Roots and me

Ah, the tree has faces - I see one just above your head on the left & a smiley one on the far left :)

Right over Klahanies shoulder I see a giant ear. The tree is listening to what people say about it. It also could use a Q-tip.

I think that's a Ficus benjamina. An immense Ficus benjamina that seems to have been growing in a strangler Fig habit when it started.

Oh yes, I see it too, Stan, lol, forget the Q-tip I think a vacuum is needed there.
Do you see the runner above the ear?

Stan, doesn't that depend on whether it's evergreen & does it produce figs?

You two have a great imagination. LOL.

It does look like a Ficus benjamina. It's typically not a strangler fig; however, in the photo it looks like exactly what it's doing. We have very large F. benjamina trees here and I've never seen one strangle another tree...very interesting. :>)

What a tree...I can see a pigs profile on the left side of the photo above the triangle space.

Green finger, all Ficus species produce figs. Most are not edible, though. Ficus means fig in Latin.

I have several species of Ficus in my yard and some produce so many messy figs. My Ficus cyathistipula produces golf-sized figs by the thousands almost 3 times a year.

Ficus benjamina produces hundreds of thousands of pea-sized figs a few times a year. There's several large trees in my neighborhood. It's a very common landscape tree here in San Diego, CA.

Gosh what an amazing tactile truck I want to touch it !

Yes, Delonix, I am aware of that, I made the comment before it was determined that it was a ficus.
I've been reading about strangler trees on the wiki & there is an excellent pic there of Ficus watkinsiana in the process of wrapping itself around Acmena hemilampra.

Ficus watkinsiana is a very beautiful, very large strangler. The largest F. watkinsiana tree in the U.S. is located here at the San Diego Zoo. There's several other large ones located at the San Diego Zoo, also.

It was so amazing when they moved this largest F. watkinsiana a few hundred feet from its original location back in 2002 . It's the largest known tree to be moved in North America. It took many weeks and the tree was expected to loose all its leaves (which is evergreen); however, the tree kept on growing news leaves happily through the whole move. I visited it every week until it was in its new spot. Ficus trees are truly the wonders of the plant kingdom.

You wouldn't think it possible to move anything that size & here I am wondering how best to move a clematis!

I know. Luckily, the San Diego Zoo hired experts from Australia. The company is know for moving very large trees in Australia.

Here's the article on the move of the large F. watkinsiana if you're interested. The only thing the article didn't say is that it took a month to move and it didn't loose its leaves.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2002/nov/05/220-ton-tree-gets-old-heave-ho/

I know I have a 6' tall lemon verbena I need to move (it's been in the ground for several years) and an 8' tall coffee tree which has been in the ground for 11 years. I'm afraid I may kill them if I move them.

Thanks, Delonix for the article. It just blows my mind imagining the magnitude of the task. My house is smaller than its rootball!

Whats wrong with you people? Sheesh.

You don't see the old tired Elephant to the left profile? With broken or worn down tusk?-ha.

In the early 20th century the newspaper magnate William Hearst had a full grown large 200 year old live Oak dug up and placed on the grounds of Hearst Castle. He even had RR tracks laid to move that huge tree.

It lived a couple of decades more before dying. I'm sure before that it looked sick for years.

added: Just read the San Diego story. Somethings never change- RR tracks used. Only Ficus are much more amendable to being moved- even large ones.
Why didn't they add a few photos?

Green finger:

I know It was a huge production. I just know it took a lot longer than the article's information because they rain into some logistical problems. It also cost a lot of money.

Stan, I don't know how big the oak tree was that Hearst moved....but, I bet it wasn't as large as the F. watkinsiana. Because Ficus tend to have even larger branches than oak trees...I know that's difficult to believe. Oak wood is very heavy; however, the white sap in Ficus makes it even heavier. You are correct that Ficus trees can be easier to move because they generate roots so freely. I think that's why this large F. watkinsiana never lost any leaves, when it was moved.

It still boggles my mind that such a large tree can be moved!

There's pics on the internet of this tree being moved.

I should have added that the California Live Oaks in habitat are really near impossible to move to a garden. They rely on total summer dryness. Anything more then rare summer rains and they quickly succumb to bacteria that live in wet warm soil. The Oaks have no immunity to that.
Now,CLO's that are grown from acorns and sold in nurseries? No problem. They somehow then thrive. They can be planted in lawns if need be.

I've seen huge old Valley Oaks die in my opinion from non native grasses just keeping the soil under those oaks wet right into early summer.

A local nursery killed three of those century's old tree's by putting potted plants under them for sale on their property. They should have know better.

I going to check out that SD tree Andy. Rain today. Tomorrow starts 4 straight nights of high 30's. Better then the low 30's that was predicted a few days ago.

We up here are about a month+ sooner then last year with those temps.

That's right California Live Oaks really dislike water during the summer. I have seen people kill them by watering them in summer, also. It's sad because its a beautiful tree that's so drought tolerant.

I'm glad the temps won't be too cold up there in Hayward. Of course, you know my mom lives in Hayward and she really dislikes cold weather.

It's going to be a little chilly here, also. mid 40's are forecasted for lows a couple mornings. It's been so mild with lows close to 60...and high of course, hot in the 80's and low 90's so it's going to be such a shock to us. The highs are only forecasted to be in the mid-60's. BRRR! Bring out the parkas! lol! :>)

I had my parka on at 58f today. T shirt,sweatshirt,then my heavy LL Bean type coat. I hate the cold too. Bad for the old arthritis in joints.

Stan:

It was the coolest Thankgiving Day I remember since living in San Diego. It was chilly (high was only in the low 60's) and little showers off-and-on. It's snowing on Mt. Palomar and Mt. Laguna, right now at 10:30 pm.

The beginning of next week is forecasted to be getting into the mid-to-upper 70's.

Dodged a bullet for now. 36f

Tonight I cover again....just in case. The Crotons,Delonix. All others just too many and I'm pretty sure low 30's wont be fatal.

Good luck! I know it's been cold up there. Next week it'll be getting pretty warm close to 80 by next Wednesday.

Ah, the big reveal! Nice to see you Klahanie. That tree looks like it's ready to reach out and grab you. Maybe I've seen that movie too many times.. :)

LOL Bathgte, maybe you did. There are several these in this neighbourhood. 2 different trees with roots wrapped around each other.

That tree must be hundreds of years old.

Bathgate:

Supposedly, many Ficus trees live a couple hundred years old; however, I think many can live a couple thousand years or older. It's difficult to document trees that long. The Bo or Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka is the oldest documented tree in the world. It was planted 249 BC.

The last time I saw a tree with that type of "trunk-root" formation was in the rainforest in southern Thailand; I feel that this type of root system evolves in nature to give stability to tall trees; well, that's my theory anyway!

Talking of "theories" I saw wonderful film last week; The Theory of Everything, with Eddie Redmain, great story and acting, with excellent camera-work and direction!

David - Your theory sounds plausible and I've seen those trees in Southern Thailand. I heard these trees also exchange nutrients and water. If one tree finds an abundance of nitrogen, it will pass some on to another tree that cannot reach it. This has been proven with high tech tracking equipment.

All interesting info,

Davids, you're 100% correct! :>)

They develop that huge root-system to keep the huge trees from blowing over.

Wonderful tree and a very lovely Picture of you , Klahanie:-) xxx

Thank you for the compliment Junna. These trees are truly amazing.