Saving seeds for next year
Free plants next season — and the secret behind record growers. Save seed from your best sunflower and you're already improving next year's crop.
🏆 Breed for height. Giant-sunflower champions save seed from their tallest, strongest plants year after year, slowly refining the line. Do the same and your sunflowers can get taller each season.
Choose your best plant
Pick the plant you'd most like more of — the tallest, healthiest, or the most beautiful bloom — and save seed from that one.
Ripen and dry
- Let the head mature fully — back turned brown, seeds plump (see harvesting).
- Dry the seeds thoroughly: spread them in a single layer somewhere warm and airy for 1–2 weeks. Properly dry seed is the key to preventing mould in storage.
Store them well
- Put dry seeds in a paper envelope (not plastic, which traps moisture).
- Label it with the variety and year.
- Keep somewhere cool, dark and dry — a tin in a cupboard is ideal.
Good to know
- Sunflower seed stays viable for several years, though germination slowly drops over time — fresher is better.
- Seed saved from open-pollinated or heirloom varieties grows true to type. Seed from F1 hybrids may not match the parent, so results can vary (which can also be part of the fun).
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