harvesting sunflower seeds

Hello, I wonder if anyone can advise me...

One of my sunflowers came to an untimely end and snapped off a few weeks back so I kept the head and left it drying in the hope of keeping the seeds for planting next year.

I've just taken them all out as they seemed loose and dry but in hindsight there was still a little moisture in the head. They are grey and hollow, should they be black and white stripes? Shall I assume these ones were not ripe as the head came off early and do away with them?

With my remaining sunflowers, is it best to leave them planted to dry out or can I cut them and dry them in house- I kind of want to get rid of them as they are going over and starting to look a mess! See pic (hopefully posted)

Thanks for any wisdom! :WINK1:

 

The color of the seeds doesn't matter but if they are hollow they are no good. Check to see if there's a kernel inside as this is the part that will grow. You can cut off the spent heads of the flowers and leave them to dry somewhere like in a greenhouse. Hope this helps.

 

Hi Carrie.
The colour of the seeds depends on the variety of sunflower, some are whiteish with dark stripes and other can be almost pure black. Fully ripe seeds should feel fairy firm.

We grow sunflowers to attract bees and as bird food for winter. I usually wait until the seeds are ripe on the plants and then cut off the heads and dry them for a few weeks under cover out of doors. To extract the seeds I break up the heads and rub out the seeds. Some folk advocate keeping the heads whole but I've found that they tend to rot and spoil the seed.

 

Great! Thank you both, that's really helpful