caster beans as a 'fence'?

[bennett]

has anyone heard of caster beans? they end up having a thick stalk (similar to bamboo i'm told) and are not edible to humans (the beans) but make a good 'fence' or hedge. i'm trying to find out if anyone has used it like that?

the mil wants some and i thought it would go well on our back fence so the dogs don't bark at every shadow they see.

tia

susan

 

[mtn_penny]

Never used them for a hedge and we typically pull up any we find since they are poisenous to livestock and we have horses.

so for hedges I like lilacs.

 

[patandchickens]

I wouldn't use them (especially not in quantity) around animals (even dogs) or kids, as they are *quite* poisonous, doesn't take much to kill ya. They are supposedly perennial in frostfree climates (you'd need a fairly non-windy site tho because they sure do get tall!)... but never having lived in one of those all I can say is that as annuals they would kind of suck as a fence or hedge.

There are probably a lot of other better choices, no matter what your climate.

JMHO, good luck,

Pat

 

[TillinWithMyPeeps]

I would stay far, far away from castor beans. The beans themselves contain ricin, as little as 0.5 milligram of ricin can kill an adult.

I wouldn't try it.

 

[SewingDiva]

I use them as container plants to minimize the dangerous aspects others have mentioned. They are very dramatic and showy.

 

[mythkat]

You might try a nice clumping bamboo. Its a very good privacy screen and not harmful to pets or people.

 

[dachsunds]

I plant them for summer shade in places that need it. I don't think they would make a good fence,they aren't dense enough. I plant them around my dog and poultry pens with no problems. The burgandy type are really goregous specimen plants. The richer the ground and the more water the bigger they get. Only problem I have is getting the old roots out of the ground at the end of the season. They don't winter over here but they take a long time to rot.