Divisi
How to grow Sunflower
Helianthus annuus · Asteraceae
Photo: Tom (Flickr) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Sunflower is a tall, upright plant — about 1–2 m, higher than your head — that carries one big flower head on top. While it is young the heads swing to follow the sun across the sky. Underneath, a strong taproot (one deep, diving root) mines water from far down, so sunflower stands up to dry spells better than most crops. But it cannot fill its own head alone: bees do that work, carrying pollen across the face of the flower, seed to seed — and where they don't visit, the centre stays empty. Grow the small black oilseed type to press for oil or sell to crushers, or the large black-and-white striped type as a snack seed — both are grown the same way. It is a hardy cash crop, but two things above all decide your harvest: boron (a tiny nutrient) fed at bud stage, and scaring birds off the ripening heads.
Fir0002 · GFDL 1.2 
Johann Jaritz · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Days to maturity
- 90–130 days
- Row spacing
- 60 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 25 cm
- Sowing depth
- 3–5 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will sunflower actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Sunflower
sonneblom · ጸሐይ አበባ (tsehay abeba) · sunflower · tournesol · furen rana · mpendadzuwa · girassol · alizeti
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing sunflower, stage by stage
Your sunflower season, step by step — from a deep, well-drained seedbed and warm-soil sowing, through the boron feed and the bee-filled flowering, to scaring birds off the ripening heads and drying the seed hard for store or sale. Every timing counts from the day you sow.
- Get your field and inputs ready
- Sow and set a full, even stand
- Grow the frame and feed the boron
- Bud, flower and fill — the make-or-break window
- Fill the seed and scare the birds
- Harvest the heads
- Dry, thresh and store
22 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for sunflower — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack sunflower
5 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your sunflower right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does sunflower take to grow?
Sunflower takes about 90–130 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for sunflower?
Space sunflower rows about 60 cm apart, with roughly 25 cm between plants within the row.
How deep should sunflower be planted?
Sow sunflower at about 3–5 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack sunflower?
The ones covered in this guide are Alternaria leaf blight, Broomrape, Charcoal rot. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow sunflower with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first