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West Amwell, NJ

I found a large seeded sunflower from China on the USDA. The seeds are mixed black, striped, or white. The black seeds seem bigger than the striped or white seeds.

Here is a picture that I took of the seeds
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/displayphoto.asp?pid=5020&gid=1

The USDA list them at tallest almost 14 ft. tall.

http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1484033

Ames 22280
Site identifier: Ames 22280.
Collected in: Jilin, China
Narrative: All collections were from bin run of local farmers crops.

write me if you need help obtaining seeds from the USDA.

Thanks,
Brian

5/1/2007 5:48:34 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Those look pretty cool. Please keep us informed on their progress.

I appreciate all the interesting data you've been sharing about seeds & sunflowers in particular.

5/2/2007 12:08:00 AM

West Amwell, NJ

You can spend months searching through the USDA seed stocks for material. I'm always finding something new on there. The best thing of all is that it's free. It's the one thing that the government does that is really top notch. Almost brings a tear to my eye knowing my tax money is going to something as important as this.
If you have any questions about how to order, let me know and I'll help you out. Also, if you want to search it on your own, I can show you the different ways of searching. There aremMany ways to search the US Grin.

5/2/2007 2:01:53 AM

Zone 6, Missouri

I have got to get some of these! Thanks for the info. other wise it would take a long time to find these things. I'm a giant sunflower fanatic! If there are any odd or one off cool sunflowers you know of can you post or e-mail me?

my e-mail is ozarkrocker@yahoo.com

5/3/2007 1:30:06 AM

NEPA roller46@hotmail.com KB3QKV

Thatr is a nice job. I agree with tremor I appreciate all the data you have been sharing.

5/3/2007 8:39:34 AM

West Amwell, NJ

I just want other people to get a chance to research these plants for themselves. There are so many large sized plants on there, I can't begin to grow them all without help. We can help preserve many of these plants by sharing with other giant growers. It's important people don't get greedy and ruin a good thing. If you can grow them out and save your seeds, share with others so they don't have to get them. Hopefully, we'll see many new things in the giant veggie exchange next year. Last year I was only able to save a pinch of seed of Amaranthus Australis from the USDA. I have plants already almost 2 ft. tall and hope to secure a large amount of seed. If I do, you'll be seeing it in the giant veggie exchange.

5/5/2007 11:16:21 PM