I saw a strange plant, like a palm tree, with large elegant leaves, a little like a maple, which I could not forget. So I decided at all costs to grow this on my garden plot. Ricinus, which is the name of the exotic “palms” that I liked, is a powerful, tall ornamental plant with large, palm-lobed leaves.
When I planted the palm, I also brought a special subtropical fragrance to my garden, making it look like a magnificent southern garden. And to do this, I needed the three available Ricinus plants to rise up and they really rose to a height of five feet in just a month, creating a very spectacular “palm” composition.
Ricinus is native to Africa, where it grows as a perennial. How many centuries ago people first discovered Castor plants is unknown. But its seeds were found by archaeologists while studying the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs.
The cultivation of Ricinus
In particularly favorable conditions, the perennial Ricinus can reach up to 10 m (10.9 yard) in height. In our latitudes, the plant is cultivated exclusively as a thermophilic annual, growing up to 3 m (3.3 yard).
The Ricinus plant is quite unpretentious, but it is best to grow it in sunny areas. The plant is very thermophilic.
Castor prefers to grow in moist areas with deeply cultivated nutrient (topsoil) loose soil. The ricinus is propagated exclusively by seeds, which ripen in fruits (several pieces per branch), similar to a spiny spherical capsule.
You need to sow the seeds of ricinus seedlings from the end of March to mid-June, but I do it in mid-April. The seedling sown at this time grows quickly, does not stretch and does not transform. In addition, according to my personal observations, only in April, ricinus seedlings are sown in order to develop into power plants in time for the season, on which viable seeds are formed and ripen.
Planting of Ricinus
Ricinus seeds do not germinate for a long time, and out of ten planted, as practice shows, only 6-7 inner shoots at best, keep this in mind before sowing. To speed up the germination of slow-growing large ricinus seeds, it is advisable to apply scarification: just before planting, I slightly treat each seed with ordinary sandpaper. Then soak them overnight in a solution of a growth stimulant.
Ricinus seeds are sown individually to a depth of 1-2 cm (0.4-0.8 inch), a liter plastic bucket is filled with earth only half. After pretreatment, they germinate quite quickly, in just 3-4 days. Sometimes it is very difficult for ricinus seeds to get rid of the oily skin that covers the cotyledon leaves. In this case, I carefully removed the skin with tweezers. It can not be left — the leaves can rot.
No less quickly, the seedlings of the Ricinus plant begin to develop — even before the first real leaves appear, the stems of the seedlings are slightly stretched. Therefore, as soon as the first real stem appears, I transfer the seedlings to a bright place with a temperature of at least +15 °C (59°F). As the seedlings grow rapidly, I fill the soil in the corners of the bucket. Sometimes my ricinus seedlings were stretched out, and I had to process the plants in a larger bucket.
Ricinus seedlings are planted in the soil only in late May — early June. In order not to injure the roots of plants and prevent the earthen clod from drying out, immediately before planting, the seedlings are abundantly watered with water, and only then they are carefully planted.
Care Ricinus
Ricinus is such an unpretentious plant that it requires almost no maintenance. Perhaps the only point that deserves attention is watering. During the entire summer season, the plant is very actively developing, so it needs to ensure regular soil moisture. I try to water the plant with castor oil every 5 days (previously diluted with 10 liters of water) under the plant. In the initial period of growth, weeding is necessary, since still young plants will not be able to drown out weeds.
Very responsive and ricinus with various top dressing: it is best to apply nitrogen, especially before the formation of inflorescences of plants.
Attention! Because ricinus seeds contain ricin, a toxic substance, ingesting them is very dangerous: a total of 6 seeds are fatal to children and 20 to adults, remember this! I grow castor oil, do not forget that its cake is also poisonous, despite the fact that it is used as an excellent fertilizer, as well as to combat various soil pests.