I saw some seeds for sale and the giants sure do grow tall. Has no one grown these in pots and what size container would be good?
Has anyone grown giant castor leaf plants in containers?
I did a few years ago and won't ever do it again. Plant them in the ground, they will get HUGE. The ones I had in pots were about 3 feet tall and scraggly looking.
Thank you, I'll order some for spring time. I need some tall ones for shade.
When they froze in the fall, I had to get the Spousal Unit and the chainsaw to cut them down. They had trunks like small trees. What was left pulled up really easy in the spring, tho, just after the frost got out of the ground.
I wonder if in zone 8a they would die down as fast, they are annuals, so they should die at some point. It is the same way here with the sunflowers, the stems are thick and I have to wash off the soil off the roots to even gat them loose enough to dig out.
In SoCal we had the wild sunflowers that were very invasive with roots that would suck the life out of a nearby plant and grow big. I learned to pull them out when they were getting their first leaves and identifiable. The ones I actually planted for big seeds did not make it though, lol. Have Castor seeds sent to me by another DG member, to grow against gophers in SoCal but afraid to grow them due to their poisonous-ness.
"I did a few years ago and won't ever do it again. Plant them in the ground, they will get HUGE. The ones I had in pots were about 3 feet tall and scraggly looking."
Me too!
Al
Thank you both, im feeling like starting a couple of seeds early then, transplanting them outdoors into the ground. To get ahead a little.
I think they might grow too fast for that, and i dont know when would be a good time and not too early.. Lol. Although i may get a tropical look indoors.?
Tapia, I really love the look at your place, i want to shade my brug plants with the castors and also some of my ees.. Thank you for the informstion.
Guiltygirl, i have two golden retreivers, a cat, 15 box turtles and a whole bunch of mice. I managed to get one growing last year, my dogs just walked around it, the darned gophers came up all around this plant.. Now, i dont think i will have it anywhere near my boxies turtles.. But i wish the mice and gophers would eat some.. Lol. I used to have those same sunflowers in southern california. I miss spring right now.
I dont know that it would hurt anyone unless they would eat it. Im going to plant some.
This was from 2011...........I haven't had any castor beans since then but am thinking of them again for 2014, as I have a different place I'd like to plant them.
Anna, Oh those look great. I ordered some from Baker Creek. Im ready and so anxous. This afternoon we got a snow flurry that looked like miniature hail. I hope that the weather doesnt get worse.
I forgot to ask, what size were those containers that yielded three foot plants?
Tapla's are better...............
I had mine in a 16 inch pot. Wasted time and wasted pot. LOL
Hmm, If you can grow them in Mesilla (DH is from Cruces), then maybe they will grow here in No. Az. Seems like not much does grow here and now this mild winter had fruit trees setting buds around Christmas....