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surfhat
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Thanks Geoff.
Baja's fig trees are another of Mother Natures wonder. Bring them all on and I will try to find the one I am forever grateful for on the East Cape.
In such a water deprived environment, these fig trees are deserving of our respect and wonder that they can survive at all.
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surabi
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One thing I can tell you is that appreciating ficus trees in the wild is great, but you certainly don't want one anywhere near your property. Those
roots buckle walkways, break walls, eat their way into plumbing pipes, and if they produce figs, the birds and bats eat them, poop all over the place
and the stuff is like gorilla glue- it even resists trying to powerwash it off.
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surfhat
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Surabi, Ficus trees can be managed to avoid damaging sidewalks and building foundations. They do require special maintenance procedures but they are
well worth a little extra attention for their abilities to provide great shade and even more importantly carbon capture like few other tree species
can.
Santa Monica has been maintaining several thousand Ficus trees on their sidewalks for decades because the people rose up and demanded they not be
ripped out.
Managing the Ficus roots with barriers helps to limit the root damage that is common for Ficus trees. Thinning the branches also helps limit
uncontrolled root growth besides all the shedding these trees do on sidewalks. They do require cleaning up after, but are worth the effort.
My towns tree lovers have been fighting to preserve a number of Ficus trees downtown. One that had been neglected and deprived of the proper
maintenance for too long had to be removed, but the others have had root barriers installed and their limbs trimmed, and now they are keepers.
It took a bit of resistance to convince my town that the extra maintenance was worth it. Thank you Santa Monica for the inspiration and proper
maintenance procedures to save these beautiful and effective shade trees.
Ficus trees can be saved and effectively managed. Let them grow without proper maintenance and they can and will be destructive, no doubt. Form wise,
they are beautiful and messy at the same time.
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4x4abc
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Quote: Originally posted by surfhat  | They do require special maintenance procedures but they are well worth a little extra attention for their abilities to provide great shade and even
more importantly carbon capture like few other tree species can.
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every plant does exactly that - capture carbon.
They are all built from carbon
not from stuff they suck out of the ground
except some trace minerals etc
they "eat" from the air
remember photo synthesis?
all life on this planet depends on solar energy
So, the Ficus is doing what all other trees/plants are doing - capturing carbon.
Some do is faster
some pack the carbon more dense
Iron Wood and Mesquite in Baja are a good example of dense and slow
palm trees are a good example of fast and less dense
[Edited on 4-10-2023 by 4x4abc]
Harald Pietschmann
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surfhat
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All true 4x4, but Ficus trees are renowned for their abilities to capture more carbon than most other plants and that was my point in mentioning it at
all. Glad we can agree on the value Ficus trees can offer to all of us nature lovers. A somewhat cool shady spot out of the sun is always
appreciated when taking a break from whatever we are up to.
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4x4abc
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| Quote: Originally posted by surfhat | | All true 4x4, but Ficus trees are renowned for their abilities to capture more carbon than most other plants and that was my point in mentioning it at
all. Glad we can agree on the value Ficus trees can offer to all of us nature lovers. A somewhat cool shady spot out of the sun is always
appreciated when taking a break from whatever we are up to. |
right on!
https://www.single.earth/blog/which-trees-absorb-the-most-ca...
Harald Pietschmann
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AKgringo
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I imagine that Eucalyptus trees would be pretty high on the list. They are relatively fast growing and dense! In the days of steam
locomotives, the railroad imported them from Australia to start groves of fuel for the trans-continental railroad.
California didn't have any coal mines, and the Eucalyptus would outperform the native hardwoods in areas near the railroad hubs.
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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baja-chris
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I believe the Eucalyptus was originally imported to make railroad ties but it split apart so readily that it was useless, so into the fireboxes it
went. For anyone who survived the Cedar fire (San Diego 2003) in Scripts Ranch can attest, it burns like crazy.
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4x4abc
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| Quote: Originally posted by baja-chris | | I believe the Eucalyptus was originally imported to make railroad ties but it split apart so readily that it was useless, so into the fireboxes it
went. For anyone who survived the Cedar fire (San Diego 2003) in Scripts Ranch can attest, it burns like crazy. |
well, Eucalyptus contains a lot of oil - so it burns like crazy
Harald Pietschmann
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David K
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| Quote: Originally posted by baja-chris | | I believe the Eucalyptus was originally imported to make railroad ties but it split apart so readily that it was useless, so into the fireboxes it
went. For anyone who survived the Cedar fire (San Diego 2003) in Scripts Ranch can attest, it burns like crazy. |
How Rancho San Dieguito became Rancho Santa Fe (Santa Fe Railroad Company). They built Lake Hodges and a flume from there to the San Dieguito
reservoir, for irrigation of the gum trees (what Australians call eucalyptus trees).
As Chris stated, the wood failed as railroad ties... an expensive lesson to learn!
Col. Ed Fletcher, an early San Diego County developer saw an opportunity to acquire this 'worthless' eucalyptus project and turn it into the (now
'world famous') exclusive home development. Fletcher also had developed nearby Solana Beach, to the west of the ranch.
I grew up in this area and we lived in RSF between '65 and '70. This story was taught us in the RSF public school (3rd or 4th grade, I think).
[Edited on 4-11-2023 by David K]
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AKgringo
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With apologies to PaulW....
I will take my highjack a bit further. I have also heard that the railroad thought they could make ties out of Eucalyptus trees, but I don't buy it!
When the Southern Pacific Railroad constructed the line over the Sierra Nevada range, they were granted every other section (one square mile, or 640
acres) for ten miles each side of the track. Much of that land grant was virgin timber country and supplied far more select structural timber than
they needed.
Why would they import an exotic tree that could not survive a hard frost, and spend twenty years or more growing them to a size suitable for milling
ties, when they already had millions of board feet of valuable timber?
For what it's worth, the property I own in Nevada County was purchased from the Southern Pacific by my grandfather in the early 1940s.
[Edited on 4-12-2023 by AKgringo]
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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surfhat
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Thanks 4by4 for the tree list. Ficus was not even there. My bad. You good.
Ficus are beauties until they go where you don't want them to. Proper maintenance takes some extra effort.
Location, location, location.
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