Sunflowers looking healthy but still behind schedule

Manitoba's sunflower crop is looking good, although it is still behind schedule.

Morgan Cott is an Agronomy Extension Specialist with the Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA).

"The sunflower crop is looking really healthy," she said. "I'm really excited for what we're going to see for yields this year, just because conditions have been so great for sunflowers. I would love to see them blooming by now but we're not quite there. There's some buds that are developing but definitely no full blooms emerging, no yellow and there's still some of the crop that's quite behind and little."

Cott commented on the recent weather.

"For corn and sunflower, they're loving every moment of the weather that we've been getting. Some areas have obviously gotten a lot more water than they can stand, and corn and sunflowers don't like having wet feet, but they can tolerate the moisture more and since we've been having such heat and such sunshine, they're really going to be moving a lot of those nutrients around. Generally, I think it's okay but I don't want to see standing water of course."