Gardening Plants & Flowers Flowers

How to Harvest Sunflower Seeds After Blooms Finish

Collected sunflower seeds.
Photo courtesy of Valdemar Fishmen

Sunflowers are a highly popular plant for home gardens, often shooting up several feet in the air and bringing bright, vibrant summer color to your space. They're lovely to cut and add to arrangements, eye-catching amidst your flower garden, and even produce edible seeds. Not to mention, they're a major draw for every type of pollinator and beneficial garden creature, including butterflies, beneficial insects, hummingbirds, and other bird species.

Another huge benefit of these garden delights is once you grow sunflowers, you never have to buy seeds or seedlings again. With a little effort, you can harvest the large seeds from your sunflowers, store them, and use them to grow more and more of these bright blooms year after year. Plus, if you have enough leftover, they make great food for birds, snacks for yourself, or gifts for friends and family to plant their own.

Here are all the steps you need to follow to harvest, save, and replant your own sunflower seeds from existing plants in your garden.

Picture of Sunflowers at Lyman Orchards Sunflower Maze
The Lyman Orchards Sunflower Maze is composed of a staggering number of sunflowers: an estimated 235,000 when the maze is in full bloom. © 2009 Kim Knox Beckius

How to Remove Sunflower Heads for Harvesting

To remove your sunflower heads, follow these simple tips:

  1. Bring a large bucket or container, especially if harvesting several heads, so you can hold them all and catch any loosened seeds.
  2. Wait to harvest until your flowers have died back and the back of each bloom has turned brown. The seeds should be fairly loose and large-looking by now.
  3. Using scissors or a pruner, cut the stalk about one foot below the flower head.
  4. If you need to prune them a bit before they're dry enough for harvest, you can hang them upside down for a few days in a warm sunny spot and they'll be dry enough to collect seeds from.
Dried sunflower head placed in plastic container for storage

The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

How to Harvest Seeds

The next step is collecting your seeds and preparing them for future use. Start by taking your dry dead flower heads and a collection bucket or container. You may want to use gloves, but it's not required if you prefer to get your hands a bit dirty.

  1. Working over the bucket, firmly rub your hands across each flower head, pushing out the seeds as you go. As long as the head is dry and browned, the seeds should come out quite easily. Some other small flower pieces will also likely come out into your bucket, which is fine, as you'll remove these later.
  2. Once you've collected all of your seeds, move them to a colander and give them a good rinse. This is also a good time to remove any flower pieces and non-seed material.
  3. Grab a shallow box, crate, or even a baking sheet and line it with paper towels and newspaper.
  4. Spread your cleaned seeds out in a single layer to dry out, making sure none are overlapping.
  5. Let them dry for at least a few hours, but as long as overnight if possible, to ensure they're completely dry before you store them.
Black Oil Sunflower Seed

oatsy40 / Flickr

How to Store Seeds for Future Growing

The last and final step of your sunflower seed harvest is to store your dried seeds so you can share them or use them anytime you want, whether that's in a week or a year. Find an airtight container to transfer your dry seeds to, label them with the sunflower variety if you know it, and the date of harvest, and then store your seed container in a cool, dark place, like a garage or basement.

Sunflower seeds preserved and stored with this method will last for years on end, and provide you with beautiful new sunflowers year after year. Once the planting season is upon you again, you can pull out your seeds and get to growing.

Sunflower seeds are best planted directly into the ground, or a large outdoor container/box, once there's no chance of spring frost returning, and the soil is warmed to 50 degrees F. Choose a spot that gets lots of sun, and make small holes in the soil. Drop two seeds in each hole, cover with soil, and wait. Your bright, eye-catching sunflowers will start popping up in no time.