I wintersowed these when weather was warm. Now it's cold again. Seedlings are pretty tall with 2 to 3 sets of true leaves.

If transplanted to the garden now, will they tolerate some frost?

Karen

I've seen sunflower seedlings in the fall that tolerate several hard frosts before succumbing to the cold.

Since yours were wintersown I'd think they'd be good candidates for a trial. Do you have more of these seeds, just in case?

I grew these for a friend with a black thumb, special request. Only a few seeds left I think, and I'm going to give her the seeds to direct sow too.

I'm having lunch with my friend tomorrow, and will give her the plants. I was just wondering if it's safe to plant them out yet. They really do need to escape to the ground. They're getting huge!

Karen

I always feel fall plants can take more abuse since they are not tiny .. but don't know for sure if they can take it or not.. I don't grow them too often they always get eaten around here

Those fall seedlings were from some seeds that the birds dropped in a pail with a couple of inches of dirt in it. Possibly from the same season's bird started plants since I don't feed them during the summer.

Interesting side-note: I have a few Maximillian seedlings (about an inch and a half tall) that I noticed were pulled from the dirt one day. I didn't see much in the way of roots left on the stalks but I tucked them back in anyway, just to see what would happen. This was about 10 days ago, and they're still alive. They're growing under cover, but without supplemental heat.

So far, all of the sunflowers I've started are perennial types.

Hopefully after this current cold snap (32° now) we'll be safe from frost.

Karen

I hope so, too. I have annual sunflowers to start as soon as it warms a bit. If I wait too long I generally forget to plant them.

We're still supposed to have lows in the 30s tonight and tomorrow night. After that it looks better. Maybe the rest of the wintersown things will start to show some growth (if they don't freeze first!).

One more tomato sprouted yesterday, but they're all tiny. I have them in 16 oz. cups, in the same bin as the huge sunflowers. The sunflowers shade the maters from sun. Once I get the sunflowers to my friend today, the tomatoes should be able to get a little more sun.

Karen

we are looking good after sat or sunday