Category: Soil

The castor plant grows rapidly. It achieves height approximately more than 6 feet. Its maximum height is 12 meter. Growing castor plant is possible by seeds. Soak castor seeds in a glass of water for 24 hours before planting. Use filtered or purified water instead of tap water.

Requirements for Castor Plant:

• Soil

The soil must be well drained because it can not tolerate water logging. The soil should be rich in organic substance. Castor plant is adaptable to many different types of soil. Castor beans need warm soil to crop up.

• Sun

Because of its height, Castor needs to be sheltered from the winds. Castor bean plants need a full sun location and lots of heat to grow their best.

• Fertilizer

For castor plant, use the all-purpose fertilizer once in a month. when the buds begin to emerge, spread a layer of an inch of aged compost around the base of the plant.

• Watering

The soil which is always slightly moist, it should be good for castor plant.

• Pruning and Harvesting

For castor plant, pruning is not required. Select the bean pods as they begin to dry on the plant. Either remove the castor plants from the garden with pods or leave them if growing as perennial.

Tips:

• If there is the case of ingestion, avoid the castor plant.
• Remove the weeds at first phase of planting.
• Keep in mind that castor plant requires more water at starting phase.
• Castor plant needs regular watering and pesticide sprinkling.
• When there is the medium sized crop, use the plow to remove weeds.
• During Harvesting, take only those castors, which are ripe completely.

Cautions:

• Castor plants may be allergic to some people, but it’s not poison for anybody.
• Keep Pets away from eating castor leaves or seeds.
• Also keep children away from castor plants and seeds.

The pink bollworm is an insect which is a pest of cotton farming. The pink bollworm is varies in size. The rare size of pink bollworm is 3/8 inch in length. Pink bollworm is grey in color with oval shaped wings. The wings are strongly fringed at the edges. The pink ball warm’s wings are pointed at the tip. When at rest, the moth’s wings are folded close to the body.  Under magnification, palpi can be seen emerging from the lower front part of the head. In contrast to most other moths, the palpi of pink bollworm are relatively thick, curved upwards and have light and dark colored bands. Also, the pink bollworm moths have a few stout hairs which project forward from the base of the antenna.  Pink bollworm moths will typically live 4 to 8 days.

Pink bollworm

Pink ballworm eggs seen rarely and they are samll in size and yellow in colour. Eggs are usually laid singly inside the bracts of squares and under the calyx of bolls. Eggs normally hatch in 4 to 5 days.

Pink bollworm moth

Early instar pink bollworm larva

The pink ballworm is white in colour but it turns pink as their age. At hatching, the larvae have a dark head, but as they mature, the head becomes yellowish-brown in color. The most effective means of managing pink bollworm in season is to plant cotton containing genes from the bacteria. These genes produce proteins that are toxic to most leaf and fruit feeding caterpillars after ingestion.

The pink bollworm is native to Asia, but it found in most of the world’s cotton-growing regions. It reached the cotton belt in the southern United States by the 1920s. It is a major pest in the cotton fields of the southern California deserts. The female moth lays eggs in a cotton boll, and when the larvae emerge from the eggs, they inflict damage through feeding.