Sunflower News From North Dakota

From KFYR:

Across the state, sunflowers are about a week behind their normal growing schedule.

That`s because it`s been too dry for the crop to grow well. Now, sunflowers need some warm days so they can start growing again.

And the days and weeks ahead until the end of the season are what will really determine the outcome for farmers.

"We really need to hold that frost off until that crop becomes mature, because obviously if we`d have an early frost, that would result in a lower test weight, it would cut back on the oil content, things like that. It would be pretty damaging to the crop," says John Sandbakken, of the National Sunflower Association. "We`d like to see that hold back until the crop is mature."

He says a steady, heavy rain all at once is better than a drizzle over several days, because then the water can soak into the ground without the risk of disease to the