Nyírség, in northeast Hungary, is one of the most important cultivation regions of confectionery sunflower used for toasting in Europe. The production area in this part of the country is over 20,000 ha. The importance of the crop keeps increasing due to its favorable nutritional properties. Apart from the hybrids suitable for husking produced on large scale, the cultivation area of the traditional open pollinated confectionery varieties is extending too. Kisvárda, an open pollinated variety, is the most widely produced. The abiotic and biotic stress resistance of this variety is excellent; however, it is susceptible to sun flower moth attack. The development of phytomelanin layer that would result in a decrease of susceptibility cannot be implemented without a change of the husk color, which in its turn is highly important on the market. The experiments carried out between 2006 and 2008 had three objec tives: first, it included a comparative study of two varieties belonging to the cul tivar Kisvárda and two standard hybrids (one confectionary and one oil type) regarding their resistance to moth infestation; second, we wished to determine the effect of sowing time on the extent of moth contamination; and third, we searched for differences, if detectable, between the varieties with respect to the above mentioned aspects. The experiments showed that it is the flowering time, determined by the growing period of the variety and the sowing time, that basically influences the extent of moth infestation.