Castor plants

[serenityinbamboo]

We had those stupid "trees" at our last house. They got to be huge, drop tons of the little nuts/berries, which in turn kept growing No walking barefoot in the yard, always had to watch out for the animals. Finally, We had removed them for the safety of our dogs and our feet

[Iowaboo]

Whatever. 10ft. tall this year. But look around.
The castor beans block view of the road, but sunflowers don't.
Wouldn't it be sweet if I bamboo riding along the road someday. Well, well?
be quiet, I can wish.

[BooKing]

If I only had an acre...

[Iowaboo]

The acres out here are good for growing corn and not bamboo. Actually, the prairie soil has been washed away. The soil has been abused for so long they have to inject chemicals into the soil like its a herion addict.

[Roy]

The acres out here are good for growing corn and not bamboo. Actually, the prairie soil has been washed away. The soil has been abused for so long they have to inject chemicals into the soil like its a heroin addict.

Great analogy.

[Iowaboo]

Another view for you booking! The ditch that runs between the road and my parent's farm has more acreage than your place. The roadcrew goes along the highway and sprays anything they can. I was thinking bamboo would be fun if it creeped into the ditch. It would do double duty, it would create something for highway traffic to look at, and would screen our place from the eye-sore.

[Thuja]

Whatever. 10ft. tall this year. But look around.
The castor beans block view of the road, but sunflowers don't.
Wouldn't it be sweet if I bamboo riding along the road someday. Well, well?
be quiet, I can wish.

I think Iowan nuda can give that beanstalk a run for its money in several years, even without the heroin fix. Yay, don't you love the power of positive thinking?

[Iowaboo]

Nuda went nude too fast last year. I have my bets on bissetii or rubro. But my bissetii has been totaled. I think I might get another one next year for back up.

[Bamboo Conne'isseur]

Castors grow like weeds around here, as it is a fairly common plant. I see it growing along the side of the road all the time. It does has a nice color to it though.
Same thing with banana, giant elephant ears, among other numerous palms.

[foxd]

While pulling weeds I found a miniature Castor plant about 10 inches tall with leaves about 1.5 inches across. I'm guessing a bit of root survived from last year and re-sprouted. It is just too tiny to have come directly from seed. I am curious if it will produce miniature seedpods with miniature seeds.

[Iowaboo]

If it was shaded by the weeds or lacked moisture from competition, it can be from seed. I gotta take a pic of my castor beans this year. Its a laughfest.

But most of them have put up seed capsules. Drought does that to them. Once they put up those, they don't grow anymore.
I forgot to mulch them, so they are even shorter than they could have been.

[Iowaboo]

[foxd]

Lance, the cat in your picture is bigger than the one I found. Since Castor plants will grow into a tree in warmer climates, I'm considering getting a bonsai pot for this one.

My regular sized Castor plants have started to produce seed pods, but they normally keep growing while doing so.

[foxd]

Looking at the picture I realize it is actually smaller than I stated, about 7 inches tall.

[Iowaboo]

Looks like it could be a stunted seedling. Shade and weed competition could have done that. The tallest one I have is 30 inches, and I have some that are 6" to 9" range. One has a seed capsule at that height.