microbs and leaves you with dead soil. The same thing happens when you over till. This is where weeds come in. Weeds retain moisture, very good for microbs, they stop leeching of nutrients, and most importantly, they are deep rooted and because of this, they pull nutrients and water up from deep in the soil and make it available for other shallow rooted plants. So what we can learn from this is that we can do companion plantings or rotational plantings of desirable crops to get the same results. The best part, keeping plants in the ground tells mother nature that weeds arent needed because the soil is already covered. The sunflowers will do many things. The large root systems will loosen the soil, they retain soil moisture, they pull up minerals trapped in the layer of bedrock, and once the plant dies, the roots will decompose and basically make their own compost in the soil adding more nutrients. You see, most plants dont take more energy from the soil than what they provide because most of their energy comes from the sun, not the dirt. Nor will they ever use up all of the nitrogen put back into the soil from rain, and as long as you rotate, you will never have a loss of nutrients. If plants did deplete the soil the way we thought they do, natural medows and forests wouldnt exist because the natural occuring plants would have depleted the soil. Now obviously different plants like different things, so if you plant the same thing year after year, eventually, certain nutrients will be depleted, but if you rotate crops, this wont be a problem. Hope that answers your question.
Thank you for answering a question I had regarding no till - whether or not to remove the roots of annual plants after harvest. Makes perfect sense! Mark, I think we will be ever grateful you found our channel and commented, and in turn we discovered the wealth of information you have to offer on your channel. God bless!
Thank You, Farming and gardening is to be fun. And we all get a great healthy way to enjoy life more.. Many Blessing for your whole family.
I love everything about this video. Thank you for making it. I am growing sunflowers for the first time and I love watching them develop and the pollinators come. I didn't even think about how it would also benefit my soil. That makes so much sense. Thank you again!
THANK YOU for growing sunflowers . Their roots are strong and till for free.
I love sunflowers. Have them growing all over our yard. Good to know I'm on the right track. Thanks for sharing this knowledge.
YES, sunflowers are really good when mixed native grasses..THANK YOU.
I have no till 7 layer food forrest and I use the sunflowers to dig down accompanied by dates and root edibles and beans !!!! A guild if you will! Much love thank you for your videos blessup !
Hey what's your take on Bermuda grass it's taking over ! And I have about 6 inches of woodchips from the forrest It won't stop ! What would you do about this embrace it ? Or dig it up ?
Thank you so much for doing these videos in a series. So many other youtubers show how to build soil, but don't show results. Thanks again!!
THANK YOU very much for your written kind words..
Wow those are beautiful sunflowers! They just brightened up my day! Great info! TFS!🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
That is GREAT to hear....THANK YOU.
I planted sunflowers for the first time this year. I was very excited when they broke ground two days ago
Nice.. You will be amazing with their beauty also. THANKS
Firecrackers are gorgeous!!😍
Your sunflowers are gorgeous! I love growing them too. I especially like the multi head varieties. I will have to try these firecrackers next year.
Fantastic and ENJOY. THANK YOU.
I love growing sunflowers in my yard. The birds love to eat the seeds when the head is drying out at the end of the season. I grow all the different heights and colors.
I wish to thank you for teaching me new skills and I hope you and your family are safe and well. Best wishes from Ireland 🇮🇪 .new subscriber 😊
Thank you very much! Happy Gardening.
Wow. Those sunflowers are stunning!
So awesome! I added sunflowers and marigold in my veggie garden.
Wonderful!. You will love them and the soil too.
Last summer i grew sunflowers for th efirst time but i pulled all the roots out. Won't do that again, thanks to this video........ Thanks.
I learn so much watching your videos. Can’t wait for spring 🤗
ME too... It is always welcome to feel the warmth after winter. THANKS
Mark, thank you for sharing all of this information with us, and also thank you for not becoming a commercial for a big company, I like that,
ME TOO..THANKS
Hey Mark! This is Devin from NOFA NJ. Great TH-cam Channel!!
THANK YOU so very much. Get to meet farmers from all over the world.
I found you through Dutchman's journal channel, and subscribed immediately.
THANK YOU...The Dutchman is the BEST..
Thanks again Mark. May God continue to Blessyou.🙂
You are such a vast wealth of knowledge! We have learned so much for you. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. How lovely to give all those flowers to a charity. Wow I would buy them if I lived nearer. May I ask if you do this earlier in the year do the sunflowers ever try and grow back again. Thank you
THANK YOU for your kind words.. The roots and stems never go back . But if you wait one more month and dis not cut them you can get seeds from them and just plant them again & again....
Brilliantly communicated once again Mark! You may have wondered why a small Vegetable farmer like myself has a sunflower icon? My crops are mostly tomatoes and peppers. This is exactly why. I use a system I designed myself: a little heavier on the grasses and a little lighter on the sunflowers and I cover the paper for the crop with hay instead of cattle panels, but otherwise with regards to function, this is exactly what I do! I cut down the grass and cover crop not disturbing the roots, unroll paper over the ground covered with hay, and plant through it with seedlings. I also leave grass covered paths between each crop row and once a crop harvested make a new row where the grass was before. This makes sure that there is a living root in the soil at all times, either my crop, a cover crop, or my grass aisles. But since I have a formatting problem that makes it impossible to upload vids from my tablet, it has been difficult to explain it. Now I can just send people who ask to your channel!
THANK YOU. With your KIND HELP you have OPEN my eyes about the Native GRASSES. I started with the sunflowers native to my soil..here first, left to Europe. And is back again. BUT NEVER thought of LARGE native grasses, mostly cover crops that are sold. Have learn a little bit so far and will keep learning HOPEFUL with your HELP... THANKS AGAIN..
Hello, I posted a native grass picture taken on my farm. Would you have any idea what it is called..? Thanks in Advance,
I AM ORGANIC GARDENING Hard to tell without a good zoom on the seedhead but looks like foxtail barley.
Hi, Took better pictures of the seed-head...I hope this could help.. THANKS AGAIN...
I am having problems identifying it myself. Sorry. Looks a lot like bluestem but I never saw that shade of green in bluestem. Of course a nutrient excess or deficiency or ph and many other factors can change a grasses color. Are you sure it is a grass and not a sedge? 2 or 3 way axis?
1- Firecracker
2- Teddy Bear
3- Sunny Smile
4- Big Smile
Great vídeo ..and ..my favorite flowers...Thank you
That is so kind of you.. AND THANK YOU for watching.
Love it. Great job 👏!!
I do similar system , but incorporate clover in the mix.
Thank you for the video
Cool, thanks
I would love if you had a pasture. I think you'd come up with so much good ideas for Pasture cropping system with grain & cut flowers
....GOD BLESS MOTHER-NATURE....BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS.....!!!!!!!
I fully agree.. THANK YOU.
I was not aware the benefits of planting sunflowers for the soil, I planted my 1st 300,000 for purpose of attracting wild turkey and other wildlife this spring (2017). hope I get a large yield. we had tons of rains to help them out.
GREAT, as you know they have large roots to brake up the soil and top get it open even after the sunflower dies. But if you plow are disturb the soil to mush you will lose all the work they have done. THANKS for watching.
Juat beautiful. I'm planning to have my own sunflower farm too. 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
Very Nice it is some much fum and the bees love you and do not bother you at all.
Thank you!
My pleasure to share. THANK YOU.
I really love your information !!! And I need it here in southern Nevada where (in my section of the valley) the soil needs constant maintenance to keep it going good. I've about giving up and ready to go to pure bags of commercial potting soil. But now you've given me new hope. Also, would you make a video about other food uses for sunflowers besides the seeds? Haphazard Homestead has a great video about sunflower buds as artichoke substitutes. I'd like to know if the leaves can be used as a fermented food. And different ways to use the leaves and stalks .
THANK YOU, just leave those roots in the ground undisturbed. Cut the stalk a soil level and plant in between next year. THANKS
Another outstanding video!
THANK YOU. It is great to put nature on TH-cam..
Mark, I live in northern Mississippi. We have a clay pan under 4-6” of topsoil that I’ve never found the bottom of. I’ve dug footings 5’ deep and it’s still solid clay. Will the sunflowers still work to break up and improve the soil? We’re working on building the back to eden method using wood chips, but several acres are in grasses/weeds.
Yes, Sunflower are very native to your area. They grew wild all down the east coast.. by the millions in each state. I gave the same soil type you do...
My FIRST time on here i use CLOVER plants because of their high nutrients and minerals in their huge roots systems as well
Great to hear.. THANK YOU.
Great video!! I love sunflowers! I live in the city and have very very little space but I love to have a few sunflowers. Spring is starting in a couple of weeks and I just transplanted the ones I have two weeks ago. They are being attacked by little nasty red spidermites and they will sure atack my tomatoes too. I don't use any pesticides. Should I just let nature do her thing?? I hope the sunflower sale is a success for the kids!
If you soil is bare.,where the plants are plant some clover or add mulch. This will bring in the big spiders to eat the little ones...THANKS
+I AM ORGANIC GARDENING I do have mulch. I hope that with the nicer temperatures bigger spiders will start appearing. Thanks for your advice!!!
Hi, Mark! Thanks for another great information! I wonder if You sow the sunflowers at the same time as the clover and grasses? Can the sunflowers keep up with them?
And: Could You mow an existing grass-/ clover field sowing sunflowers in that?
How short would You mow then?
YES, you can. I was thinking the same thing. SO - I planted a short sunflower( big Smile ) 2 ft tall with annual rye grass (which is very fast growing) and it did just fine.... I have not tied that mowing grass or clover first then plant sunflowers . BUT what I see all the time on farm is sunflowers growing in clover and grass the is 2 years old never cut. Because seed had drop in there from other fields. I would just tray laying sunflower seeds in the clover and add 1/2 inch of soil or compost on top and see what happens..Do not cut clover or grass just push down with your foot...Let me KNOW. THANKS ALWAYS...Mark
Thanks a lot! I'll try that.
Thanks Mark, great information. Quick question for you, I have clover growing up thru my wood chips, should I cut it at the base to keep the nitrogen in the ground, or will all it's energy go into growing back new shoots? I am torn between cutting at the base, like your sunflowers, or pulling and putting under the mulch. Thanks again , I appreciate your videos.
Clover is Great as is. Please let it grow, do not touch. I will go over clover / legumes in the future. It supplies nitrogen to the plants all the time. I saw other garden channel that said something different. They are wrong and I have the proof to prove it...If the clover is not bothering you, just leave it alone it is the good thing to have...THANK YOU...
Hello! New to your channel. I never knew this info regarding leaving sunflowers roots in the ground. I have been wrestling with their removal for several years! A back-breaker! Do you leave other vegetable roots in the ground at harvest time? Tomatoes, chard, etc? Thank you, very informative.
Yes, leave all roots in the ground. They make new water passages and air flow. Plus it and organic make and builds soil. THANK YOU for asking.
You are an awesome TH-camr!
THANK YOU so very much. And your a awesome gardener.
healthy flowers
THANK YOU....
I save seeds from ten stalks and it gives me enough to plant next year
That is so great to hear. THAMNK YOU.
Hey Mark...love the info man. My 12 hens are currently prepping my fall garden area mixing wood chips, food waste, their manure, etc. into compost as a top layer. You have me fascinated with cover crops to help even further. My initial idea was to do some variety of sunflower, a legume, and grass. With my hens creating compost for the soil, I was wondering if I could get away with just planting sunflowers to be like mini trees (Paul's B2E style). Or if there is further need for legume/grass additions. Thoughts?
Please tell me will sunflower seeds sprout in somewhat tilled heavy clay soil or will I need to amend it some first? Grass won’t grow and weeds struggle to.
You have the best chance with sunflowers. But if they do not you have to add lots of organic matter. Thanks
Mark, I have enjoyed your video's and learned alot. Do you have a video on watering your garden?
Great technical viseos you have produced though. Love it.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH....
those are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
THANK YOU for watching...
Do you grow your crops, like the lettuce, with grass growing all around it?
just the Romaine type.
I wonder how the black oil sunflower seeds purchased for birds. ~ $20 for 40 pounds - Would do for field sunflowers. I’ll be trying it next year! Thanks for your great process!
Yes, it will. Enjoy.
Hi Mark. Question regarding leaving plant roots in the ground. Most I don"t worry about, but I grew a bed of Corn this year and know that their root systems can be quite massive and intermingled. Will it decompose enough to plant in by mid spring? Had about 2-3 inches of hay mulch and just a little wood chips topping it off. I can add more chips now that I have a good source for them.
Corn was picked or eat by raccoons about a month ago. I've left the plants in, thinking they might still be helping the mycorrhizae, but wonder if I should have chopped off the stalks right away to get decomposition going quicker. Your thoughts?
I UNDERSTAND your concern. But just think of the millions of acres that grow corn in the US. The farms do not pull them out. They just plant the new row in the spring between them. If unsure try half of them and see the results. The best thing is you can leave them their all winter and decide in the spring...THANK YOU
I enjoy your videos. Thanks. Best wishes Bob.
THANK YOU, SIR. As I do with YOURS...
Thank you.
Beautiful sunflowers, and a beautiful place. We have a lot of beautiful flowers and trees in the garden, but I love sunflowers the most. I also made a video from our garden. If you want to look, maybe you'll like it. Beautiful greeting from Prague, Thanks for the nice video and I wish you all the best.
Great.. Will take a look. THANK YOU.
I read some sources online that say that sunflowers are alleopathic meaning that they give off certain toxins into the ground that suppress growth of other plants in close proximity. What would you say about it? (Btw I have also planted quite a few sunflowers this year in my garden after watching your many videos. But now the information about toxins made me worry a little )
Do not worry. I have growing proof it does not. Plus they tell you not to grow strawberries also with tomatoes. Here is a video part 5 . Note large sunflower. This is the link, th-cam.com/video/X3P3uCOXhhY/w-d-xo.html .
Thank you for the info!
Any time! My pleasure to share and help. Thank You.
Hello! Great video again as always!
I have a question, It is sept 4th. And I am starting to empty out some garden spots. I am hoping to get some tractor time to re-shape my gentle hillside into a terrace with swales to retain surface water, and to allow me to straighten up the rows a bit.
So I am curious, if I was starting with some really barren, clay rich soil, say a week from now and looking to build some tilth for a spring planting. I know I don't have much time, however what do you think I could possibly ground cover to get some roots into the clay to start building some food web, before winter strikes. I am zone 5B.
I do have a dozen partially decomposed round bales. Should I layer up the straw heavy and let it lay, or should I try to get some type of greenery going?
WINTER RYE for SURE. Grows and stays green all winter. And some types of legumes that is best for your area. Just ask the seed company. And some types of native grass to your area too...THANKS for asking. This a great first start..enjoy.
Even if they dont have the stuff that falls on the table they still have pollen for the bees.. or so say seed companies.
Mark, how long does it take for the roots to decay? If I leave the roots in the ground over winter, will I be able to plant on top of it in the spring?
You will be find by next spring or even sooner. THANKS
How do you keep the deer from eating them? I’ve been using a spray made from an egg yolk and baking powder and it does pretty well, but there’s always the “Mikey” deer that will eat anything.
I had to spend about 10 thousands $ 15 years ago and put up a 8 foot high fence. The deer would eat down an acre of green beans in just one night.. THANK YOU.
Didn't know there are so many different verities of sunflowers. Tall or short take your pick. I just need one I can grow in a 5 gallon bucket. =)
That last one BIG SMILE is great for that.. THANKS
Quick Google and Johnny's has them and they can be grown in a 4" pot, that would be small.
Thanks.
Beautiful
All weeds / palt roots when left to rot wil become fertilizer for the soil. Thay is why the left the land to felow for a year an then farm on it the next year. But to fasten the process you can mow the weeds plant and leave it as a mulch. What do you think of this syste,???
Just mow before planting your crop. The taller the plants or weeds get the deeper the roots get..to help the soil..THANK YOU
Which sunflower would be most pollen and best for bees?
I've made that mistake before. Pulling every unwanted 'weed' to create the 'perfect lawn'.
Don't forget the whole sunflower is edible. anything in the common sunflower family is
Mark how you and Kids doing ,offlate I didn’t see any utube update from you,hope everything is Ok at your end
All is well.. THANK YOU so very much for asking
The stem of sunflowers is very woody. I’ve tripped over more than one the next spring. Pretty sure you’d have to chop them up.
Great info!
Glad it was helpful & THANK YOU for watching.
How do the sunflowers till the soil?
I am lucky my neighbor keeps pigeons and I get all the dropings and ther is always a lot of seeds in it lots of sun flowers and other things and they all start to grow I just chop and drop it works well for me and the pigeon muck kills all the weeds it hoter than chicking muck
THANK YOU for Sharing...
What plants can’t be grown with sunflowers? I heard that they have a strong alelopathic effect, and I’ve only heard that cucumbers and lettuce do good with them.
I have grown them with all types of vegetables. Like tomatoes , peppers, eggplants.. and all was good.
I AM ORGANIC GARDENING okay. Maybe it just affects germination i didn’t find too much info on it. I’m not sure, but this year I’m going to plant a garden plot with sunflowers and cucumbers with a few other crawling plants like watermelons and pumpkins. I hope that they do okay. I’m trying to plant this garden with early-killing plants so that I can establish a winter cover crop after. It’s been heavily tilled for nearly thirty years now, and has become nearly a swamp. The soil is clay and doesn’t drain and has almost no aggregate. I’m thinking this may help to fix that. The winter cover crop will be cereal rye, balansa clover and canola. My grandpa got so tired of tilling his soil and the plants getting diseases from being too wet that he gave up gardening this plot (currently 71 year old and smoked since age 12) and I wanna show him that he can do it without having to move his heavy soils. Should I use a mulch? There’s about 12 inch tall cereal rye (seriously it looks awful and is a very light green and is about to head out) that I’m going to mow down, but I’m afraid that a mulch will drown my plants.
How do you collect seeds from these pollenless sunflowers? Surely if they don't make pollen they cannot breed?
The pollen is used from other sunflowers near by. It is like growing seedless watermelon you have the seeds for the the seedless one that have some seeds still and a pollenate watermelon type planted close to them to pollenate them still.
@@iamorganicgardening Oh ok. So would that mean the offspring will start to look more and more like other cultivars over time?
There's a doggie walking around amidst the sunflowers.
Yes, that Lucy,, Thanks
U really want to till thr soil use dacon radish...something with a deep real root
wow i love this sunflowers please can i have some seeds
I buy them at: www.johnnyseeds.com/flowers/sunflowers/firecracker-f1-sunflower-seed-1746.html?cgid=sunflowers#sz=18&start=19.
How does Sunflowers handle high wind areas?
Good. You might lose some. But the rest will be fine. THANKS for asking.
Can you do this crop with the back to eden method ??
YES any type of sunflowers would work. Please watch the garden series of Back to Eden VS fall leaves ( 12 Parts ). THANK YOU for asking.
At 5:05 it looks like a work of art.
I took a look again.. Your are so right.. That does look great.. THANK YOU.
Do these have sun flower have seeds?
Yes they do. Thanks
How far apart were these planted?
About a foot apart since they are mini sunflowers that grow only about 4 feet tall. THANK YOU for watching.
I AM ORGANIC GARDENING Awesome. thanks for the reply!!
Can you eat the seeds?
Sorry No. Not on these. But on the bigger sunflowers you can.
I am longing to plant that kind of sunflower
They are so fun to grow and you can look at them forever. THANK YOU.
@@iamorganicgardening looking for that kind of sunflower seeds still sir...I have yellow one..
can a sunflower live/grow in a hot place
Yes, They grow in Texas and as far as Mexico... THANKS
Are you in Florida?
Sorry, No. In New Jersey..
Hello, are you still replying to messages? You’ve kept a good record
Yes. 100%
My god, how do you keep track?
If you’re still replying, do you have any tips for growing mammoth sunflowers. This is my first year gardening
Plant at least 3 feet apart and place a pole first into the ground to give it support. Try not to grow in a windy area. Enjoy
Okay thank you, have a good one
What about all of the nutrients that have been taken out of the soil to grow the part of the plant above ground?
As long as you have sand, silt and clay in your soil. And you can have any % of each you will all the nutrients you need. But you need the Soil Food Web to be working. The Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air, change it into liquid carbon to feed this soil food web. The micros in the soil food web make acids that break down the sand, silt and clay into nutrients that the plants can use. ONLY when you run out of sand. silt and clay you have no more nutrients. I KNOW YOU THINK THIS IS SO WRONG because you never heard of this. But I grow sweet corn in soil in the same spot every year and all is GREAT. Pleas see my sweet corn crop this year, THANK YOU for asking.
But you're taking nutrition from the soil to grow the sunflowers, aren't you?
Are you just breaking even with soil nutrition? I mean that's good thing too, but I'm curious
What I teach and share on my channel is that as long you have sand, silt and clay in your soil you have all the minerals you need. The many soil microbes ( soil food web ) extract the nutrient's from sand, silt and clay to feed your plants . Only when you run out of sand, silt and clay you run out of nutrients. Nature has been doing this from day one.
@@iamorganicgardening Well I am going to have to start watching more of your videos then. This was my first actually.
Very cool to get a response from you on top.
Subscribed. Notifications on :)
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Plants take nutrients from the soil, you've got it all wrong. 4:58 what are you talking about with "keeping the soil alive"? The plants take nutrients from the soil, unless you chop them up and put them back on the ground you've lost Nitrogen, potassium, etc from the soil. How do you think plants grow? They require nutrients from somewhere. This is why people use a mulching lawn mower instead of bagging their lawn clippings.
I thought the same thing...But I was so very wrong. Please when you have a moment watch this and it will explain everything. Plants GIVE back 51% of the growth to the soil. It is not the top part only.. All those roots feeding the soil. PLEASE watch : th-cam.com/video/keZwuqbSWJk/w-d-xo.html . If you have any more question please write back. THANK YOU.
Hi john, im an ecologist and my husband and i do biodiversity farming. So have you ever wondered why weeds exist? Its because nature hates bare soil. Bare soil allows for the loss of nutrients through wind and rain. Bare soil becomes dry and hard which kills the microbs and leaves you with dead soil. The same thing happens when you over till. This is where weeds come in. Weeds retain moisture, very good for microbs, they stop leeching of nutrients, and most importantly, they are deep rooted and because of this, they pull nutrients and water up from deep in the soil and make it available for other shallow rooted plants. So what we can learn from this is that we can do companion plantings or rotational plantings of desirable crops to get the same results. The best part, keeping plants in the ground tells mother nature that weeds arent needed because the soil is already covered. The sunflowers will do many things. The large root systems will loosen the soil, they retain soil moisture, they pull up minerals trapped in the layer of bedrock, and once the plant dies, the roots will decompose and basically make their own compost in the soil adding more nutrients. You see, most plants dont take more energy from the soil than what they provide because most of their energy comes from the sun, not the dirt. Nor will they ever use up all of the nitrogen put back into the soil from rain, and as long as you rotate, you will never have a loss of nutrients. If plants did deplete the soil the way we thought they do, natural medows and forests wouldnt exist because the natural occuring plants would have depleted the soil. Now obviously different plants like different things, so if you plant the same thing year after year, eventually, certain nutrients will be depleted, but if you rotate crops, this wont be a problem. Hope that answers your question.