"junkyardcat" wrote in message
...
I went to a yard sale a few weeks ago and commented on a lady's flower
gardens. She gave me a bunch of different seeds and cuttings One thing
she
gave me was several pods of Castor Bean seeds (the spikey ball looking
things). She said just soak them in water a few days and then plant them.
My
question is...some of the spikey balls have disintegrated in the water,
leaving just a cluster of 3 beans. Can I just plant that cluster without
the
spikey thing around it? Sorry to sound so dumb, but I've never even seen
Castor Bean plants until the other day.

Thanks!
Angie

You can just plant the seeds.
The seeds are very poisonous, but must be ingested from what I understand,
topical poisoning is not possible. If there are small children or pets
around who might be inclined to try to eat the seeds from the pods that will
develop on you new plants...cut the pod clusters off and dispose of them
where they cant be found. Do this before the pods pop open and drop the
seeds.
A friend has one Castor in his backyard, the trunk diameter is about 6
inches and it stands about 12 feet tall. With proper pruning they can be
made to look like a very tropical tree.