Castor bean seeds.

First off. I broke my wrist recently, now in cast. So hard for me to harvests the way I want to.
The plants are loaded with brown and red pods, we did get a frost but not a really deep freeze. Any advice ? I know they can mold quit easily. Will it be worth it to try.

Sorry about that wrist ladygardener. Castor beans may be tough to crack one-handed. But if you just pick the pods now, after each has turned brown and dry, you can always clean them later. Just be sure to wait until the pods are dry and brown, pick them and store in a paper bag in the house. When able, you could open them (I used some tool I found in my husband's toolbox, kind of like a pair of pliers). let dry again, then store.

The important thing is to pick them from the plant before they get away. They are pretty expensive to buy.

Good luck with that wrist.

Karen

Thanks Karen, I'll look for brown pods.

My castor beans have been hit with a frost so I must remove them today.
I only save the brown also never the red pods.
They have clusters of 20 to 30 seed pods with 3 seed in each pod so 1 or 2 clusters will give a lot of seeds.
A lot of my clusters did get moldy this year but I have more seed than I can give away.
If the Funicular scar looks fuzzy, like white mold I dump it.
I let the clusters dry and crack the open with pliers. They can be ruff on the hands.