Here is one link about it:
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/vanderburgh/horticulture/extnotes/2004/acorns.htm

The hulls may inhibit the growth of other plants, but you might use them in compost (in small amounts) without harm. The small amount from your feeder may not even do any damage to plants, but you might reconsider it. I've noticed the grass around my back porch (where a feeder is) is sparse and weak, unlike grass just a few feet away.

I wouldn't do it. Sunflower seed hulls do inhibit plant growth. Why take a chance?

Nothing grows under my bird feeder. I finally gave up and this spring plan to put mulch under it. The sunflower hulls are not particularly thick there but it seems to be enough to cause problems for plants. I saw a bed under a feeder once that was planted with things the hulls didn't seem to bother but I don't know what plants were there. (It was a long time ago and CRS has set in.)

G'Day!

- Wow! Who knew! (Collectively, US!)

- i'm moving my feeders from tree branches over flowerbeds to the eves of the kennel, overhanging a cement utility pad.

- Fruitychick, i see you're in Maryland. Will you be attending the MAG spring swap? (Oh, now that NOVA and other aras have spring swaps - congrats to them! - i get to specify, the Maryland MAG Spring Swap!) i'm trying to find someone to give houseplants to and you're the first MD person whose page specifies houseplant collecting; my cat has eaten about 20% of my hundred houseplants this winter. (Lemon grass! Yum! yes, but why can't he leave some for his humans, too?)

- And you can't really claim to be "fruitychick" until you are GROWING some fruit - which means you NEED some strawberry plants. (i expect to have a LOT of surplus strawberry plants this spring; they're my main stock for plant trading.) Want some?

- Happy gardening,
-vlad

Wow, thanks everyone--I guess I should move my bird feeder to a less flowery location before I replant the bed underneath it.

Vlad--I don't know much about the spring plant swap--I've never been to one but I'm always up for a little plant sharing. I've planted way to many seeds this spring (as usual) so I'll have a few to share. I do grow strawberries every year and this year I'm contemplating some raspberry bushes as well...I haven't picked any up so I'd be happy to maybe arrange something with you if I see you at the plant swap.

Aha! Raspberries you say? Perhaps I could bring you some starts (perhaps I might even remember which varieties they are). If all the spreaders are the "Fall fruiting" type, they are delicious, not that my earlier ones aren't. I believe I will be coming to the MAG exchange. I hadn't thought of bringing those...

(sunflower seeds not so good as mulch, to keep this on topic)
Kent

I can't explain why some of you are having problems with sunflower seeds; the area of my lawn under the bird feeder (I use black oil seeds) is lush and the ground has turned from hard pan clay to a soft loam. In fact, that patch is the first to "green up" in the spring & is already 8" long. I know the sunflower plant will sometimes retard seedling emergence, but am not sure the seeds will.