SNOOK, Texas — Local farmer Jay Wilder said he is after the seeds that come from the iconic Snook sunflowers that have bloomed a little later than usual this year, but he loves sharing the biproduct of his crops with so many people.
Typically, there are fields of yellow this time of year, but heavy rainfall has been impacting the timing for planting and growing sunflowers.
"We're a couple of weeks later than normal, which delayed the process of the bloom and backed up the whole crop. You never know, it might be a blessing in disguise," Wilder said.
Ronnie Schnell, a Soil and Crop Sciences Specialist, said most sunflowers take 60 to 80 days to fully open up from the time the seeds are planted. However, he says excessive wet soil can cause issues in development and be harmful to it, just like when there's a drought.
"The soil gets saturated, the roots run out of oxygen when it stays saturated for too long, and the plant just really slows down, if not completely shutting down for a period of time," Schnell said.
Despite only about five percent blooming currently, Wilder said hopes are sky high and all the sunflowers should be opening up within the next seven to ten days.
Residents will be able to spot them just off the intersection of FM 50 and 60 in Burleson County.
"It'll get crazy, there will be a lot of picture taking, which we enjoy seeing that and getting people out and noticing agriculture," Wilder said.
Farmer Wilder said he started with about 300 acres of sunflowers. Now, four years later, it's grown to 425 acres. Updates on the sunflower field's condition can be found here.