Sunflowers work well as a full season crop in rotation with corn, soybeans and/or sorghum. As a double crop after wheat, sunflowers are an equally good choice with soybeans for the southern half of Missouri, and are a very good choice for the northern part of the state. Regardless of whether they are grown as a single crop or double crop, sunflowers should not be planted in the same field more than once every three to four years. Sunflowers, like soybeans, do not leave very much residue, so on erosive fields consider seeding a fall cover crop after sunflowers. Sunflowers generally grow best on well drained soils, are tolerant of clay loam or silty clay loam soils and perform comparatively well on sandy loam soils. They should not be grown on wet soils, but may be a good choice for bottom ground that doesn’t dry out until early summer, since the sunflowers can be planted relatively late.
