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Storing Wet Sunflower
Wet sunflower, 17%+ can be stored as long as it can be kept cold. The allowable storage time (ast) chart for cereal grains can be used to estimate the AST for sunflower by adding 5% to the sunflower moisture content. For example, 20% sunflower is equivalent to 25% moisture wheat. Therefore, consult the chart for wheat at 25% to estimate the allowable storage time for 20% sunflower. The AST for 20% sunflower is about 160 days at 30 F, 50 days at 40 F, and 22 days at 50 F. Sunflower up to about 20% can be stored, with aeration to keep it cool, as long as capability is available to rapidly dry the sunflower if temperatures increase to about 50 F if the sunflower will be marketed before warm temperatures occur. Storing sunflower above about 20% is discouraged because there is a potential for the seeds to have enough surface moisture on them to freeze together and the bin could not be unloaded. Experience with corn is that this occurs in the mid-20% range, so it may be expected with sunflower at 20% or greater. The stored sunflower need to be monitored frequently to assure that they are staying cold.
Natural Air and Low Temperature Drying Does Not Work in the Winter
Natural air and low temperature drying does not work or is extremely inefficient during the winter when temperatures are below freezing. The moisture holding capacity of the air is related to the air temperature. For each 20 F that the temperature decreases, the water holding capacity of the air is approximately reduced by one-half.
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