What's this on my sunflowers?

[CrazyConure]

I have no clue what these are, but they are just appearing on the leaves.

 

[LIcenter]

Search for sunflower rust. Pretty much looks like that to me.

 

[roadrunner]

I don't know what that is, but I get it every time I grow sunflowers; I could go out in my garden now and take very similar pictures on my sunflowers.

 

[Chuck]

I didn't know so much could go so wrong with sunflowers
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/rowcrops/pp1727.pdf

 

[CrazyConure]

What's the cure? I always see flies all over the leaves. Somethings going wrong.

 

[Chuck]

What's the cure? I always see flies all over the leaves. Somethings going wrong.

House flies? Or some other kind. Those white spots, do they rub off or are they permanent? This black stuff looks like a fungus to me but all those white spots are not right either. Its like the white spots might be from insects which could be a vector for a virus. Don't know. Need more info

 

[CrazyConure]

It shouldn't matter anymore. I pulled them out and planted a different variety because I didn't like those colors anyways. If this problem still occurs, I will go much more in depth.

 

[Chuck]

It shouldn't matter anymore. I pulled them out and planted a different variety because I didn't like those colors anyways. If this problem still occurs, I will go much more in depth.

I hope you used different soil. If it was a bacterial problem it could have come from the soil especially if the soil had been used before you planted sunflowers. I always put used potting soil into a compost pile for a few months before I use it again.

 

[CrazyConure]

It is the same soil

Is there no bacterial fungicide I can use to get rid of the bacteria?

Will planting marigolds help?

 

[CrazyConure]

I don't know what that is, but I get it every time I grow sunflowers; I could go out in my garden now and take very similar pictures on my sunflowers.

Can you take pictures?

 

[roadrunner]

What's the cure? I always see flies all over the leaves. Somethings going wrong.

I think you could have let that plant go and it would have done just fine, like I said before I see those same marks on my sunflowers all the time, but the plant as a whole is healthy.

Curious how much you water the plant and how much sun is it getting?

On the issue of flies, that doesn't really mean anything if they are house flies, but there's a possibility it could have been another type fly which is very beneficial to the garden. And that's called the long-legged fly, which at first glance looks like a typical fly, but it truly is the unsung hero of the garden, read here (and if you look closely, they have very cool metalic colorization): http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-25_long-legged_flies.htm

 

[roadrunner]

Can you take pictures?

I go out today and take some pics.

 

[CrazyConure]

I always see those long legged flies. I just can't remember if they were on the plant itself.

It gets full sun and watering when the soil is a few inches dry.

 

[roadrunner]

I always see those long legged flies. I just can't remember if they were on the plant itself.

It gets full sun and watering when the soil is a few inches dry.

I never water my sunflowers once they get beyond the seedling phase, but then again I don't grow in containers; but still you may want to water a little less with your containerized sunflowers, since sunflowers are drought tolerant and don't like wet soils.

Here are the pics, I took of three separate plants, one from a distance to show that they look just fine and then some from the leaves themselves.

Plant #1 (the tall one)









Plant #2 (the one with the fully opened flower)





Plant #3 (Even the bees don't care about the leaves)