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When to harvest my Castor bean seeds?

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Posted by hengal z5 / IN (My Page) on
Mon, Nov 19, 07 at 14:50

Hi all. I have a beautiful red castor bean plant that has just now wilted due to the cold weather. The seed pods are not dark brown and dried up yet so I haven't havested them. I want to make sure they have fully formed viable seeds for next year. I'm afraid the freeze may destroy the seeds, however, like I said, they are not completely dried yet. Do I leave them on the plant or should I cut them off and dry them inside?
Thanks!

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RE: When to harvest my Castor bean seeds?

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  • Posted by trudi_d 7, Long Island (My Page) on
    Mon, Nov 19, 07 at 19:31

Cut off the withered pods and bring them inside to dry on a plate--make sure it's somewhere that no people or pets can get to it. Sometimes there's enough moisture and nutrients left in a stem to finsih the maturation of seeds--but sometime's there's not. In a couple of weeks check the pods and see if the seeds inside are firm, if so remove and store them until sowing. If you can spare any do a germination test before sowing the whole batch to avoid dissapointments.

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RE: When to harvest my Castor bean seeds?

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I'm drying some myself right now and was told that they'll pop open and fly across the room so keep them in paper sack or something to contain them.

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RE: When to harvest my Castor bean seeds?

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Guess I'd better check on them tonight! I cut the pods off of the stems about a week ago and put them up where the cats can't get to them. They were drying pretty nicely - guess I'd better make sure none have popped. :)

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