I grew a bunch of castor bean plants, but frost took them last week. I have a serious mole problem in my daylily patch, can I grind the castor plants up leaves and all and mix w water in a 5 gal bucket and pour it over the daylily bed to help keep the moles out?
1. we have a stray cat come off and on, will this hurt him if he uses the soil as a litter area like get it on his paws? , I can't imagine him eating the mole-I don't think he'd do that.

2. will it poison worms/bugs so that it will kill birds that eat them?

and 3 we do have a well on the property about 350 ft deep, our drinking water. I went to the store to buy mole repellent product, (granules) but seen the active ingredient was castor oil, so wondered if I could make my own since I already have the plants.

To clarify I don't want to poison the kitty, the birds or myself.

What acts as a "repellant" in castor oil is ricin, a toxic lectin.
Ricin is only present in castor seeds and is removed by steam precipitation for food/pharma grade castor oil.
By merely using chopped up plants you would achieve absolutely nothing because the ricin you need is only present in negligible quantities or none at all.

If you know somebody who owns indoor cats, have them give to you a bag of used cat litter, the stinkier the better. Pour about a cup of used cat litter into each molehill and then cover up the opening with some soil. Moles hate the smell (apparently it triggers a flight reaction) and will just move elsewhere.
And apart from the smell used cat litter is 100% safe to use.

https://csuvth.colostate.edu/p...

All parts of the plant are poison, not just the seeds. From what I have read using it in the garden causes the grubs to have it in their system and when moles eat them, they die. I have never used it so I don't know. I do know that manufacturing companies like to sell things by convincing their customers that it will cure their problem by midnight w no effort for only $9.99

I think it would be a bad idea to use cat litter as it is clay, and I most certainly do not need anymore of that. Plus I think the urine/poo would be bad for my plants. And I don't want to work in cat poo or smell it in the yard when I am out. So it may work, but it's not something I want to do myself.

Also to clarify I did not say 'chopped up' I said grind up -as in using a blender, -in other words puree into a liquid form. I suppose that interpretation may make a big difference. You are correct though, I don't reckon merely chopping them and sprinkling them about would do anything. By puree in the blender and mixing w water I can pour it over the area so that it soaks it. I guess that is how the granules work that you buy, you sprinkle them on the surface and when it rains it softens them and washes it down soaking into the soil.

Neighbor has mole problems, tried castor oil several times, did not help with the mole problem FWIW

Thank you. I am at a loss what to do with this. It has killed so many of my plants. I lost a hydrangea this summer from one

You need to understand that to have a repellant effect, let alone a toxic effect, you need high or even very high ricin concentrations. Remember: moles are not drinking or eating the stuff. Shredded plants have negligible ricin concentration which moles probably won't even smell.

To get back to us, if you have that serious of a mole issue you need to eliminate the moles, physically. Check with your county, but generally moles are classified as agricultural pests and hence can be killed without problems.
There are extremely effective traps that will kill a mole in one single stroke without needless suffering, but in case you don't want to handle them (or see a dead mole), pest control companies will do the job for you for a price.

I cannot advise any other course of action: I remember my grandfather bought one of those "ultrasonic mole repellants" and... yes, moles dug a tunnel right in front of it.

Frillylily, been fighting moles for past yr. Used various baits including mole worms, mole grubs, and one containing chips coated with zinc phosphate. I purchased the worms & grubs at Tractor Supply and have seen them at Lowes. I purchased the zinc phosphate one at a local nursery, they also had another type that I will try soon. All of the three I tried appeared to work for a few weeks, the dirt mounds would stop in the area treated. They would then start in another area, but at less frequency. I have never seen a dead mole, my guess is that if I did kill some they decomposed under the soil.

@BrooklynStart Oh, my I've never heard of such a thing before your comment, I've seen those packages before but I guess I didn't realize what they were. I have tried poison pellets before and they never worked, and I am worried about poisoning the wrong critters. Plus I'm not too keen on poison anyway, it's got to be a horrible way to go-even if it is just a mole. At this rate I'm pretty desperate though. I am definitely going to try these. Thank you so much for suggesting it!

I assume you used something like this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012VK6OOW/

Frillylily, the brand I used was like TomCat's for worms & grubs, but not TomCat. The other control purchased at the nursery contained zinc phosphide, not zinc phosphate.
When using all of the products, I never touched the bait with my hands, use nails or other tools. Fearing that moles could smell, I do not want to contaminate the bait with my odors. I am of the opinion that: moles can smell the various baits and learn to associate their odors with death; and seeing less mole hills after switching products is due to the new bait's odors are not yet learned by any survivors.

Frillylily, went to the nursery today. The fourth bait I saw was one that you sprinkled atop to the soil/grass. Did not buy, do not need to kill the neighbors dog.

BrooklynStart said:Frillylily, went to the nursery today. The fourth bait I saw was one that you sprinkled atop to the soil/grass. Did not buy, do not need to kill the neighbors dog.

was it a bait, or was it milky spore? MS is a natural product that is harmless to pets, birds ect. It affects the grubs somehow and the moles don't have a food source then. It is kind of pricey to do a large area though and takes time to work, that is why I have not used it. I may someday put it out.

Frillylily, it contained brown small pellets, less than 1/4", with a smooth irregular surface. It stated that it killed 3 ways. The moles I have get very few grubs, digging up a 10'x10' area to replace grass I found 2 grubs and over 50 worms. Every time I dig in an area I have worked I get worms ( I do a modified trench composting with all grass clippings, plus). Do not want to kill the worms.

I don't want to kill my worms either, and I have found that to be elusive information when using pesticides or similar products. I don't have many worms in my yard this year, but I don't use pesticides-only vary rarely and even then only on affected plants. We did have enormous amounts of rainfall this past spring and I wonder if that killed them out? I did find out that the slug killing pellets I use DO kill earthworms. So that may have something to do with it. I understood that to be a natural product, which of course does not mean safe for desireables. But since it does kill slugs and snails which are soft bodied I wondered one day about the worms and when I googled it, it does look like it kills. Not sure what to do about that, I have a slug/snail issue here pretty bad.

A few years ago I planted castor beans in my garden hoping to keep moles and gophers out. They had no effect on the pests, in fact, one mole put a tunnel directly under a young castor plant pushing it upward.

WAMcCormick said:A few years ago I planted castor beans in my garden hoping to keep moles and gophers out. They had no effect on the pests, in fact, one mole put a tunnel directly under a young castor plant pushing it upward.

Well as I understand it is the oils in the plant that serve as a repellent. Just touching it won't have much effect. I think the critter has to pretty much eat it for it to work.