The (100 PLANT) Ricinus Jungle! (Updated 29 June)

[Kyle]

GERMINATION UPDATE - 1 WEEK AFTER SOWING

Just done a visual count of the Ricinus, one week on from sowing. Most of these are just breaking through the soil so I expect there'll be a lot more very shortly. Good news is that there is already something of everything growing.



Ricinus communis 'Zanzi Palm' (5 of 21)
Ricinus communis 'Blue Giant' (5 of 10)
Ricinus communis 'Green Giant' (10 of 11)
Ricinus communis zanzibarensis Mixed (10 of 16)
Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple' (4 of 11)
Ricinus communis var. gibsonii. (4 of 12)
Ricinus communis 'Impala' (14 of 15)
Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' (5 of 5)
Ricinus communis 'Carmencita Pink' (5 of 5)
TOTAL 62 (of 106)

'Zanzi Palm' seems to have been the slowest. They were the smallest seeds of all the varieties, so they're probably just not showing through the surface yet. Zanzibarensis was the first to shoot (3 days after sowing!).

Off to a good start.

[cordyman]

GERMINATION UPDATE - 1 WEEK AFTER SOWING

Just done a visual count of the Ricinus, one week on from sowing. Most of these are just breaking through the soil so I expect there'll be a lot more very shortly. Good news is that there is already something of everything growing.



Ricinus communis 'Zanzi Palm' (5 of 21)
Ricinus communis 'Blue Giant' (5 of 10)
Ricinus communis 'Green Giant' (10 of 11)
Ricinus communis zanzibarensis Mixed (10 of 16)
Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple' (4 of 11)
Ricinus communis var. gibsonii. (4 of 12)
Ricinus communis 'Impala' (14 of 15)
Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' (5 of 5)
Ricinus communis 'Carmencita Pink' (5 of 5)
TOTAL 62 (of 106)

'Zanzi Palm' seems to have been the slowest. They were the smallest seeds of all the varieties, so they're probably just not showing through the surface yet. Zanzibarensis was the first to shoot (3 days after sowing!).

Off to a good start.

i cant believe how fast these things are going to grow, looking forward to watching them become monsters

[Kristen]

OK, can't wait ... I'm going to sow mine this weekend ...

[Kyle]

OK, can't wait ... I'm going to sow mine this weekend ...

Which varieties are you growing Kristen?

[Kristen]

OK, can't wait ... I'm going to sow mine this weekend ...

Which varieties are you growing Kristen?

<SadGitMode>Opens spreadhseet</SadGitMode>

Ricinus New Zealand Purple (10 seeds I think, from Jungle)
Ricinus zanzibarensis 25sds (from Moles Seeds - sowed half)

and I have one seed of Ricinus Giant Blue that someone kindly gave me and which I'm going to "chit" on damp kitchen paper to increase chance of getting that single one to "go".

So nothing very fancy I'm afraid ...

[derrick]

I got Nz and Impala this year last year i had Giant red and blue and before that Zansi & Carmecita the council plant them in roundabouts in the south .They grow fast i remove the seed heads before they grow as poisonous

[Kyle]

Out of curiosity, has anyone grown the Zanzibarensis 'Mixed' seeds from Chiltern before?

I'm wondering how varied these fully grown 'Mixed' plants are going to be. The seeds themselves contained quite a selection of sizes and colour patterns. It seems hard to believe they'll all be of the same height, flower colour, leaf colour, etc.

[Kyle]

PROJECT UPDATE - 2 WEEKS

Two weeks in and the germination count is as follows:

Ricinus communis 'Zanzi Palm' (19 of 21)
Ricinus communis 'Blue Giant' (6 of 10)
Ricinus communis 'Green Giant' (10 of 11)
Ricinus communis zanzibarensis Mixed (14 of 16)
Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple' (7 of 11)
Ricinus communis var. gibsonii. (4 of 12)
Ricinus communis 'Impala' (14 of 15)
Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' (5 of 5)
Ricinus communis 'Carmencita Pink' (5 of 5)
TOTAL 84 (of 106)

I'm not expecting any more to germinate now as they were all very quick to show. The gibsonii are disappointing at 33%. All in all though, plenty of plants to give a decent jungle this summer.

Weather the first week after sowing was great - the greenhouse spending most of the daytime hours baking in the low 40's. I would't have believed a week later we'd be blessed with a good 4 inch of snow. The temperatures inside the greenhouse this whole week have struggled to get into the 20's.

I've been bringing the Ricinus inside every evening and placing in the greenhouse during the daytime. We've got six days of rain forecast for the coming week with a max daytime temp of 11c. Not sure these plants are going to get off to the best start, but I'll remain positive.

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Hi Kyle
my ricinus have been in an unheated g/h since Feb 26th. Lowest temp they seen is +0.8 deg on March 18th and they've been ok. Just opening their 3rd pair of leaves.

We grow 'em hard in Wales

[Kyle]

Hi Kyle
my ricinus have been in an unheated g/h since Feb 26th. Lowest temp they seen is +0.8 deg on March 18th and they've been ok. Just opening their 3rd pair of leaves.

We grow 'em hard in Wales

Cheers Arlon, that's great peace of mind. This is my first attempt at these and I've been a little paranoid that anything less than double-figures could be fatal at this stage. Seems I've vastly underestimated them!

Which are you growing this year?

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Just the Zani's. My first time as well Kyle but i like to test and record things to try and get an idea of how far to push plants. If i lose a few in the process thats ok, it's a learning curve for future years.

Plus i can't be arsed to run back and forth with trays of plants

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

P.S
The rest of the remaining night temps for March ..........lowest night min 6.7 deg, highest night min was 8.7.

Day temps ranged at that time between 19.1 and 30.4 deg ( all figures are greenhouse temps )

Hope it helps

[Kyle]

P.S
The rest of the remaining night temps for March ..........lowest night min 6.7 deg, highest night min was 8.7.

Day temps ranged at that time between 19.1 and 30.4 deg ( all figures are greenhouse temps )

Hope it helps

That's great Arlon

I think I can adjust my strategy and save a bit of back ache in the process.

[Deedee]

Good to know about the temps Arlon, i have 3 seedlings and one more coming up Im really excited about them) my windowsills are too overcrowded and im hoping to get them into the greenhouse in the next couple of weeks

[Dim]

Kyle .... just a quick question .... do your Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' have red leaves when they are still young?

reason I ask, is that I bought 2 seedlings off ebay a few weeks ago, they have grown well, but they still have green leaves, so perhaps I have been sold a different species?

Herewith pics of the 2 (one is larger as I fed it with compost tea and nutes)

http://1.2.3.10/bmi/img842.imageshack.u ... inus3a.jpg

http://1.2.3.9/bmi/img192.imageshack.us ... inus4a.jpg