Warning About Castor Bean Plants........SCARY

I live in Utah and have a bit of an obssession with having a unique yard. Last year I decided to plant castor bean by seed. I loved how tall they got and how they look. However, I will NOT be planting them this year and here is why.

My neighbor two doors down. Crazy man! Took some of the beans of a Castor Plant, crushed them up and was planning on using them as a weapon. They found him last week in a hotel in Las Vegas almost dead. He is still in the hospital from what Ive heard. He must have somehow gotten some into his system. The news said that it only takes a pin point ammount to kill you. Scary Scary

Just thought you'd find it interesting.

That's just bizarre...what was he going to use them for?

The oil from a casterbean is what risin poison is made from. BEV

True, but so is castor oil. Castor beans are poisonous, so are a lot of other plants. A good chemist can extract the concentrated poison, but both a lab and expertise are needed. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/ricin.cases/index.html

They are banned here in NSW Australia ...we live amongst poisonous plants and I often wonder why some that are deadly are never mentioned and others are singled out as evil ...I remember as a child being fascinated by the "pretty " castor oil plant and we played with the seeds ...I am still here but maybe I was lucky, that may be where the danger is ...some plants tend to attract the attention of children. Teach your children well. Thankyou for the warning ...but I can tell you that in the hands of fruitcakes (nutters) there are many many things that can be deadly.
chrissy

Sorry Ive been away. He obviously did his homework. We had the FBI section off the neighborhood and quarnteen things off for days. They found risin in his hotel and I think the house. He was so strange that who knows what he was going to use it for. freaky freaky.

And true there are plenty of poisonous plants. It makes it hard to decide what to stay away from. I just tell my kids that without knowing, they should stay away from messing with any plant......

Lesh

lesh we're glad your back, we thought you might have been taken into custody.lol!
I guess that means you won't be planting foxglove either.

Darn...is that a bad one too? I have it planted. If i didnt have a two year old that thought everything must be tasted before played with, Id plant it poisonist or not. lol.

As far as the taken into custody thing. I am surprised that they havent asked me about them. They were the talk of my neighborhood this summer when they got huge. They all goo and gawed over them.

Well most people wear gloves when handling them now, i think one form of them they mfg. the drug digitalis, a heart medication.
I suppose if spouse's start dropping like flies in the neighborhood, the authorities may have to revisit your neighborhood and castor bean plant. lol

freaky.

a friend gave me castor bean seeds this year.... not going to plant those... I looked them up after she gave them to me and no way do i want those near me or my yorkies.... not sure what to do with them now?... don't want to put them in the trash... any suggestions on how to destroy them?

burn them?

I was thinking the oils inside might come back to bite me

I have grown castor bean plants, both the green-leafed variety and the red ones. Yes, they produce one of the world's deadliest poisons: ricin. That chemical is indeed extracted from the seeds that the plant produces profusely. But they also provide a very interesting plant with great appeal if you like tall, quick-growing things. Like I said, I had them in my last garden and they were among my prides and joys. What else grows to 8 feet in the short summers we got in Zone 5?

Mindful of the deadly repercussions that my plants may generate should the seeds get into the wrong hands, I would remove the flowers as soon as they opened. No flower, no seed, no problem. I wore disposable gloves and simply put the budding flowers in the compost bin. Seeds? What seeds?

Sylvain

Lours is right of course, thats one way to do it, if youre able.
I wish they werent so deadly, cause they are soooo pretty.

Why are you wearing gloves to handle the plant or the seeds? Are they toxic just by touching? I am growing both kinds and they didn't even freeze over our past winter. I just busted open some seed pods with my bare hands. Now what?

Some people are hypersensitive to that toxin. People report allergic reactions just touching the leaves. I have always handled that plant without any reaction. Better safe than sorry.

Sylvain.