Planting Banyan

[kaialoha]

Aloha Super8,

You're welcome! Glad to share knowledge in the service of others! If you send photos and notes about your plan, I'll gladly relay some pointers, absque nullamque causam (free of charge ~ LOL), of course!!!! Ficus, in general, are relatively salt-water tolerant but don't do well with full salt content in the water they do use. The water that plants and trees near or in and around the kai take advantage of is somewhat 'filtered' by sand and earth materials. Of course there are exceptions to that rule. Mangroves for instance. Rain water that penetrates from above also helps to flush salt content of soil and so a good and reliable form of irrigation, whether it be rain and/or mechanically applied (a 'hose' for instance) helps to eliminate salt content/build-up. Once in awhile a good flushing helps to eliminate salt build-up as well. The Volcanic Pumices and other filter-like rock materials of Hawai'i serve well as salt filters too. The Ficus in Hilo do well partly because of the rain they get plus they are well established and in VERY ROBUST health, from what I've seen. I LOVE those trees and they are a GREAT example of how magnificent and gorgeous they can become. Most of them may have been irrigated at some point in time to get established and some may still be irrigated, BUT, I'm sure the wet conditions of Hilo are the main reason they are so healthy. Also, if you notice, most of them have a huge array of aerial roots which are moisture gatherers as well.

When you plan your retaining system, be aware that Ficus roots will move whatever you place as a base for your wall/system NO MATTER how permanent you may build it. Ficus can move mountains, LITERALLY, and that's one reason they are so effective at 'retaining'. Consider your retaining/Ficus system as a living structure. How exciting is that? ~ ~ ~

Aloha for now!

~ NAMASKARAM ~

Punanny

[seekir]

My dad was a fan of these monsters and found out he could essentially stick a cutting in the ground and watch it grow. He got some from the Rainbow Falls banyans we loved to climb in as kids and eventually planted what seemed like a harmless little trunk in the front yard in Piihonua in the late sixties—against the advice of virtually everyone who was familiar with the nature of this variety. Two decades later the little trunk was a huge mass of roots with branches spanning the entire yard of the 1 acre lot. The tree dominated the neighborhood and made the front yard a dark shaded place swarming with mosquitoes. Roots protruded above the grade and made mowing quite a challenge. These roots had reached the neighbor's concrete drive and were proceeding to break it up like some mayan ruin. Took several thousand 70's era dollars to hire a professional tree cutter to deal with the massive branches and remove the towering tree which was a mere adolescent. Think twice before you plant this type of banyan anyway, other varieties may be more benign, I'm not sure.

[peteadams]

Some years back we rented a cottage at an orchid nursery on north shore Maui where we could temporarily keep our nursery stock on some of their unused outside plant benches. The benches were built on top of an extensive and probably pretty expensive concrete slab with gutters and walkways. At one time it had been a beautiful nursery setup. Across a driveway from the slab they had planted a row of Ficus benjamina as a windbreak from the strong winds of the Ha'iku area. The trees were about 15-20' tall at the time and had developed a wide ranging network of intertwining roots crawling across top of the ground. The roots extended above the ground like 6-12" dorsal fins on fish, making it impossible to use the driveway and even difficult to walk in the area. The roots were in the process of breaking up the bench slab, no problem. The trees were hosts for some kind of gall disease (I've noticed some of this locally) and for some reason were also infested with millipedes. So be very careful if you choose to plant a Ficus and ensure that you have a large area that does not have anything of value near it. As seekir points out, even an acre may not be enough for some Ficus species.

[Lee M-S]

speaking of training trees, check out the circus trees: https://www.gilroygardens.org/things-to-do/circus-trees
They aren't any kind of ficus--mostly sycamores, elder, and cork--but they show what you can do with time and patience.

><(((*> ~~~~ ><(("> ~~~~ ><'> ~~~~ >(>

[Super8]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lee M-S

speaking of training trees, check out the circus trees: https://www.gilroygardens.org/things-to-do/circus-trees
They aren't any kind of ficus--mostly sycamores, elder, and cork--but they show what you can do with time and patience.

><(((*> ~~~~ ><(("> ~~~~ ><'> ~~~~ >(>

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Now that's cool. Thanks! Banyan is it for me, but that's the idea. Time and patience...shucks.

[8]

[Mendo]

If you plant banyans here, plan to move in the next decade or two, or spend a lot of time pruning. They will overtake most everything else.

[pander75]

Wow kialoha... LOTS of good info in your replies! I don't know that much about the genus but I will add that I've noticed that the variegated varieties that I've worked with seem to grow slower. This is common for variegated plants in general, so that might help in selecting something that will become a monster. There is always the option of NOT fertilizing or planting in rock to help keep it under control - similar to what many people do when they are grown as houseplants!