I need so advice on castor bean plants. Can I prune them to make them bushier? If so how and when, mine are from seed, 8-10 feet tall and leggy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Linda
Castor bean plant questions
Yes, they respond very well to pruning....get bushier-less "leggy" etc
However;
This from a publication on "Poisonous Garden Plants:
The seeds of castor beans contain ricin, one of the world’s most poisonous substances. In fact, most poisoning of children in the southern U.S. is due to the ingestion of castor bean seeds. Often these cases prove fatal for unsuspecting victims. Symptoms of this toxin include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps; this may escalate into convulsions, low blood, pressure, shock and demise
Excerpt from a bulletin put out by the CDC:
People can breathe in ricin mist or powder and be poisoned.
Ricin can also get into water or food and then be swallowed.
Pellets of ricin, or ricin dissolved in a liquid, can be injected into people’s bodies.
Depending on the route of exposure (such as injection or inhalation), as little as 500 micrograms of ricin could be enough to kill an adult. A 500-microgram dose of ricin would be about the size of the head of a pin. A greater amount would likely be needed to kill people if the ricin were swallowed.
In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian writer and journalist who was living in London, died after he was attacked by a man with an umbrella. The umbrella had been rigged to inject a poison ricin pellet under Markov’s skin.
Some reports have indicated that ricin may have been used in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and that quantities of ricin were found in Al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan
Yes I know how poison they are. I am very careful. Alot of people grow this plant. I also grow brugmansia, tomatoes and other poison plants. I will be very careful pruning them don't worry. I just wasn't quite sure how to prune them.
Thanks for the warning
Linda
omat plants are poisonous???
Lots of plants are poison including parts of tomatoes. I think there is a thread somewhere on Daves about poison plants. You would be surprised
oh... you learn something new every day!
I don't think your chances of exposure during pruning are that great, eating the seeds would definitely be bad, but the ricin exposure that everyone else is quoting is when someone's gone to the trouble to extract the poison out of the seeds and concentrate it in another form. Plus I think the poison is mostly concentrated in the seeds, definitely wouldn't recommend experimenting with eating the plant itself, but if you're reasonably careful when pruning I don't think the risk is that big.
Thanks for the info. Back to my original question, how much do I prune off and can I do it now? I want it to be bushier, not so leggy.
Thanks
Linda
Going out on a limb here since there are no other answers... I would just top it to the height you want and see what happens. Im about to do the same for the same reason. Mine is about 5ft so Im goint to cut the leader back about 3 or 4 inches and see what it does. It may need more later but I rather start small. I hope someone else comes along before I go out and do it this evening and hack it! Otherwise it will be too late LOL!
Ill let ya know how it goes.
Caren
Here's my thought. Cutting back now will give you more bushiness later... you guys live in a warmer climate than me, if I'm going to snip anything to encourage a bushier plant, I try to do it before or around the 4th of July, but not much later in the season. That way it still has enough time left in the growing season to justify the snip.
I didn't get my castors planted until late this year, and I don't think they are getting enough sun where I put them..... they are barely a foot tall, but I still like em, I have the red stem and the green.. it's still fun watching them s l o w l y growing. I how they will grow enough to get seed pods, I doubt they will.
They grow like mad here. Mine froze to the ground last year and came back.( we usually don't get much frost but last year was a real exception) I went ahead and cut about 2-3 feet off mine and they seem to be growing faster. cool! I have to keep the seeds cut off they came up everywere this year. I think a minature castor bean would be a real plus.
Linda
I keep my seeds cut off anyway. I just grew them for the leaves and the quick shade they provide for other plants. Glad to hear your already are seeing new growth!
Caren