# Sunflowers and pumpkins



## alsarve (Feb 20, 2013)

Trying to plan my 2014 garden lol. Wondered if I can plant sunflowers in amongst my pumpkins? It would save a whole lot of space and they are both going towards feeding my chickens. 

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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

I think it would work out alright. You might plan it out a little, form the hills for planting the pumpkins first, just don't plant them yet. Plant the sunflowers in between the pumpkin hills, and only plant the pumpkins after the sunflowers have terminated and are an inch or so tall.

I am not giving that advice from experience, just what makes sense in my head....scary, I know 

I have thought about the same type of set up, but with corn and melons.

From what I have read, native Americans would plant corn, and once it was tall enough, they would plant climbing beans (pole beans) next to the corn. Once the beans were growing and climbing the corn stalks, they would plant squash amongst the corn and beans.

The corn provided the poles for the beans, and the squash covered the ground to block weeds. There again, I haven't tried that yet either, but is an interesting concept.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

A pumpkin root will spread laterally in all directions for at least three to six feet to glean nutrients and moisture. A pumpkin _vine_ will put down secondary roots at the leaf nodes to further the growing process. Each sunflower plant will make a spread of roots at least a foot or more in diameter. So. it becomes a serious matter of spacing to avoid encroachment....first in cultivation and weed control, and then later as the vines develop. If you can train your vines from the get go, you can avoid the competition. But, keep in mind, the more closely spaced, the more water and nutrients they will need.

You could possibly get many more sunflower heads in three thirty foot rows spaced thirty inches apart, with one plant to the foot(90 plants in 300 sq ft), than intercropped with pumpkins in a thirty by thirty foot patch( ??? in 900 sq ft).....

geo


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## alsarve (Feb 20, 2013)

Makes sense. Thanks geo

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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

BUT, sunflowers don't like neighbors. Beans won't climb most species due to the millions of tiny spines on the stalks. (There are smooth species which will allow it but not common.) I've seen acorn and butternut squash with a chance to climb up sunflowers and won't even try. There's probably an allelopathic factor involved to cause that. Sunflower seed is that way and no reason why the plants are not likewise.

Martin


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

I've also heard that sunflowers are allelopathic to other plants, but haven't seen it in my gardens. I've had decent results growing bush type beans at the base of the sunflowers, but I have not tried climbing beans on them.

Quite a few types of sunflowers are very susceptible to verticillium. May be worth a test planting in your areas with a few varieties before going big.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

It's mainly the seed hulls which are a germination inhibitor but the stalks and leaves will do the same the following year if returned to the soil.

www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/sunflower-seeds-allelopathy/

Martin


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## mskrieger (May 1, 2012)

Indeed, I grew cowpeas up sunflowers this year and the cowpeas liked it fine. They didn't seem to suffer from water stress or any alleopathy. (I planted three cowpeas to a sunflower stalk, and I crowded the sunflowers. And I didn't irrigate.) Then again, we've already established on several threads this season that cowpeas are special


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## bja105 (Aug 25, 2009)

My pole beans wouldn't climb sunflowers.


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