Cleaning with sunflowers? It is possible!

Did you know that sunflowers are amazing plants that will absorb toxins from your yard?

The sunflower is one of many plants that aid in “phytoremediation,” a process that uses various types of plants to remove, transfer, stabilize, and destruct contaminants in the our soil, water and air. Compared to other cleanup methods, like soil excavation or pumping out of toxic groundwater, phytoremediation is a efficient, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly way to reclaim and reuse land that has become toxic due to natural and man-made disasters that introduced toxic chemicals and heavy metals.

Sunflowers can remove dangerous heavy metals such as arsenic, zinc, chromium, copper, lead, and manganese.

One of the most significant examples of phytoremediation was the use of a specific type of sunflower to clean up contaminated soil in the Ukraine after the Chernobyl disaster, which was one of the worst nuclear power plant accidents in world’s history.

After hurricane Katrina, sunflowers and phytoremediation techniques have been deployed to clean the contaminated soil around New Orleans.

Sunflowers are not too picky on their soil and as long as they are not in waterlogged soil, they will thrive. If you are cleaning your soil with sunflowers as phytoremediation method, do not eat the seeds or feed the seeds to birds and wildlife, instead, bag the sunflower heads and dispose of the whole plant once mature or pick the flowers and add them in a large vase for inside!

If you are just growing sunflowers because you like them, have fun, and enjoy the flowers and the seeds! Do not forget to save some seeds for wildlife! Sunflower leaves can be used as salad greens, boiled like spinach, or even dehydrated like kale chips. You can even make tea out of the leaves and the petals!