La Candelaria: Sunflowers (Girasol)

Currently there are no lots planted with sunflowers. Seeded in October/early November and harvested in February, approximately 400 hectares of sunflowers are planted at La Candelaria annually. Like corn, sunflowers need to be bought annually because their specific genetic properties terminate after one growth cycle.

The fertilizer requirements for sunflowers are 80 kg of nitrogen and 12 kg of phosphorous per hectare. If the specific field where the sunflowers will be planted already has adequate amounts of these two nutrients, no application is necessary. The sunflowers are most sensitive during their flowering phase when the pollen is susceptible to being lost from the plants. For this reason, the ideal time for flowering is December 15 – January 15 when there is little rain to disturb the pollen. The plants flower about 80 – 90 days after seeding. During the germination phase, the plants are sensitive to ants and freezing.

About 40,000- 65,000 seeds are planted per hectare. A minimum of 40,000 plants are desired per hectare. Sunflowers are competitive plants, which means to have each seed produce the biggest flower and therefore seeds, enough light, nutrients and water needs to be available to each plant.

Nitrogen is applied when the flower starts to emerge and a preventative fungicide is applied before the flower opens.

The reason sunflowers are planted in such limited quantities is that their price is controlled by the Argentinian processing plants that buy the seeds.