If someone tells you to use a fertilizer with at least "6 (%) for N", they don't know much about fertilizing plants. It's not the numbers that are important, it's the RATIO of the numbers to each other. If you had a soluble 10-10-10 fertilizer and a soluble 20-20-20, which is better? As far as NPK goes, you might as well consider them the same. The reason I say this is: If you read the dilution instructions carefully, you'll see the labels direct you to use half as much 20-20-20 in your fertilizer solution as 10-10-10. That way, you come up with a solution with TDS (total dissolved solids) and EC (electrical conductivity) that are equal and consistent with most manufacturer's recommended concentration. What is MORE important is the RATIO of elements to each other in the blend. We almost always supply fertilizer based on N needs, so if you're using a shotgun approach (no soil test) it makes good sense to supply nutrients in as close to the same ratio as plants use them. The closest ratio is any 3:1:2 RATIO, for all but a very few plants. Plants use 6X more N than P, and about 1.5X more N than K, so why use a 1:1:1 fertilizer like 20-20-20 that supplies more P and K than the plant could ever use, based on N usage? For almost all plants, when you haven't had a soil test & know specifically what your soil lacks, or for container plantings, a 3:1:2 ratio like 24-8-16, 12-4-8, or 9-3-6 is a very good choice. It's silly to suggest a fertilizer with "at least 6% N" because (if you could buy it) a fertilizer with 3-1-2 NPK will end up delivering the same amount of N in each application because you use more. BTW - I don't think your issue is directly related to fertilizer, but to your soil. It appears to be needing organic matter badly. You might wish to consider starting a BIG compost pile, or at least mulching heavily so the soil critters can till in the organic matter for you. Mid-August in Mid-Michigan with a month's worth of growth until first expected frost: PS: There are lots of varieties of castor beans. You may have one of the 'Carmancitas' or 'Gibsonii', both of which are diminutive compared to the species plants in the pic. Al

Token, That New Zealand Purple is a tall castor bean and it probably will support a moonvine. Its large leaves may cast a lot shade that the moonvine doesn't like, but maybe not. It certainly seems worth an experiment. There are some varieties of sunflowers that grow very tall and they might be candidate supports for moonvines as well. There are also some varieties of corn that grow very tall, and they also might be worth experimenting with. Growing your own living trellis is an interesting idea, but it provides a few challenges. For one thing, there is the matter of timing, so that the trellis grows on up ahead of the moonvine. If the moonvine gets too far ahead of the living trellis, it might tend to "pile up" on top of the trellis and topple it. ZM

Ditto Brent. That is fine looking, and the castor bean plant isn't half bad either. gardenymph, Is this the plant that castor oil comes from? That would be a "yes". However, I wouldn't recommend extracting the oil for any uses. See next paragraph. It is also the same plant that produces "ricin", considered by many to be one of the most deadly naturally occurring poison known to man. Used by the KGB for clandestined assasinations. Fortunately, poisonings from the plant itself is very rare. The oil and the poison are both contained in the seed and generally require ingestion of several beans or artificial concentration to be lethal. The downside is that there is no antidote, so non-lethal doses still have to run their course.

The compounds that make the plants inedible or poisonous break down in the compost, and they can't be taken up by other plants anyway. The only plant I'd be careful with is poison ivy, because the woody parts take a long time to decompose. Mostly plants use toxins to keep herbivores like us from eating them -- unless we can help with seed distribution. Once the plants are dead, they have no further need for chemical defenses, which nature cleans up as part of the decomposition process. It's a good question!