Dove Sunflower fields

[32drawlength]

Do wild sunflowers need planting or do they naturally show up?

Background:
the farmer who we lease our hunting property in Palo Pinto county recently cleared some mesquite pasture that had moderate cattle grazing on it. He used a bulldozer and later a tractor with plow to open up this new pasture which basically looks like a plowed field.
Yesterday it had 4-5 foot small headed sunflowers growing in it, so I was curious if he planted them.

Thanks for your input!

[RogueSamurai]

In my experience, they are hard to plant on purpose. However, what happened with your dozer is fairly common. I've seen them pop up after a ditch witch was used to put in a water line.

The seeds are dormant until they are disturbed by breaking up the soil and then they germinate. If the seeds are present, they can come up in a plowed field as well.

I've had mixed results by trying to plant them though.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Similar to above post, we did hire a farmer to come in and plow/plant a couple hundred acres of sunflowers for us one year... NOTHING! They did not come up. A few years later, the rancher came in and root plowed the whole pasture (over 1000 acres total), and that couple hundred acres that we had planted a few years prior, came up solid in those little black seeded (small head) sunflowers... We had a heck of a shoot! Sadly, it hasn't happened since. Had some good shoots on the ranch but no sunflowers in the pasture.

[32drawlength]

Interesting information.

So the farmer likely did not plant the sunflowers & that's what I'm trying to figure out...is he trying to dove hunt our lease.
He doesn't own the property, he only has cattle rights & Varmit rights.

[jerp]

My guess is they are native sunflowers that have been dormant. I spent much of the weekend in Stephens and Shackleford County and saw lots of native sunflowers in places they have not been for the last few years- the seeds stay dormant until a year when they get the right amount of rain at the right time.

[RogueSamurai]

Yes, the seeds may have been dormant for a long time...then after they are exposed to the right conditions and the soil is disturbed, they will come up.

I'm told they have to go through a freeze once in order to germinate, so you would plant in the fall for the following year.

[arrowdynamic]

My guess is they are native sunflowers that have been dormant. I spent much of the weekend in Stephens and Shackleford County and saw lots of native sunflowers in places they have not been for the last few years- the seeds stay dormant until a year when they get the right amount of rain at the right time.

Yes, the seeds may have been dormant for a long time...then after they are exposed to the right conditions and the soil is disturbed, they will come up.

I'm told they have to go through a freeze once in order to germinate, so you would plant in the fall for the following year.

I planted about a half acre last fall. I also got volunteers sprouting in places where I cleaned dove. Just like everything else, rain is key. I have a volunteer growing at the corner of my house that gets the roof runoff. It is over 6' tall. The ones I planted in the field are 2-3 feet tall.