Few questions on invasive tree roots

[popper1]

Hi everyone, 

Not sure if there is much information on this, but does anyone know of any of the following have invasive roots? 

Erblichia odorata 

Gustavia augusta 

Cinnamon zeylanicum 

Ficus dammaropsis 

Pterospermum acerifolium 

Oncoba spinosa 

Syzygium sp. (unmanned sp from Brazil) 

Napoleonaea imperialis

I want to get these planted and deciding on where to put what.  Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated! 

Thank! 

David 

[Silas_Sancona]

26 minutes ago, popper1 said:

Hi everyone, 

Not sure if there is much information on this, but does anyone know of any of the following have invasive roots? 

Erblichia odorata 

Gustavia augusta 

Cinnamon zeylanicum 

Ficus dammaropsis 

Pterospermum acerifolium 

Oncoba spinosa 

Syzygium sp. (unmanned sp from Brazil) 

Napoleonaea imperialis

I want to get these planted and deciding on where to put what.  Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated! 

Thank! 

David 

  Nice list..
Never heard of root issues w/ the first 3 and Nepoleonaea ..Though they're still pretty rare, so tough to say.

Same story with Ficus d.. though, as i'm sure you already know, roots on many ficus -in general- can be aggressive.

Pterospermum and Oncoba  might.... grow large enough to eventually be a concern?  So rare though that it is tough to say.. especially outside of where they are native ( may stay shorter, which would keep each tree's root mass footprint smaller..  ) Again, just my general thoughts..  I'm sure folks like @Eric in Orlando who may have more experience w/ some / all of these should have other thoughts to add..


Pterospermum acerifolium  looks interesting, don't remember hearing of that one much via the fourm in the past, let alone elsewhere.

[popper1]

Thanks Silas.  Pterospermum is an awesome tree.  Grew one from seed, about 8' tall.  I am currently airlayering the top 2 or so feet.  Tend to not branch much at 1st but it's now branching like crazy and only started the  airlayer 2 weeks ago.  Flowers are great, but the large, pretty much round dark green leaves with white backs are really something. 

David 

[Silas_Sancona]

Just now, popper1 said:

Thanks Silas.  Pterospermum is an awesome tree.  Grew one from seed, about 8' tall.  I am currently airlayering the top 2 or so feet.  Tend to not branch much at 1st but it's now branching like crazy and only started the  airlayer 2 weeks ago.  Flowers are great, but the large, pretty much round dark green leaves with white backs are really something. 

David 

Nice,  -when ever you have time-, would enjoy seeing pictures of it..  iNaturalist pictures of that species look interesting. Appears it might go through a couple distinctly different leaf phases??  as it grows..

Good luck on the Airlayering attempts..

[Eric in Orlando]

Give Pterospermum some room, they can get 30-50ft . I don't think they have a super aggressive root system like Ficus but still will be good size.

Oncoba is smaller, maybe 20ft.

[Tracy]

The only one I can comment on is the Ficus dammaropsis.  As Nathan pointed out,  most Ficus have pretty aggressive root systems however,  my experience is that this particular species isn't as aggressive above or below ground.   The variety producing green fruit appears slightly more vigorous while the red fruit variety seems slower and even less likely to create root issues. 

My experience is limited to a little over a decade with growing the red fruit variety and observing both in other's gardens.   Again as Nathan points out a limited history given the likely lifespan of the trees.