Grow a sunflower indoors is a way you would ensure that you are keeping it in its pot placed in a good location, as you’d be considering temperature, light exposure, humidity, and other factors.
When grown well, your indoor sunflowers will give you beautiful flowers and useful seeds. Read this article to learn everything you need to grow beautiful sunflowers inside your home.
Contents
How To Grow a Sunflower Indoors Correctly?
To grow sunflowers indoors correctly, you must prepare the substrate and pot, then select the right location. Transplant the sunflower or plant their seeds, then water them, fertilize and give them the right support. Monitor their growth, harvest them, and prune them for tidiness; lastly, try repelling the pests.
1. Prepare the Substrate and Pot
You need well-drained potting soil to grow sunflowers. The soil should be nutrient-rich so that your sunflowers can have a steady supply of nutrients. You can add compost to it. To make it well-drained, add perlite. Also, add vermiculite so that it can hold some moisture for your plants.
If you cannot make a suitable substrate for your sunflowers, go to a gardening store and buy a general plant potting mix. As for the pot, you can use pots of different sizes depending on the number of plants that you are trying to grow, so you must only ensure that the pots come with drainage holes.
2. Select the Right Location
The best location for your sunflowers is one that is both functional and fit for the plant. You want a corner or space where you and your visitors can easily see the beauty of your sunflowers. The location should also meet the requirements of your sunflowers.
Consider factors such as temperature, light, and humidity; this is how you should grow your sunflowers at a spot with temperatures ranging from 68 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The place can have average humidity or humidity levels in the 40 to 60 percent range. As for sunlight, sunflowers need as much light as they can, so the spot should provide it with at least six hours of daily sun to have proper chlorophyll.
3. Transplant the Sunflowers or Plant Their Seeds
After getting your pot and substrate, it is time to do some planting. Start sunflower seeds indoors so that they can be well-adapted to the home environment quickly. If you like, you can plant sunflower seeds directly in the soil or soak sunflower seeds in water before planting them. They will germinate either way.
If you already have some sunflower seedlings, transplant them to the pot when they have two or more true leaves. Ensure that you properly space the plants if you are growing multiple ones in the same pot, and note that after planting your sunflower seeds or transplanting the seedlings, water them. You will see germinated and mature seeds or significant growth of the seedlings in less than two weeks.
4. Regularly Water Your Plants
When you grow sunflowers indoors, ensure to water the plants regularly because sunflowers cannot grow in completely dry soil. Your plants will tell you they are dehydrated, as they will look very weak. Water your sunflowers every one to three days according to how quickly water drains off the pot.
Remember that the looser your substrate is, the quicker water will dry out. Remember that you must be using some room temperature and dechlorinated water and ensure that the water is clean so that your sunflowers do not get any water-related problems.
5. Fertilize Your Sunflowers
Just like every other plant, sunflowers need nutrients to grow so that you can get a general or all-purpose indoor plant fertilizer for the sunflowers. Using inorganic fertilizers, fertilize your sunflowers once every month or two. However, you can reduce this rate by using organic fertilizer which are not abundant with so many chemicals.
When making the substrate of your sunflowers, you can add compost, aged manure, coffee grounds, or other organic nutrients. The addition of these products will help reduce your rate of fertilizing the plants, as the soil is already nutritious. When using organic nutrients, remember to add more to the substrate occasionally so that the substrate does not become nutrient-depleted.
6. Support the Plants When Necessary
It does not matter whether you are growing dwarf sunflowers, giant sunflowers, or other sunflower varieties; you may notice that your plants need structural support. Sometimes, the stem may be too weak for the leaves and flowers.
This usually happens when the growing conditions could be better for the plant. In case your plants are not erect, use a rope or stake to support their growth. You can tie the sunflowers to a stake, so they can stand straight like the stake.
7. Monitor the Growth
Sunflowers that grow indoors will grow without problems so long as all their growing conditions are met. However, they show you some signs if the conditions still need to be met. For example, sunflowers that grow stretchy and regularly face the window may lack sufficient light, and those with pale leaves may lack nutrients, so you should be very detailed.
Don’t just grow your sunflowers inside your home and abandon them. Continue to observe their growth for signs of stress and help them when you can. Also, you should prevent pests from reaching your plants and remove them immediately after you see them on your plants.
Sunflowers love a lot of sunlight exposure; as this happens, you will likely see your plants stretching toward the window, especially if the light exposure is not enough. In this case, take them closer to the window or install artificial lights.
Sometimes, you may see that some parts of your sunflower leaves look burnt. Over-exposure to light or nutrients can cause burnt leaves. If the problem is the exposure to too much light, take your plants some feet away from the water and ensure that they stay properly hydrated.
8. Harvest Your Sunflowers
Why else are you growing sunflowers if not for their beautiful flowers and healthy seeds? Of course, you have to enjoy the view of these beautiful flowers in your home. However, collect the sunflower seeds when ready for collection and use them anyhow you wish, and now you will see how the plants are yours to enjoy.
9. Prune To Keep Them Neat
Pruning is essential to keep your sunflowers clean and healthy. If you see damaged leaves, remove them. Remove sick and dead leaves as well. While pruning is essential, first know the cause of the sick leaves before you remove them.
10. Repel Pests
Like every other plant, your sunflowers will face pest problems. Insect pests can be disastrous to sunflowers, so prevent insects from reaching the plants. However, if you find insects around your sunflowers, remove them immediately. You can use insect repellents or pesticides to keep your sunflowers free from pests.
If pests attack your sunflowers, you will see how these are problems that can make your sunflower leaves turn pale or yellow. After fixing the sunflower problems, go ahead and place some insecticides like neem oil.
How To Grow a Sunflower in Water Indoors?
To grow a sunflower in water indoors, you must select a functional pot or vase and get water-soluble nutrients. Transplant the seedlings, and try to place them in the right location, examine and replace the water, and monitor their growth.
1. Select a Functional and Beautiful Pot or Vase
Use a pot without drainage holes if you’d love to grow your sunflowers with water. You can use a transparent pot or vase to boost your plants’ look significantly. The pot should be tall enough to accommodate the entire root system of your plants.
If you like, you can add pebbles, rocks, and anything pretty to the pot so that the roots of your sunflowers will have a substrate to anchor into. Ensure that you properly wash the rocks by scrubbing them so that no algae or microbes will grow in the water.
2. Get Water-Soluble Nutrients
For regular sunflowers, you need granules or any type of fertilizer. However, you need water-soluble nutrients or hydroponic fertilizer to plant sunflowers in a water-based substrate. You can go to any nearby gardening shop and ask for hydroponic fertilizers.
If you cannot find a suitable hydroponic fertilizer for you, go for regular water-soluble products and use them. Keep track of the instructions because you must use only a few nutrients that your sunflowers need. You can also plant your sunflowers in plant water. However, they will only grow for a short time before they die off.
3. Transplant Your Sunflower Seedlings
After getting your needed items, such as the pot and nutrient solution, it is time to plant your sunflowers. Start sunflowers in a soilless media such as a paper towel so that the plants do not transfer any soil-borne microbe to the nutrient solution. You can sprinkle some nutrients on the towel to help the seeds germinate in a nutrient-rich environment.
If you already have seedlings growing in the soil, you can still transfer them to the pot. Just remember to rinse off the dirt from their roots. In this case, you must prune off any weak or dying roots so that only new and healthy roots will grow in the water substrate.
4. Keep the Sunflowers at the Right Location
Just like sunflowers growing in a regular substrate, your sunflowers growing in water have some required factors. Consider their needs, such as light, temperature, and humidity. If you are using a transparent vase, block excess light from reaching the sunflower roots, as light can encourage the growth of algae.
You can grow your sunflowers in a dark room, and for this approach, you must also have to install grow lights above the plants so that they can grow without any light-related problems. As for temperature and humidity, ensure that your chosen location has just the required range for sunflowers.
5. Regularly Check and Replace the Water
Growing these beautiful flowers in water sounds so good to see. However, you must try to put in a lot of work. When you grow plants such as sunflowers in water, try to change the watering schedule to every two or three days. Leaving the water for so long can lead to problems such as microbial attacks, nutrient deficiency, and lack of oxygen.
Always use clean water; if you can, rinse the rocks in the pots before adding clean water. After pouring the water into the rocks, add your nutrients. Remember to mix the water and nutrients in the exact ratio specified in the instructions.
6. Monitor the Growth
You are almost good to go; however, don’t stop monitoring and caring for your plants because you must give them the right care to thrive. Repel pests and prune off any damaged leaves. You will begin to see the plants producing beautiful flowers in a month or two.
You will now enjoy the fruit of your hard work. After planting your sunflowers in water, regularly changing the water, and caring for the plants in other waters, take a few steps backward and enjoy the sight of your plants.
Conclusion
Planting sunflowers indoors will surely be easy for you; while you get started, don’t forget these tips:
- Consider location, humidity, and light exposure when selecting a good spot for your sunflowers.
- When grown indoors, sunflowers produce equally beautiful flowers as the outside plants.
- Sunflowers grow well when you regularly enrich their substrate and ensure it never dries.
- Before starting sunflowers indoors in water, ensure that you have hydroponic or water-soluble fertilizer available.
- You can use different varieties of sunflower seeds for planting. Just ensure that you have a variety that can grow in your area.
Growing sunflowers in pots inside is truly awesome, so remember to take the indoor sunflower plant care tips in this article seriously so that your plants can produce very beautiful flowers.
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