why so much love for the Ficus dammaropsis ? - part 2

[trioderob]

ok -

you guys talked me into it and I got one.

its about 2" foot tall

and general care tips or info ???????

[Hammer]

I put mine into full sun. The old leaves burned. The new ones don't skip a beat. The leaves will droop if you fail to water enough. So the plant will tell you what it wants. I water pretty heavily two to three times a week.

So far, it has been an easy plant to grow.

[DoomsDave]

JUST GIVE IT ROOM

ahem

[Pando]

Rob, congrats - you'll love it!

Mine is in a part day sun, still in the original pot (got it in May), but I'll have to plant it out in a few weeks as it's getting rather large.

If your plant is in a lava rock in a pot, you'll find that no matter how much you water it, it still wants more. About 2 weeks after I brought it home, it dropped 3 older leaves and a new leaf was a midget.

So here is what I did - I removed about 2" of lava rock from the top of the pot and replaced it with Kellogg N'rich Soil Enriching Compost, it comes in a 3 cuf bag from home depot. That mulch also prevents the pot from drying out.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Kellogg-3-cu-ft-N-Rich-Organic-Soil-Conditioner-8710/100207757

I kid you not, this thing took off after that like a rocket. I'm getting a new leaf every 3 weeks, and each one is larger that the previous one. Last one now is about 20 inches long and it's not even fully extended yet.

It's very easy to grow. Give it what it wants (rich soil and water), and it will perform.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Pando

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

I grow them in full sun, partial sun, full shade.

As long as they are in good fast draining soil and watered regularly they all seem to grow the same.

They seem to do well in pots, but only when young.they don't like to be root bound.

All that were in ground survived this past winter without damage.

All in pots died.

Jeff

[trioderob]

"All that were in ground survived this past winter without damage.

All in pots died."

I thank you for that information

[MattyB]

They will go into decline if left in pots for too long. More than a year and you'll probably start to see the decline. They are a ficus afterall, and while they aren't the massive ones, and they won't break your concrete or house foundation, they do grow a lot of roots, so get them into the ground or keep potting them up as needed.

I've heard of two people killing them from planting in excessive clay soil. Very bad clay. After mound planting they had success on the second try.

One person killed theirs when their irrigation system failed while away on vacation and temps reached in excess of 100F for several days.

Other than that, they seem to be trouble free growers.

If you desire to train it into a single stem or multi-stem tree you're going to want to set up tall sturdy stakes and tie up the choosen branches for many years. If given a full sun exposure it tends to want to sprawl out into a large spreading shrub. The branches go up first but after it puts out many large heavy leaves, and many large and heavy figs, they seem to want to lean over, thus the required staking.

[Cindy Adair]

So I'm using my first smartphone to post a recent photo of my Jeff Rood ficus. It will go to Puerto Rico in August after inspection here in VA. Thanks for all the timely growing hints!

If this phone with ATT works on our farm as planned, it will make my posts much more timely.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

Nice lil plant, In my heat, that plant would be in 15 gal pot by oct 1st!

I pot them in a 50/50 mixture of perlite and supersoil.

Fertilize with 1 table spoon of osmocote per 5

Gal of pot size at pot up time. Then a weak solution of miracid once a month. I watered them daily.

I remove all of the figs except one... For show.

In the spring I had one ficus in a a 15 gal pot with 10 fist size figs.

I removed them all, the plant took off again.

[trioderob]

so what do you mean about all the potted ones dying off ?

I ask this because I repotted the ficus and was debating leaving it in the pot over winter and planting in April or letting it send roots out thru the new pot and planting mid sept

which do you recommend ?

by the way - only had it a few days but the growth rate has been epic.

Edited July 29, 2014 by trioderob

[Gangrenous Thumb]

Are the figs on this species edible or just decorative? If they are edible, are they any good?

[Hammer]

so what do you mean about all the potted ones dying off ?

I ask this because I repotted the ficus and was debating leaving it in the pot over winter and planting in April or letting it send roots out thru the new pot and planting mid sept

which do you recommend ?

by the way - only had it a few days but the growth rate has been epic.

Imho, get it in the ground. No reason to wait.

[MattyB]

so what do you mean about all the potted ones dying off ?

I ask this because I repotted the ficus and was debating leaving it in the pot over winter and planting in April or letting it send roots out thru the new pot and planting mid sept

which do you recommend ?

by the way - only had it a few days but the growth rate has been epic.

Just put some cuts in the new pot and plant it now. It'll root right through it and never skip a beat. It'll be 20 feet tall in a week at the rate it's growing now, huh?

[trioderob]

too much sun now-

that sucker is in part shade and burned bad on the one leaf exposed.

it was 100F yesterday !

[Hammer]

Granted, I've only hit 100 once so far this year. When I put mine in the ground in full sun, the existing leaves got scorched. But all new ones looked great and have held up well, so long as I water. I'm 6 miles from the beach but also have a set of hills blocking direct on shore flow. Hope that helps.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

so what do you mean about all the potted ones dying off ?

I ask this because I repotted the ficus and was debating leaving it in the pot over winter and planting in April or letting it send roots out thru the new pot and planting mid sept

which do you recommend ?

by the way - only had it a few days but the growth rate has been epic.

Our temps got down to the mid 20's this past winter.

I pulled several 15 gal size under my patio awning for protection... Along with my

Potted jackfruit and mango.

All of the potted ones protected this way shriveled up and died, while the mango, the jackfruit and all of the ficus dam's that were in ground had no damage.

The only thing I can figuire is the roots were damaged by the cold while those inground were warmer.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

Granted, I've only hit 100 once so far this year. When I put mine in the ground in full sun, the existing leaves got scorched. But all new ones looked great and have held up well, so long as I water. I'm 6 miles from the beach but also have a set of hills blocking direct on shore flow. Hope that helps.

They take awhile to get acclimated .

Leaves that appear when the daytime temps are in the 70's, seem to get scorched when the temps suddenly rise to 100f.

That also happened to a couple of my leaves our first 100f.

Since then, we've hit over 100f about ten times, (highest 108f) most of my ficus dams are up against the south facing wall.

The heat or the sun doesn't bother them one bit.

Jeff

[trioderob]

planted it in the ground and erected shade cloth

[Hammer]

You won't regret it. Please post some pictures and keep us updated as it grows.

[trioderob]

"why so much love for the Ficus dammaropsis"

Edited August 5, 2014 by trioderob

[Pando]

Nice! It will be twice as tall in 2 months. The leaves will be more flat in a shade, so once you get a new leaf, give it some more sun when the roots get established. You'll start getting those signature big corrugated leaves, each new one larger than the previous one.

Mulch + fertilizer + h2o + sun = rocket fuel

Edited August 5, 2014 by Pando

[trioderob]

any genral care tips as far as watering .........

heavy in summer and once a month in winter ??????

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

"why so much love for the Ficus dammaropsis"

Looks good , but I would fill it up to the top of the scalloped edging with fir bark mini nuggets.

Jeff

[Pando]

any genral care tips as far as watering .........

heavy in summer and once a month in winter ??????

That depends on your soil type and weather. Here in SD we can get some pretty warm weather even in January. I would keep it always moist, never let it dry out. Conserve moisture with mulch and bark.

At least that's what I intend to do anyway as I've only had mine for 3 months or so.

[trioderob]

they got a real pretty red fruit

Edited August 11, 2014 by trioderob

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

Hmmm, mine has all white fruit!

[Cedric]

they got a real pretty red fruit

Wow that flower like red fruit is beautiful. So are there a few varieties or can it all be growing conditions, humidity, temp that sort of thing? I would like both the green and red one if they are varieties.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

I wonder if there is any freeze hardiness difference between the red fruited and white fruited trees?

[trioderob]

the red fruit / leaf ones look killer and from an story I read they like to take the bright red new leaf and wrap it around a piece o' pork.

I am thinking about trying that-

someone talk me out of it.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

They do kinda look like a taco shell.

I've pruned these guys, they drip latex from every cut.

Do u really want to eat that?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I have both the white fruited and the red fruited version. The red fruited one has nice red veins and seems to be considerably more vigorous and have bigger leaves than the white fruited version.

[trioderob]

Matty ?

[Cindy Adair]

I just planted mine from Jeff Rood a couple of hours ago. I hope it grows huge in Puerto Rico as I found a perfect spot.

Sorry for the sideways photo. It takes too long here to download it again....

Maybe some kind soul will help out and repost it?

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

How about this.?

[trioderob]

Edited August 14, 2014 by trioderob

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

Gnarly!

[Cedric]

Wow this almost looks like Tectona grandis or teak. I have a few of these. Nice thing about them and Ficus dammaropsis they coppice easily. My T. grandis I lop off every couple of years to produce clusters of giant leaves and stalks like this. Apparently in papua where there is a slash and burn subsistance agricuture the dammaropsis always sprouts back up from the ground stub.

Im guessing this is the lowland dammaropsis above.

Teak bellow with horse and rider for comparison.

[Cedric]

the red fruit / leaf ones look killer and from an story I read they like to take the bright red new leaf and wrap it around a piece o' pork.

I am thinking about trying that-

someone talk me out of it.

You might have to go to Melbourne where this one is growing. Sure they will be most upset.

[trioderob]

whats the growing season like on these babies ?

are they like palms which grow in southern Cal from may-nov ????

[Cindy Adair]

How about this.?

image.jpg

Thanks so much Jeff!