do sunflowers need lots of water and is it usual for the bottom leaves to become brown and dead looking?

Hi Finaghy, I live in Fl, USA. I grow beautiful sunflowers, the problem is when they are gone, they are gone. The bottom leaves will turn brown when the energy is going into the flower. Most of mine were about 5-6 feet tall (they are all gone now except for a couple of holdouts that are about 2 feet tall and have tiny flowers). Give them a bit more time for flowering if you are in a northern climate. I don't remember them needing a lot of water but certainly enough. If you check out my site I have pics of the sunflowers, and the icon by my name is my biggest one, it was 12" across. Pat

hi, yes the lower leaves do die off and i find them to be moderately thirsty. if you have a sandy soil they will need lots of water. next year add plenty of leaf mould/compost to the soil to help retain moisture too.