New castor bean contest.

That pic is many years back.........But still keep pinching them today if not wanting to collect seeds.

Holy mackeral~!!!!!!!!!

Whoa!!

The tallest that year was 18 feet.My friend in the pic is just under 6 foot tall.

Travis will help me mesure mine tomorrow or the next chance he gets. We are pretty sure it is at 18 to 20 ft tall now.......I will keep the seed pods off and keep it well fertilized and it should be a whopper.............when does the contest end?
:o)
Dee

WillowWasp, I think someone from Tx said they grow like trees year round in her area. Is it like that in yours also?
If so, I feel the urge for a road trip coming on. lol

Hummmmm, you know I really don't know if they do or not. I have seen some that are pretty tall but haven't really paid that much attention to them. Guess I need to look around more and see if there are more around.
:o)
Dee

Whilst driving to Costco today, and looking at the side roads and ditches, there were castor bean plants growing wild in the ditch... they were doing great. Most of them were the green ones that looked to be about three feet tall and were growing in a mote like ditch around the March Airforce Base here (now a Reserve component base)... if I could climb down..lol. I would go check it out..

WW your's looks fantastic.. I have to start yanking out those 4 O'clocks in my garden and get to some serious planting..

Elcipse: Thanks for the tip on taking off the seed pods.. will do, but I need to make sure I get a few for the next year. Next year you can bet there will be lots more castor bean plants in my yard. They are taking this heat in a fantastic manner 107 degrees and higher most of this past week alone. They have done great and also shaded other plants.

I bought my castor oil bean seedling at NOCP sale this spring and it is only 12 inches tall? did I do something worng? I have it in full sun?

ely

I think once they get root bound in a pot, they don't do very well. Maybe that is what is wrong with yours. They will actually do best if planted in place, but I need to get a jump start on mine with our short season.

Ely - The first time I grew castor beans, I got a dwarf variety. I left it as a focal point in the garden, and it never topped 2 1/2 ft. Perhaps yours could be a dwarf also?

I don't know But it looks funny..... It could be a dwarf, well I saved some seeds and I am going to try agin next year

ely

If anyone has the monster leafed Castor Bean and will accept SASE....please let me know and thank you very, very much!

I have castor bean that grows year round here. The largest one I have is about 10'. Very large leaves, hundreds of seeds and new plants growing everywhere. If anybody wants seeds just let me know.

Lily I am trying to get photos of mine, I know it is almost 18 ft. and the leaf is about 3 ft across. The stalk on this thing is huge, I hope I can get it photographed tomorrow and then yall can all see it...And I have lots of seeds so if you want some let me know and later I will be doing my seed exchange and I will get some out to you.
:o)
Dee

Thank you both!! :D I've seen pictures of it and received a couple of seeds last year.....didn't start them because the Farmer's Almanac said our 2004 summer here would be very cool/cold and short (and they were right). I love the exotic look and extra large leaves they have.....would definitely bring a *tropic* look to my yard....tho' not the height that you two will attain! ;) I'll be emailing you both tomorrow! :D I'm being a bit greedy taking a few from both of you but only two regular castor plants were for sale in town this year.....I have a couple of local gardening buddies that would also be tickled pink to grow an unusual variety.

This message was edited Aug 18, 2004 10:00 PM

I live in indiana and have been growing castors fo about 20 years and have all kinds of seeds the zanzibars grow the best for me but the yellow impala seam to flower the best, i have 20 plants now. has anybody seen the pink carmencita ones? the pods are pink i will post some pictures when i find out how to do it. any one looking for seeds i will have a bunch of them at the end of the growing year.

Gosh, when you do harvest, I'd love to be on your list for a few. Sounds like your place must look really tropical. Can you post pictures of any of your castors or just your yard in general. Would love to see it all. I had three castors growing in my beds and last night's storm took out two of them. I'm going to try to raise them and hope a stake will hold for a while until they are rooted in again.

Thank you.....I'd love a few too Polaris!

I only have the Pink and the Gray Castor and would love to have more varities. Didn't know there were that many different ones. If you have extras I would love to have some of the others to......
Let me know.... :0)
Dee

polaris93, please put me on your list for castor bean seed also. I have the purple, green and I think red if anyone wants seed I should have lots.

Polaris, I would love to see pics of all your different castor beans. I only thought there were just a couple of different kinds. What does the yellow impala look like?

How am I gonna measure this thing so yall can see how tall it reallly is. My hubby has it at almost 15ft, but that dosn't help me show yall how tall it is.........suggestions plzzzzz............. :o)
Dee

Boy, it is tall.

Polaris...I would like some seeds also. I have the red and the greenish-purple ones..but no others. I hope you can post pics of them..that would be great!

Polaris, I'd love some of your seeds, also.
Dee

Polaris, I would liove to try your yellow impala and the pink carmencita ones if you have enough to spare a few seeds! Let me know.

i will let everyone know when the seeds are ready to be shipped all i ask for is the shipping cost to mail them , hear is a picture of one of my castor rows, this year i got them too close together, if you want large castor plants you must feed them each day i use rapid grow it works wonders in any area.

hear is the yellow impala, only 14 weeks old , i start them under lights so thay get a good jump before the growing season starts, i also use bat guanno on them for more seed pods .

I have never heard of Yellow?
I am starting to get some pods,so that means they won't get much taller.

This one is over 10ft

The ones behind the Ears are close to the flagpole,which is 16ft.

Root , that last picture is amazing !

My gosh!!! Those are amazing! Your place looks just great!!

This message was edited Sep 19, 2004 9:59 PM

Boy Howdy!!!!

Hey Root! Looks like you might have this years' sewn up! All right!
Wasn't yours the one that got whipped by a tornado or something when it was that tall last year?

I was really late this year getting my beans in the ground (like APRIL or MAY!) so my sweet little purple guy is only about 3' tall. I'll try to get a picture today.

Maybe we can add a category for the shortest? (smile)
Might have a chance at that one! lol

~ Carole

Great pictures root! Your plant beat mine. I'll snap a picture of it later. It's one that has maroon leaves.

hey root

thoes are some gaint castors,must be from all the sun, would you like some yellow impalia seeds for next year or do thay grow all year long in K.C.?

This message was edited Sep 25, 2004 12:18 AM

They come back from seed each year,and yes,I would love to try the Yellow!

Question... When in Zone 7/8 do/did you start your Castor Beans? I think last year I started mid-March, but I've slept since then... and I don't EVEN want to miss a chance to enter next year's contest! lol
~ Carole

I dont mean to change the subject, lol my poor little Castor Bean is only about 5 foot, but can you tell me when the seeds will be ready?