Damaged Sunflower, May 2014
When I found holes in the stem and about a food missing at the top of this sunflower (pictured above), I didn’t expect to find a tiny weevil responsible for the damage!
Red Spotted Weevil on Sunflower, May 2014
Weevils cause plant damage by using mouth parts and drilling holes in the plant, then feeding on the plant sap. These weevils have “snout” (see picture above) structures similar to the boll weevil—a major economic pest on cotton.
This year we are growing sunflowers; ten different varieties–I had no idea so many sizes and colors existed! So far, 6 of the varieties have blooms, can hardly wait to see the rest. The “Teddy Bear” variety looks like a mum, it is about a foot tall and loaded with multiple blooms. This one would probably work just fine in container gardens.
Sunflowers are sometimes considered to be weeds, but I enjoy their addition as ornamentals to the gardens.
Seed was purchased from Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, Texas, planted in peat pellets on March 22 and the seedlings began sprouting on March 26 (see above).
Sunflowers in Onion Bed, April 26, 2014
After plants were about 3 inches tall, they were transferred to 4 inch pots. Three plants from each variety were planted in rows between onions (see “Sunflowers in Onion Bed”) on April 26 and the onion harvest began May 9. Large onions were produced throughout the bed, there was no indication that the sunflowers reduced the yield.
This year, we decided to try something different— growing onions and sunflowers together. As we are in USDA zone 8b, we put onions in the garden in February and then sunflowers after danger of frost.
Onions and Sunflowers Apr20-2014
The Art & Science of Gardening 