How do I sprout these?

[Cruditas]

I got a fresh sunflower from a farmer at a local market. He told me to pull the seeds out, dry them on the counter for a week and then sprout them. Do I have to dry them on the counter or can they be sprouted right away? I wasn't sure what the point was if you are going to soak them again. Thanks for any help

[Revvell]

You know what I do? I take a few and give it a shot and see what happens.

[Cruditas]

That is a good idea because for 1 dollar I got about a half pound of seeds. What do you think the soaking time should be. And by the way I am a dummy, I tried to correct the spelling in my post and ended up putting it on here twice

[Revvell]

What do you think the soaking time should be.

Since they're fresh, I'd probably go 4-6 hours at most, then put in jar or on damp cloth until they sprout. Not sprouted anything in awhile sooo, not sure about that but, that would be my first test.

[Cruditas]

Thank you for the replies. I already took them out but he will be at the market next week and I'll get some more and try hanging them upside down. As I experiment I will keep you posted. I am soaking them now. These seeds have a stripe in the middle and the farmer told me the sprouts would be more beefy than the black seeds, so Ill let you know that as well.

[walnutty]

These seeds have a stripe in the middle and the farmer told me the sprouts would be more beefy than the black seeds, so Ill let you know that as well.

The seeds have stripes or the shells? I thought all sunflower seeds were gray.

[MysticTree]

I'd hang the flower upside down to dry and let the seeds fall out before trying to sprout them.

[MysticTree]

I hope they sprout for you but there is a chance they need to dry out and go through a cold phase first. Let us know how you get on.

[MysticTree]

You can get one strip or many stripes or no stripes and the coloured part can be black or a sort of grey. We get all different types here.

[Living Food]

I thought all sunflower seeds were gray.

Nope. There are multiple different colors, but the most common are gray and black.

On a slightly related side note, I've currently got red, green, black, white, and even blue lentils sprouting in jars.

[MysticTree]

I have red, brown, green & puy sprouting. Can only get red lentils in a mix which is annoying. Would love to see your selection.

[Living Food]

Well, my red lentils are more orange-red. I get them from sproutpeople.org (the crimson lentils). I've also got a pretty diverse selection of chickpea and pea colors that I get from them.

The way I see it, the more color you can fit into your diet the better off you'll be - just stay away from paint :)

[Cruditas]

Walnutty,
My seeds are grey with black stripes going down them. The sunflower seeds that I have ordered on line are solid black. I think maybe drying them out may be the way to go. today is day two so if they don't sprout anything in the next day or two we will know:)

[Cruditas]

Sooo...the seeds did not sprout being fresh picked from the sunflower. I am drying the others and will give it a few more days before trying them again. I'll keep you posted on the results of those.