Bush rubbish

[MattA]

On my regular walk with my dogs in the bush I am always on the look out for rubbish, shoes mainly (thats a whole story in itself), and often find plants that have been dumped. Yesterday was no exception, I decided to check out a firetrail we havent used before and found this Ficus benjamina that had been dumped. Originally growing in an 18" pot that was broken next to it, it was laying on its side and most of the trunks had been covered with other rubbish but this baby had decided to grow no matter what.

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No idea yet what to make of it, for now I just clear out the roots & repot into some fresh soil. If anyone has any ideas on what can be done with I am more than open the them... I hate figs almost as much as I do privet. But I would rather it here than taking hold in the bush and when it is free who is going to complain about another tree.

Matt

[Handy Mick]

thats a big raft!

[Jamie]

gday matt

this one looks like a solid clump i would be taking the root ball down to 1 fifth of the size it is now, straight through with a pruning saw, that will make it a lot easier to sort out what ya got, chopping back all that horizontal growth from it being on its side as that wont be of any use either. then i would consider trying to work out what trunks to keep, and what not too... or since you hate fig so much, i am sure anja would be happy to releive the pressure of another tree

Jamie.

[Bretts]

What amazes me is the stupidity of people that would do this. Imagine if it took root the damage it could cause to the bush
Great find though Matt I love scavenging!

[Loretta]

I went to the dump 2 weeks ago for wood to build some grow boxes.....low and behold I came across a MAST TREE about 2ft high. How anyone could keep a tree in a pot as root bound as this tree was escapes me. They'd call it abuse if it were an animal.
Anyway my tree has no leaves at the moment and the bare branches are absolutely beautiful. They hang down and out from the trunk and look like big claws.....has a very japanese look about it. Botanical name (checked with web) is POLYALTHIA LONGIFOLIA..native of India. I'll take a photo tomorrow and post it. Mind you the dump charged me $5 for it!!!!
cheers Loretta

Can you tell us about your "shoe fettish" one day Matt, sounds like there's a story in there somewhere

[Jake]

oh nice find bud, i would of been frothing off finding this in the bush
time to start chopping away at it

[MattA]

Brett it had started to set root into the ground.. imagine how many it would spawn in years to come if I had left it...I was just doing doing my community service I also came home with a huge clump of Amaryllis bulbs...

Jamie the trunks are for the most part dead or dying having been covered with the rest of the rubbish that was dumped with it. I know benji's can be funny creatures but it was free so I will be going hard, bare root & take them right back to nothing. I am inclined to keep the dead trunks for the time being so I have something to tie the horizontal growth to, almost no wire in this boys tool kit and trying to avoid it at all cost while I can find other ways of getting the results I want. No scarring from kitchen twine...

Loretta one day i may divulge my little 'fetish' for footwear and maybe even share some pics of the dozen or so that I currently have in my collection, there are a few pics around the forum of some of them. Cleverly disguised by natures reclamation machine (read moss & lichen).

Jake... hhmmm .... I say nothing

Matt

btw passing this one along to someone more keen on working with this species is high on the options list, I have 5 figs, 6 with this one. Mum would kill me if I got rid of her one (I could return it to her ). I dont think anyone would want 2 of the others, the 4th has significant connections with Australia's history & as such is irreplacable and hard for me to let go of. The 5th is a pet project because of the challenge it presents.
Anyone want some figs? Yes seriously, 2 freebies, 1 dirt cheap & 1 major dosh. #5 has wormed its way into my heart... bloody figs

[Taffy]

Mmm figs - me love figs!

[craigw60]

Hi Matt I find it astounding that people think this is acceptable behavior. I guess they would have been just as likely to dump a load of lantana or some other appalling weed, lucky for you of course but pretty sad that your locals have so little respect for their environment.
Craig

[Amanda]

Ooh I am liking the base of the main trunks, hack job

[MattA]

Well no one wanted to help relieve me of this fig so I ripped into it today, took more than a few hours with interruptions but it got there.

I started by sawing the root ball in half & then started raking what minimal remnants of soil from around them, until I found a funnel web hiding amongst them. After a couple of minutes to recover & dispatch the unwelcome intruder I decided to not bother trying to get any more soil from between the roots & just cut them off completely. Probably a wise move as the central 3/4 of the ball was a solid fused mass of roots. All that is left is a fairly solid mass about 5cm thick.

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In my experience benji's can be a bit funny about such treatment & the time of year isnt the most ideal but hell kill or cure... I dont mind which side the die lands on.

Matt

[Jamie]

hi matt

i have done this to benji on numerous occasions and they have all come back, i know it is a lot warmer up here though, i did one a few weeks back probably at the coolest time of year up here and it has started shooting out again so all good

you can smash em, crash em, slice and dice but it is bloody hard to kill a fig!

[Jake]

he should be right mate, my benjis have taken a floggin in the past and they all pulled through some how
your lucky that funnel web didn't surface when you where carrying it home

[MattA]

Jamie, I killed more than a few benji's in my early years, always the same way... going hard. I have avoided them ever since so it will be interesting to see how this one responds.

Jake, thankfully he was hiding deep in the core of the roots & its still a little early for them to be out & about. I love most animals but spiders & snakes no thanks!

I envy your growing climate especially when it comes to what you can do with figs amongst other species. But no way I could live any further north it would restrict the number of deciduous things I could grow, had to sacrifice quite a few when I left Vic to move here. I have a good enough spot for the bulk of what I want in my collection, enough winter for most of the cool climate stuff & warm enough for most tropicals to not need special protection.

Matt

[closetbonsai]

Hi Matt, I have a benjamina much the same at home in a large pot that i want to bonsai but never what i could do with it. It is about 5 or 6 trunks out of one big root mass.