It’s easy to harvest castor bean seeds from the garden for planting next year. In this post, I’ll give you step-by-step instructions for how to collect castor bean seeds from your garden, and I’ll also show you how to store castor seeds.
In some areas of the world, castor bean plants are invasive. But here in Minnesota, they make beautiful and unique tropical plants that die back every fall (funny how that works). I love growing castor bean plants in my tropical garden, and I always get tons of compliments on them! I especially love this red castor bean variety that I have been growing in my tropical garden for a few years now.
Red castor bean plant growing in my garden
Castor Bean Seeds Harvesting
I first received my red castor bean seeds in a trade, and have been collecting the seeds from my garden every year since. It’s very easy to collect castor plant seeds and save them for planting next year.
Castor bean flowers are insignificant, but they form gorgeous seed pods that look like flower puffs at first. Red castor bean seed pods start out as bright red puff balls, which really add to the beauty of this plant. The seeds will form inside of these red puff balls, so be sure to leave them on the plant if you want to collect castor bean seeds.
Red castor bean seed pods
When To Harvest Castor Bean Seeds
The seed pods will start to fade and eventually turn brown. Allow castor bean pods to dry on the plant so that the seeds have plenty of time to mature. Eventually, the seed pods will split open, which is a sure sign that it’s time to start collecting castor seeds.
Don’t worry about collecting castor bean seeds before frost, I usually don’t get around to it until after a hard freeze, and I haven’t had problems with seed viability.
Castor bean seed pods ready to harvest
What Does A Castor Bean Seed Look Like
Castor bean seeds are oval shaped and have a nub on one end of the seed. They are pretty large, and hard to miss – larger and rounder than edible bean seeds. Truth be told, castor seeds actually kinda remind me of an engorged wood tick (disgusting, I know!).
Castor bean seeds and pods
How to Collect Castor Bean Seeds
To collect castor bean seeds, first clip the dried seed pods from the plant. Castor seed pods are very prickly, I recommend using gloves to handle them. You can store the seeds right in the pod, or remove the seeds from the pods before storing them.
To collect castor plant seeds, break open the seed pods. There are three castor seeds per seed pod. Sometimes not all the seeds in the pod are large enough to keep. Discard any castor bean pods or seeds that are small, they won’t be mature enough to germinate.
Collecting castor bean seed pods from my garden
How To Store Castor Bean Seeds
Allow your castor seeds to dry completely before storing the seeds. Ideally, the seeds should be stored in a dark, dry place until spring.
Once they’re dry, you can store your seeds in a paper bag or small plastic containers (like these film canisters). If you wan to share them with friends, then these small envelopes are perfect, or you can get customized seed envelopes, or make your own DIY seed envelopes. I store my seed collection in a plastic shoe box, but if you like to organize yours, then a Seed Keeper would be perfect!
It’s important to note that all parts of the castor bean plant are poisonous, so be sure to keep castor bean seeds and seed pods out of reach of children and pets at all times.
Harvesting castor bean seeds
Where To Find Castor Bean Seeds For Sale
It may be difficult to find castor beans for sale, depending on where you live. But most garden centers should sell the seeds from mid-winter through spring. Of course, you can always buy castor bean seeds online. Here is the type I grow… red castor bean seeds.
Collecting castor bean seeds from the garden is fun and easy! It’s a great way to grow your favorite plant year after year, and share the seeds with friends (just be sure to let them know that both the seeds and plants are poisonous).
Now that you know how to collect castor bean seeds, learn how to grow castor seeds next!
If you’re new to gardening and want to learn how to grow seeds indoors, then my Starting Seeds Indoors eBook is just what you need. It’s a quick-start guide for beginners to get started learning how to grow their own seeds. Download your copy today!
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More Posts About Saving Seeds
- Collecting and Sowing Spider Plant Seeds
- Collecting and Storing Seeds From the Garden
- How To Collect Lavender Seeds From Your Garden
- How To Harvest Butterfly Weed Seeds
Share your tips for how to collect castor bean seeds in the comments section below.
Anonymous says
OMG – just what I needed to see is another MN castor bean grower! My son grew them this year, and I was thinking the hard freezes we've had would hurt them, so last night I gathered the pods from the front of the house – got a couple of grocery bags full – still need to get the back yard ones. You state it is best to shell the pods – does this need to be done right away?
Amy Andrychowicz says
Hi KB – It's been pretty dry this fall so you don't need to remove the seeds from the pods right away. You would definitely want to remove them if the pods were wet, otherwise they might mold. My castor bean seeds stayed in their pods in the unheated garage all winter last year. I totally forgot about them and found them in February. I thought for sure they wouldn’t grow, but they did!
Anna says
I JUST posted about how much I'm looking forward to collecting my seeds for next year, as this was my first year growing castor bean and I LOVE IT. I'm growing the gigantic variety and this one (which for me hasn't flowered yet). I can't wait!
Great post, thanks for the help!
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome! One of my neighbors has the gigantic castor bean variety and it's so cool looking! You are welcome, glad I could help.
marcinda says
This is my second year growing them and i really like them.plus i share them as well.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome!
Darlene says
Hi, my husband and I got our first castor bean seeds from a guy where we walked every day. I started them to late in season for them to flower. My next batch I traded for and after soaking them, one out of six came up. That one is doing great! It has or had the red flowers and has lots of pods on it. When is the right time to pick castor seed pods off plant? Mine are green right now and bumpy but not brisket.
Thanks
Amy Andrychowicz says
The seed pods should turn brown and look dried out when they’re ready to be harvested, they might even start to split open. It’s best to allow castor seed pods to dry on the plant so the seeds have plenty of time to mature. It sounds to me like you should leave yours on the plant a bit longer.
Sam McBroom says
Will a new plant come up from the roots of the old one?
Amy Andrychowicz says
No, castor beans are annual plants, which means they only live for one growing season.
Denise Tate says
Yes they do come back…my Dad planted them yrs ago…and every yr..we still have the same ones coming back!!
Ricin Rodeo says
So I had my castor bean plant for about 1 1/2 months now, and my plants seem healthy. But they are only a couple inches tall by now. Is that normal? Or do they need more sun?
Amy Andrychowicz says
I would give your plants more sun, or add a grow light.
Akinbami Abiodun says
good day lovely topic,we dont plant castol in nigeria before but now we are doing research on it,please i want to plant castol but my problem is ricin because is poisonous what can we do to avoid this because our land in nigeria is very good for castol i saw it every location in nigeria.please i need your advice.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Unfortunately, all parts of the castor plant are poisonous, so there’s no way to avoid it.
joanne Montgomery says
Hi Amy I guess I jumped the gun on harvesting my castor bean seeds, I thought I should bring in the pods before it got too cold I cut them all off and put them in a brown paper bag . Will they be okay I opened the bag today ! Thanks for all your help!
Amy Andrychowicz says
Your castor bean seeds may still ripen in the pods if they were mature enough before you harvested them. Just make sure they are completely dried out so they won’t mold inside the bag.
Duddly says
You may have done the right thing. I have had zero luck letting them dry on the plant and then harvesting, it seems like they may be getting ruined that way, I’m testing this theory I just cut the nice red plump cluster off before they browned and before our first frost.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Great experiment! Let us know if your castor beans are viable for you.
Peppy says
Hi Amy,
Here is another castor bean grower from Savage, MN.
Last year I planted some old seeds that I found in my garage and they grew into gorgeous almost 12 feet tall castor bean plants. Seed pods never got to dry out on the plant before frost so I cut and stored them just after the frost.
I am trying to start them inside under a grow light but so far it’s been two weeks and they have not sprouted yet. Do you think I should be looking for new seeds?
Amy Andrychowicz says
Castor beans can be tricky to grow from seed, and can take a long time to sprout so don’t give up just yet. Here’s a post I wrote about growing castor beans from seed… How to Germinate Castor Bean Seeds
Debra McIntyre says
I have been growing castor beans for several years, in La. Want to share something I have learned while foliage feeding my angel trumpets. Cadtor beans benefit greatly from foliage feeding. It will produce a much larger plant !
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome, thanks so much for the tip!!
Stephanie says
I live in Michigan and we have had warm and cold days… I pick all my caster seeds and the pods are red…. can I put them in a paper bag to dry them out or are they ruined.
Amy Andrychowicz says
I’ve never tried collecting castor bean seeds before the pods have turned brown, so I’m not sure. I suspect that they aren’t going to be mature enough to grow though. I would try drying them out and see if they’re still good. I wouldn’t put them into a paper bag though, I’d spread them out on some newspaper and let them dry that way. Otherwise if they’re all touching each other in the bag, they might mold. Just make sure to keep them out of reach of kids and pets when you spread them out. A garage or shed would be the perfect spot.
Marie says
I’ve never grown castor plants before but yours look beautiful! What a great way to add some diversity to your garden.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Thanks! 🙂
gina tyler DHOM says
Love this powerfull deadly toxic plant! I have collected the seeds from seedpods while hiking in the mountains nearby me. Big warning USE GLOVES AT ALL TIMES WHEN HADLING THESE SEEDS!!!!!!!!!!!! googlesearch Ricin and you will see why….. Animals stay away from this plant its great to deter pests.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Thanks for your tips!
Martins says
@Denise you are right. I have a number of old ones coming up in my area.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Great to know. I live in MN, so they definitely don’t grow back here. LOL!
Gerry Klappe says
This is my second year of growing the castor plants. This year I am not having much luck. I planted 110 plants after the were 8/10″ tall and in some gardening peat. As they started to increase in size the leaves started to turn brown around the edges and eventually the entire leaf. It does not seem to matter whether the soil is dry, wet or moist. Slowly almost 80 of my plants have died. The remaining ones are between 1 to 3 ft tall.
What makes the leaves or plants die like that when they are all treated the same?
By the way, I live in B.C. Canada just above the American border.
Amy Andrychowicz says
It’s hard to say without more information. Are you castor bean plants in the garden or in pots? Have you given them any type of fertilizer or sprayed anything on the plants? What type of sun exposure are the getting?
Linda Thomas says
We missed a couple years of planting out castor bean plants, but this year got some red and giants from a neighborhood group. We live in Milwaukee, about 10 miles from the lake. Put the seeds in the ground about the 1st week of June and they are all so beautiful! Next year, I want to put the reds in front of the giants because of the height. The giants are 15′ tall, but if we would have had more 90 degree days they would be over the neighbors roof! Everyone that sees them is amazed!
Amy Andrychowicz says
Holy smokes, that’s fantastic!! I’ve never grown giant castor bean plants, but I’ve seen them around and they are impressive! I bet the red castor bean plants in front of the giants would look amazing!
Caren Bailey says
This was mine and my husbands first year growing the castor bean. I’m really impressed with the plant, however one plant seems to be shorter and staulker than the others with darker green leaves. We ordered the seed from a seed company and thought maybe seeds got mixed. I was interested in saving the seed and planting again next spring. After reading all the information everyone has provided I think I now know what to do. Thank you, Caren
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, it sounds like the seeds got mixed up and you grew two different varieties of castor bean. 🙂 Glad you found the steps for collecting castor bean seeds helpful! Awesome.
Peggy shallcross says
I grew them in DE this summer. They are beautiful, 10 ft tall. But the pods never went to flower (yet, it’s October) . Maybe they got started to late, but I’m still going to try harvesting seeds. Love the plant, so tropical looking.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Castor bean seed pods won’t flower, the flowers come before the pods. The flowers are insignificant so you probably never even noticed them, LOL! But if you have seed pods, then you should be able to collect the seeds. I love it too, so pretty!
Jim Zwolinski says
We live near the bottom of Lake Huron not too far from the shore. I remember my mom planted giant castor beans 50 years ago and how impressive they were. This season Teri my wife planted 2 in one of the circular gardens she build in the middle of our side yard. It was quite enjoyable to watch them grow to their present 10 foot height. One has a volley ball size cluster of seed pods. Yea babe. I told Teri I was going to plant a Castor Bean forest next year. She shot me down on that but you know what? Try to stop me. Once I get it all going our respect for life will preclude her terminating my project. She already taught me to germinate the seeds and get the seedlings going before planting. Silly girl. A heartfull of thanks is the best prayer. How can one not be thankful amid the splendor of Creation and help from famil and friends?
Amy Andrychowicz says
LOL! It sounds like you are hooked on growing castor bean plants! They are gorgeous, so I can’t blame you. 🙂
Kelly Hall says
I live in Tulsa OK and have some castor bean plants this year that are 20-25 feet tall! I’m going to try to post pic. We’re having a hard freeze tonight and seeds are green. So glad to find this site saying not to harvest yet. I would LOVE to have some red castor bean seeds if anyone would be willing to trade for my giants. Please let me know. Thanks again for the great advice!
Amy Andrychowicz says
WOW! Those are some tall castor plants! So cool! You can’t post photos here, but you can on my Facebook page or tag me on Instagram. Would love to see them!
Debbie says
I have been growing these beauties for several years, my father in law got me hooked! I have grown some big ones while leaving the pods on till the end. I live near Niagara Falls and have seen them in the parks by the falls and they gotta be 30 to 40 feet tall and probably the same in diameter. Because they are in the public park all of the flowers are removed so all the growing energy goes to leaves and stalk. Both the stalks and leaves are huge! Stunning!!!!
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, some varieties of castor plants can grow very large! They are so gorgeous.
Maggie Morish says
Good job in sharing this. I’ve always wanted to grow these plants but decided not to after finding out that they’re poisonous. From what I’ve read, one castor bean is enough to kill an adult in minutes. Which brings me to this question — what precautionary measures do you take to make sure that no kids or animals get their hands on them?
Thanks in advance Amy!
Amy Andrychowicz says
I grow my castor bean plants in a fenced in backyard, and we don’t have any pets or kids to worry about. 🙂 When I harvest the seeds and bring them inside (we do have house cats), I put the into a container that has a lid and put them up on a high shelf in a closet that they can’t get to.
Linda says
I grew a giant castor bean plant from seeds I bought on line. It grew to well over 15’ and was beautiful. We had a bad wind and rain storm which blew it over – breaking the stalk. The blossoms are still red. Will I still be able to gather seeds from it? How should I get rid of it? It’s laying on the grass now.
Amy Andrychowicz says
If your castor bean seed pods are still red, then the seeds may not be mature enough to grow. There may still be enough energy in the plant for the seeds to mature though. I would just allow the plant to dry out, and once the seed pods turn brown try harvesting them. It sure doesn’t hurt to try. 🙂
Michelle says
Thank you everyone for tips on growing caster beans. This is my 1st year. I was late in starting. My plant is about ankle high but I am proud of him. I look forward to all the garden advise. I am in Oklahoma
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome!
Linda says
How do I dispose of the castor bean plant at the end of the year. If I put it in my garbage it will go to the landfill. Is that ok since the plant and seeds are so poisonous?
Amy Andrychowicz says
I put my castor bean plant into my compost bin, or into the yard waste bin for composting.