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  • Amateur Gardening

    Ask John Negus

    Sep 01, 2020 6 minutes

    John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week

    Why hasn’t my sunflower flowered yet?

    Q My sunflower has reached 12ft (3.6m) and the flower is not yet open. It seems to have been attacked by wasps. Can you tell me what to do?

    Bryan Hotchin, via email

    A I have never heard of wasps attacking plants like this. The only use they have for other plant material is the wood they pulp to construct their nests in spring.

    Have you looked at the base of the stem to see if there are any signs of damage? Is there any other insect activity that might attract wasps?

    Sunflowers have a predetermined growing season dictated by the time taken from seed to flowering. Some varieties do flower in the autumn, but they need to have had enough of the growing season beforehand to do this successfully. You could try looking for your variety on

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