Selecting Quality Sunflowers
With any sunflower head, you can find seeds with no kernels inside right up to seeds with full kernels. Since every sunflower has all grades of sunflower seeds, farmers will separate the grains from good to poor. Often the poor seeds are sold as “bird food” to discount box stores and discount seed makers. It can be deceiving because the outside of the shell appears normal to the untrained eye. The easy way to tell the difference is by a low advertised price. Which grade of seed do you want in your feeder. Ironically, good seed costs are priced only slightly higher than poor seed, but the food content is significantly greater in quality seed. Since the seed often comes from grain brokers, the bags even look the same on the outside but the seed inside is quite different.