The leaves of my sunflowers get so yellow even though I water alot, why?

Every year my sunflowers get very ugly and yellow no matter what I do. They start out ok, and then little by little, starting from the bottom leaves up, they turn colors and the leaves dry up until most of the plants just have a few leaves on top of the empty stalks. I water and give plant food. These are a hybrid red sunflower that goldfinches love. They continue to produce flowers, but the flowers get progressively smaller too. Are they too close together? Is this normal for that type of sunflower? Do they need a specific nutrient I'm not giving?I have had this happen 4 years in a row and am getting ready to give up. Please give me some tips!!

The leaves of my sunflowers get so yellow even though I water alot, why?
Sunflowers are annuals. They die. Few sunflower varieties last very long at all. So, it's not your fault, although you may be over watering them if the leaves are yellow. Sunflowers send out a quickly developed, long tap root, so they only need to be watered frequently to germinate and get going. After that, they may not need any water at all, unless the weather is really hot.



To get and keep sunflowers in your garden, plant seed about every two weeks. That way, new plants will replace the old ones as they die.



Sunflowers typically don't need anything more than water and soil. If you feed them too much food, they'll grow quickly and fall over.



The hybrid reds are really beautiful and they do last a little longer than single-headed standard types. But, stop beating yourself up over their short life span. It's not you...it's them.
Reply:sounds like it could be 1 of 2 things, either too much water or they need calcium...try crushing up egg shells and mix with the soil...see what happens
Reply:I love sunflowers for the goldfinches too! They seem to be very suseptible to mildew and rust disease. This year I sprayed with a fungicide and it made a big difference. The smaller plants still have leaves that yellow and curl up but the big one has nice big green leaves, The earwigs don't help either., they play havoc at night with their friends the slugs and snails. We are lucky anything is left at the end of summer. hope this helps a little.
Reply:they just get old and die off, so just keep pulling the old ones off, they will be fine. good luck.
Reply:If they are getting full sun move them to a spot that gets some shade.Also water the ground and not the tops of the flowers. Sunflowers dont like to get there pedels wet.You could spred them out also because they do need room for there root systems to grow big! Good luck