“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.” — Helen Keller

Sunflowers display heliotropic movement in their early development stage, the bud stage, before the appearance of flower heads. This sun tracking motion from east to west helps with photosynthesis through chlorophyll in their leaves, gives the plant energy, increases pollen development and germination, and results in the uniform alignment of the flowers. They have motor cells and water pressure inside to help them physically move, the same way we use our muscles to move our bodies.

But mature sunflowers become fixed in an easterly direction, with only their leaves continuing to track the sun for photosynthesis. This happens because the stem stiffens and the seed-filled head becomes heavy, making it more difficult for sunflower faces to turn toward the sun.

Sunflowers are native to California and because the weather is so favorable that’s also where several ornamental sunflower cut flower growers are located.

Troy Conner, president of Kendall Farms in Fallbrook, CA, said it’s been growing sunflowers for about 15 years and currently produces around 3.5 million stems on 60 acres of land in Southern California.

“We have seen a steady yearly increase in demand for our sunflowers and we plan to grow more next year to meet that demand,” Conner said. “They are a great flower with vibrant color, strong vase life, a long season, and they love to grow in California weather.”

Conner believes that there is both a science and an art to growing large quantities of top quality sunflowers with premium head size, perfect stem caliber, blemish-free petals and leaves, along with dark green foliage and bright petal color.

“The biggest factors are soil preparation, accurate seed placement and spacing, irrigation and fertilizer management, harvest timing and postharvest care,” said Conner. “We measure and track all these variables very closely and constantly make adjustments throughout the season based on what we are seeing in the fields.”

However, there are also many other issues about which a farmer needs to be vigilant when growing sunflowers.

“Western flower thrips are the No. 1 enemy but we also have to carefully watch for worms, Lygus, a few other insects, and powdery mildew on occasion, if conditions are right,” Conner said. “Also, the cost to grow sunflowers has steadily increased over the years but the market prices have been slow to react and remains low relative to the increased costs.”

Regardless of those challenges, Kendall Farms’ sunflower crop has continuously grown over the years and now accounts for approximately 20 percent of the farm’s total production. It concentrates on growing the standard yellow petal-dark disk bloom but always trials different varieties to ensure top quality and meet customers’ needs.

Kendall Farms begins harvesting sunflowers around late April, depending on the weather, and wraps up the season on Thanksgiving.

Jason Levin, president of Dos Gringos in Vista, CA, a large provider of ornamental sunflowers, told The Produce News that 70  percent of its total production is sunflowers, amounting to 45 million stems a year. About 90 percent of the crop goes to mass market and 10 percent goes to wholesale distribution.

“When we started 25 years ago, we harvested 100 sunflowers a day,” said Levin. “Today we harvest over 100,000 sunflowers a day and we keep producing more every year. That’s a whole lot of happy.”

Dos Gringos has 800-1,200 acres of sunflowers planted at any given time, depending on demand and the time of year.

“We grow certain varieties for certain seasons and locations,” Levin said. “We grow 14 different types of sunflowers and test hundreds of new varieties yearly. We harvest and plant sunflowers every day of the year, weather permitting.”

Levin said there are challenges to growing sunflowers and he believes nothing is necessarily easy to grow outside.

“Mother Nature is always throwing us curve balls,” Levin said. “Even after 25 years we are still learning new techniques. The cost of growing sunflowers has climbed over the past three years and we are constantly trying to drive waste out of our process to offset our costs increases.”

However, Levin still enjoys growing sunflowers and upon reflection he said that sunflowers have taught him something about people — they are inherently good.

“People like to be happy. They like to smile. They like to do nice things for other people,” said Levin. “I get a real charge out of happy clients and happy team members. And being surrounded by 100,000 sunflowers everyday doesn’t hurt.”