Just re-read carefully your post. I hope you guys are feeling better! Thanks for posting the thread! And happy belated Fourth of July!
Sorry to hear about your sunflowers! We had ours attacked by a herd of little black crawlie worms which I immediately neemed, then stomped! The leaves they had chewed on looked like little transparent ghost leaves. So far the plants are surviving, but it is a blow to lose a sunflower. They are so very dear and special.
Marcella, I’ve been thinking of the Jerusalem sun chokes you have been discussing. I’m wondering if it might be possible to obtain oil from sun choke seeds. I realize they are quite a bit smaller than the mammoth, but in extremis, I’m thinking they might be a possible oil source as well as food source from the roots. Have you looked into that or run across that info in your researches by any chance?
No. I thoroughly studied the Jerusalem Artichokes and the other choke which is “Sun Chokes” thinking that might work, too, but they have little to no oil and very few seeds. The flowers have thin petals and the flowers aren't big. They are just grown for the everlasting tubers, not for oil and not for eating.
The “Black Oil” Sunflower is the one for getting oil from the black seeds.
The “Sunspot” Sunflower grows only to 2 or 2 1/2 ft., has 10 inch flowers and is packed with striped seed which is the one for eating. These are the ones I just grew from seed and will plant soon within the next few days. I'm gong to try growing them in grow bags. They are not perennial like the Jerusalem and Sun Choke ones.