Growing sunflower shoots for profit in the UK
Growing sunflower shoots commercially seems to divide people. I think we can all agree that they taste amazing right? AND that they’re little nutritional power houses! But growing them, and particularly harvesting them, can be a faff. Let’s go through the reasons to grow them, challenges you may face and exactly HOW to grow them in today’s blog post.
Personally, I love growing and supplying sunflower shoots! I've grown sunflowers at my microgreens farm since the beginning - that’s every single week since 2017 - and my customers love them!
5 brilliant benefits of growing sunflower shoots at your microgreens farm:
None of the big farms tend to grow them, so it's likely that you'll be the only one providing them in your area. You’ll certainly not find them being sold in supermarkets and I’m yet to spot them on a large wholesale distributor’s list. This is great for your sales - home customers AND chefs!
They taste amazing! Nice and crisp and a bit nutty.
They're packed full of protein (amongst lots of other nutrients) - a great selling point particularly to nutritionists, people on plant based diets, people who care about eating a healthy balanced diet.
They produce a reliable high yield.
They add an extra texture to your microgreens salad mixes. It's great to have something chunky and succulent in there to contrast the small delicate stuff.
Possible sunflower shoot growing challenges:
The quality of sunflower seed can vary quite a bit. When you find a good batch from a supplier, I recommend bulk buying as much as you can! Always buy a small amount first though to trial before buying in bulk.
Some shoots like to hang onto their black seed hull, which can be a nightmare to remove during harvest if there are alot! You do need to remove these hulls though, as empy seed cases aren't very nice to eat. See the Top Tips section below on how to reduce this as much as possible.
Growing excellent sunflower shoots to sell - The Lowdown:
PREFERRED SEEDS FROM A UK SUPPLIER - Black Sunflower Organic Seeds from Aconbury Sprouts or Organic Sunflower Microgreens Seeds from Grow Sow Greener
PREFERRED GROWING MEDIUM - Peat free compost. They also grow well in coco coir.
SOAKING - Soak seeds overnight.
SEEDING PER UK MICROGREENS TRAY (56cm x 28cm) - 135g dry seed (alter the seed weight depending on your tray size)
GERMINATION - Stack and weight for 3 - 4 days. Take out of germination when the new shoots are about 1cm tall.
SOW TO CUT TIME TOTAL - 11 days (at bout 10cm tall). May take longer in colder grow rooms.
WATERING - Sunflowers are thirsty crops! Bottom water every 1 to 2 days, or when they’ve completely dried out in the bottom tray.
EXPECTED HARVEST PER TRAY - 450g - 500g
QUANTITIES TO SELL IN - 75g punnets
SUGGESTED PRICE - £2.50 - £3 / punnet
APPROXIMATE SEED COST PER TRAY - £1 / tray (if seed bought at £7.50/kg - you can get it cheaper in bulk)
PROFIT ON THESE FIGURES - £15 / TRAY
Seeded sunflower trays stacked to help all seeds to germinate at the same rate (and to save space in your grow room!)
Unstack and put under lights at this stage
To blackout or to not blackout?
Blackout describes the process of up-turning a grow tray with no holes and placing it on the top of your germinated seeds for an extra 1 - 2 days after the stage above. The aim of this is to ‘stretch’ your shoots taller and get a higher yield.
I choose not to balackout my sunflower shoots. Once they’ve germinated, I like to get them under the lights as soon as I can. I’ve got two reasons for this:
I personally like to cut my sunflower stems short anyway. I think they look better and they get less tangled in my salad mixes.
I like to get fresh air flowing to them as soon as they come out of germination. They’ve spent three days in hot, humid conditions, so getting them out quickly will help to mitigate any mould growth.
Maybe try blackout for yourself and see what you think.
Extra top tips for growing and selling sunflower shoots
If you see a little mould when you take them out of germination, brush it off with a clean finger and top water the tray. If there is loads of mould, try lightly spraying with 3% hydrogen peroxide, then next time, soak in 3% hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes before it’s overnight soak.
When your shoots are 3-4cms tall, take the whole tray outside and brush off the tops of the seed hulls with your hand - this will help on harvest day!
Adding plenty of weight during germination will also help seed hulls to pop off before harvest day. I use 4 x block paving bricks for each tray.
Add sunflower shoots to your mixed microgreens salad mixes! They're great for adding weight, bulk and extra crunchy texture.
Harvest before the true leaves start to grow (these turn the shoots bitter)
My 14-page Mini UK Microgreens Business Guide will show you exactly how to grow an additional 2, highly saleable microgreens crops - Pea shoots and Radish shoots, including recommended seed suppliers, profit margins and how to sell them.
Download now to get it sent straight to your inbox!
You’ll also get:
5 great reasons for starting a microgreens business in the UK right now
A basic equipment list
A step-by-step guide to growing and harvesting radish shoots and pea shoots, including UK pricing suggestions and profit margins.
A how-to guide to selling your microgreens to chefs, restaurants and your local community.