Peredovik Black Oil Sunflower. photo by westcoast seeds.com
I just came back from the bird store where I got some black oil sunflower seeds for my wild birds when I thought why not grow my own for next year? My favorite sunflower up to now has been the Titan sunflower which is a striped seed and is not a black oil seed. Black oil seeds compared to striped sunflower seeds have a higher oil content and are meatier. They are also easier for small birds to crack open. I already cut off the sunflower heads from sunflowers for the birds so why not give them what is really good for them. One variety that I found is Peredovik Black Oil Sunflower Seed from Russia. You can get it at westcoastseeds.com. You can also just plant the black oil seed you get in your birdseed. I read that the sunflowers are 3 feet tall with black heads. So this year I’m going to add them in with my other sunflowers for a treat for the wild birds.
Hmm, now I wonder if I can grow that real expensive finch seed, Nyger? I’ll have to look into that! It is super expensive but I don’t know if it will grow here. I’ll get back to you on that one..
Chris R said,
February 17, 2011 @ 12:58 pm
Such a terrific idea! We have grown our own sunflower in the past, but never oil sunflower. We will try your Titan recommendation because absolutely, black/oil sunflower is far more nutritious and definitely much easier to open, particularly for smaller song birds.
Thanks for the great information.
giant veggie gardener said,
February 17, 2011 @ 9:01 pm
Actually Titan sunflowers that I grew last year are called striped sunflower seed and are not the black oil seed that is so rich for the birds that I talked about in the post (the contact for purchasing black oil sunflower seeds is in the post). You can also just get a bag of black oil sunflower seeds for the birds and grow some of them.
Bruce said,
July 13, 2011 @ 5:11 am
Hi. Nice post, and I agree. We have started growing our own sunflowers for bird feed and have notices another benefit…honey bees! I have not seen a honey bee for years, but now that we are growing sunflowers, there is not one head without at least one honey bee on it.
As far as growing the expensive niger seed, it is my understanding that the niger seed sold as bird feed is actually sterilized, because it comes from a plant that is considered a noxious, invasive weed. Therefore, if you want to grow it, you must find another source than the packaged bird feed. I could be wrong about this, but that is what I remember someone telling me a long time ago.
giant veggie gardener said,
July 13, 2011 @ 6:28 am
You are correct on all counts. Glad your growing the sunflowers!