Our fruity Ficus benjamina
Posted by George J. Janczyn on August 15, 2009
About 20 years ago a friend gave me a small braided ficus tree in a pot, just about like this one:
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After about a year, we transferred it to the empty slope in our back yard, along with a couple of potted pines (Christmas trees). For about a year we had it on a drip watering tube to get it established but we don’t need to irrigate it at all any more, even though it gets full sun all day (although the pines are getting taller and beginning to give it a little shade). I guess it’s over 25 feet tall now. I’m really glad we planted it well away from the patio because it has grown an impressive root system. |
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The funny thing is that for the first time in all these years, last July (2008) it began to produce hundreds, if not thousands, of little red berry-like fruit (inedible fig, I surmise) and dropping them like crazy producing a mess (or mulch heaven?) on the ground. This year it’s producing them again:
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What puzzles me is why the tree would wait all these years before doing this, since nothing in its environment has changed. Any ideas?
svenni said
its finally mature?
GrokSurf said
Svenni: Yes, I guess there’s no arguing with you about that! Come to think of it, though, we did give it a good pruning about 3 years ago. Maybe that experience was a factor too.