What are you paying for BOSS?

[Boogity]

Our chickens only get BOSS in the winter. And we never pay for it. I usually plant about 100 or 150 sunflower seeds and get maybe 80 nice big plants every year. The critters, including our own chickens, devour lots of the seedlings as they emerge. It's a lot of work getting all the seeds off the heads so I just toss a couple full heads into the chicken run about once a week. The only heads I strip are for the seeds.

I'm going to change my seeds next spring to another type of sunflower. I would like to have all black oilers but over the years my heirloom seed supply has slowly turned into the lighter color seeds - I think they're called stripers or something like that. I think it's a deterioration of the seed pedigree from cross pollination over a period of 8 or 10 years.

 

[savingdogs]

Thanks, I obviously need to get some more going!

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Haven't seen planting seeds for BOSS ... just regular. Where did you get some?

 

[Boogity]

Haven't seen planting seeds for BOSS ... just regular. Where did you get some?

I found a 10# bag of black oiler seeds that were not hybrid at a grain mill about 10 years ago. I used about 9.9 lb. of it to feed the birds and used the rest to plant. The germination rate was wonderful and I had about 100 black oiler plants the first year. I have re-seeded them every year since.

Just go to your local store and buy a little bag of black oilers. The kind you buy to put in your feeders for wild birds. Put about 10 or 20 of the seeds in between two very damp sheets of cloth or paper towel and keep in a warm dark place for a few days. This little test will indicate the viability of the seeds. If you have more than 60% sprouting in your test then go ahead and plant the seeds in your sunflower area. Harvest as many seeds as necessary when the flowers are in decline at the end of growing season. That's all there is to it. Your new seeds will probably be hybrids but that's OK.

I always plant way more than I need because the wild birds get most of them before I get to harvest.

 

[Kala]

Yea, we planted a bunch this year too. Definetely not 100 plants though like Boogity! We were kind of experiementing and seeing how much we would need. I think I might have to go plant some more now though!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Haven't seen planting seeds for BOSS ... just regular. Where did you get some?

I found a 10# bag of black oiler seeds that were not hybrid at a grain mill about 10 years ago. I used about 9.9 lb. of it to feed the birds and used the rest to plant. The germination rate was wonderful and I had about 100 black oiler plants the first year. I have re-seeded them every year since.

Just go to your local store and buy a little bag of black oilers. The kind you buy to put in your feeders for wild birds. Put about 10 or 20 of the seeds in between two very damp sheets of cloth or paper towel and keep in a warm dark place for a few days. This little test will indicate the viability of the seeds. If you have more than 60% sprouting in your test then go ahead and plant the seeds in your sunflower area. Harvest as many seeds as necessary when the flowers are in decline at the end of growing season. That's all there is to it. Your new seeds will probably be hybrids but that's OK.

I always plant way more than I need because the wild birds get most of them before I get to harvest.

How long did it take to get from seed to harvest?

 

[Boogity]

How long did it take to get from seed to harvest?

Hmmmm let me think a minute. Seed put in the ground in early May. Cut seed heads off stalks in late October. 6 months??? But I think you (up there in the most wonderful state in the USA) could start the seeds indoors and harvest the heads at the end of September??? Try it.

I plant 100 or more seeds only because I have the space to sew them and I love to feed the birds. It's not as pretty as you may be imagining. Lots of weeds, lots of crooked sun flower plants and when they bow down at the end of the growing season they're not beautiful at all. But I love to go out there late in the season with a lawn chair, a book, and an iced tea and enjoy nature.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

How long did it take to get from seed to harvest?

Hmmmm let me think a minute. Seed put in the ground in early May. Cut seed heads off stalks in late October. 6 months??? But I think you (up there in the most wonderful state in the USA) could start the seeds indoors and harvest the heads at the end of September??? Try it.

I plant 100 or more seeds only because I have the space to sew them and I love to feed the birds. It's not as pretty as you may be imagining. Lots of weeds, lots of crooked sun flower plants and when they bow down at the end of the growing season they're not beautiful at all. But I love to go out there late in the season with a lawn chair, a book, and an iced tea and enjoy nature.

I will have a great deal of chain link up next year, so i could lash them to it.
Might be able to pull off growing a huge number,
Many people grow the regular sunflowers up here, and they are started inside in April. Not interested in those though. I want BOSS for the chickys!

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Just curious: why is black oil better than, say, mammoth? The packet I'm planting this year (mammoth, organic) says the shells are thin-skinned.

But is the BOSS better nutritionally for the chickens and goats?

Last year, I planted the mammoth sunflowers too close to the goat pen. Needless to say, I could only actually harvest one head because the others were nibbled on (read: devoured). Poor chickens had to fight over that one head. Gone in minutes.