Castor bean plants. Perfect helper plant for hot climates? Leaves are cold

[WaterFowler]

I have noticed that my young subtropicals planted around castor bean plants seem to do better than the others planted around my other shade helper trees, namely moringa and guavas. Their large leaves feel cool to the touch, almost like they've been stuck in a refrigerator.

So, I got out my temp gun and gauged the temperature of leaves of various trees within a 10 foot radius. Here are the results

Banana 107



Guava 108



Feijoa 111



Castor bean 83



Does anyone else notice their cold leaves creating a very nice microclimate for their young tropical trees? Too bad the plant itself is butt ugly. 

[Future]

Don't call it ugly. Heisenberg loves that plant. 

[sunny]

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[barath]

Do you find that you need to irrigate them, or do they make it without water?  Because in the bay area I've seen them grow like weeds, with no water, and are hard to deal with when they grow.

[spaugh]

Its an invasive weed here.  They surely dont need irrigation.

[Cookie Monster]

Interesting. It must evaporate more water than the other plants tested.

[WaterFowler]

Do you find that you need to irrigate them, or do they make it without water?  Because in the bay area I've seen them grow like weeds, with no water, and are hard to deal with when they grow.

These particular castor bean plants are sitting in nice damp ground all the time. Runoff from ice cream bean and starfruit  trees. The small ice cream bean and mango seedlings in particular that sit underneath them are happy as a clam in the 110+ degree heat. I have other castor bean plants sitting in other parts of the ranch who's leaves feel a little cold but not like these. I'm guessing because the other ones are 2-3 years old, get less water, and their leaves are much smaller, thus get less cold. The castor bean leaves in the photo are only 4 months old but have huge leaves over a foot across. The larger the leaves, the colder they feel. It's quite a phenomenon when it's blazing hot outside and you grab these leaves and they actually feel chilled. I was surprised they temped at 83, they feel much colder.