Planting sunflowers in cups, once at home

Continuation of the activity carried out during the Seigneuriales de Vaudreuil-Dorion)

You have returned from the Seigneuriales de Vaudreuil-Dorion with your children who have brought back their cups with the sunflower seeds they sowed. Here are the few steps to follow so that your sunflowers grow and you can transplant them.

Steps to follow

• Do not overwater your seeds. As the cup is not pierced at the bottom like a traditional flower pot, the water poured the first time will remain in the cup and keep the soil moist for a long time. It may be a week before you need to water your seeds again.
• Ideally put your cup outside in the sun but keep it away from precipitation. Too much water in the cup can cause the seeds to rot.
• When the soil is no longer wet on the surface, you can lightly water the soil again.
• After 3-4 weeks, transplant your sunflowers to an open, sunny location.
• Before transplanting, know that sunflowers are normally sown at 30 cm intervals so that they have enough space to grow. However, if you transplant both into the cup together they will be less likely to reach their full growth potential. So you have 3 choices : transplant them together and accept the fact that they will perhaps grow lower, separate the rootball in two with a cutting tool and make a hole for each plant, (the most risky) or transplant the two together and after a few weeks in tear off one of the two.
• Dig a hole in the earth a little deeper and wider than the size of the root ball, fill the hole 3/4 full of water, carefully take the ball out of the cup and place it in the hole. Then hit the soil well around the plant after putting it in the hole. If you have compost on hand, you can add some to the bottom and around the hole before transplanting.
• Then water regularly if there is no precipitation for several days in a row, if you see that the soil is dry or if your sunflowers are wilting.
• Finally, observe your sunflowers as they bloom and notice if the young plant, before it produces its flower, tends to follow the sun during the day and if it truly deserves its name of sunflower, a contraction of "turn" and "sun."
• The variety that is in your cup, the Giant Mammoth, can grow up to 12 feet tall in optimal conditions!