4 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 415 



but frosts late enough in the season to cause damage at these latter stages are 

 rare. A growing period of 120 to 140 days, depending on the season, is sufficient 

 for maturity of the seed in Massachusetts. 



Sunflowers do well using corn fertilizer, which can be applied either in hills or 

 broadcast. A 5-10-5, 5-8-7, or 3-12-6 grade of fertilizer, at the rate of 400-500 

 pounds per acre if applied in hills, and double that amount if broadcast, is suffi- 

 cient for soils of average fertility. For a small area, the "Victory" grade of 

 fertilizer, 5-10-5, may be used at the rate of about 15 pounds per thousand square 

 feet in hills, or 30-35 pounds broadcast. 



Field trials have shown that the best spacing is one seed every 18 inches in 

 36-inch rows. When the seeds are planted too close or too many in a hill, the 

 plants will be small and thin and too weak to withstand any strong windstorm. 

 The two pictures in Figure 1 show comparative results obtained with two ways 

 of planting. In the West where large areas are planted, the crop is ordinarily 

 seeded with a standard make corn planter with special plates made for the pur- 

 pose; but it has been found satisfactory to plant small areas by hand. It takes 

 about five to seven pounds of seed to plant an acre of sunflowers. The seed is 

 usually planted not quite so deep as corn — only about one inch below the surface 

 of the ground. 



Figure 2. Young Sunflower Plants. 

 The Large Leaves Shade the Ground Preventing the Growth of Weeds. 



The same implements can be used for cultivating sunflowers as for corn, and 

 the methods are similar. The labor involved in taking care of sunflowers during 

 the growing season is very little, since the plant starts to grow rapidly and soon 

 shades the ground completely, killing any weeds that may survive the one or 

 two early hoeings. Because of its thick vegetative cover (Figure 2), the sunflower 

 plant serves admirably in ridding infested areas of obnoxious weeds. 



