When To Harvest Sunflowers

 The pictures of the sunflowers were taken approximately 10 days before I harvested them.  My daughter-in-law took these for me and I think she did a really good job on them. 

The sunflowers are ready to harvest when the heads drop over and they will start to look wilted.  You can let them dry on the stalk and take your chances with the birds and mother nature.  Tropical Storm Issac was headed our way with much needed rain, luckily all but 3 were ready to harvest.  The rows in my garden are 60 foot long so I had several to cut and hang to dry. 

I use garden shears (hand held) to cut them.  These sunflowers were 10-12 feet tall making it a challenge for someone 5 foot 2 to get them cut.  The easiest way for me to get the job done is grab the stalk as high as I can reach, pull them over, and then cut them off. 

They do need to be hung up to dry out(cure) before they will release their seeds to be harvested.  I tie the cut sunflowers by the stalk using natural unpolished hemp rope to the outside of an open air awning my husband uses to store fire wood.  They dry just fine being exposed to weather.

Watch them and when you see seeds start to fall start shelling them out.  Rub the heads of the sunflower with your hands(wear gloves) or against an old window screen and the seeds will come out pretty easily.  There is no right or wrong way to get the seeds to release, just whatever works best for you.