How Can I Block A Neighbour's View Of My Place?

[Bredbury Blue]

I have created privacy barriers on a number of properties in the past and have stayed away from bamboo do to control of growth and shedding problems.

The best solution I have found is ficus. In Thailand there is the one most familiar in the west with a dark green leaf and the varigated or yellowish variety.

Very inexpensive here and they grow three meters a year. Plant them about a foot apart when they are about five feet tall and an impenetrable hedge you will have in a year. A trench for flood watering in the dry season will hurry the growth. Height goes up to 10 meters or more with very little leaf shedding.

If you buy the really cheap ones as I did last year, ie. about a foot tall, it took a year to reach eight feet.

I don't know if mango trees stay leafy near the gound when they get older as ficus does. On the other hand, a hedge is a hedge is a hedge, fruit sounds apetising as you have mentioned, as long as you can keep them leafy near the ground as they get older.

thanks for that suggestion - good one.

I'm trying to narrow down which one you mean as it appears that there's apparently 800 varieties of ficus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig - any of these Benjamin tree, Java fig, weeping banyan, weeping fig? Ficus elastica, also called the rubber fig, rubber tree, rubber plant, or Indian rubber tree ?

[Bredbury Blue]

Just a thought, but is there a gardening forum on thaivisa forum?

[quiksilva]

yup the plants pets and vets forum

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showforum=81

[ProThaiExpat]

BredburyBlue: My favorite is ficus bengamina, as it does grow into a tree if you don't keep it pruned into a hedge.

I have only seen benjamina and the yellowish leaf varieties available in Thailand, but my search was limited.

I was conned into buying the yelllowish leaf variety by the seller who insisted that the leaf would turn all green with age. Not so. I actually took a sprig of benjamina with me to do my shopping as I have no Thai language skills.

I spotted benjamina being used in the center divider on Huay Kaew road in Chiang Mai, that is where I got my sample. The yellowish leaf variety is used a lot on highway 121 at its intersection with Mae Rim Road in Chiang Mai. I doubt much water is required to keep these ficus flourishing in Thailand as the center dividers are not sprinkled and the water truck doesn't come that often in the dry season.

My yellowish ones haven't been watered in six months in this dry season. I need to trim them as they are pushing 3 meters after a year.

Walking around a retail nursery complex should deliver results if you want to buy ficus. There are some retail nursery outlets who will order plants for you but only from varieties available in Thailand. I doubt that more that a dozen or less varieties of ficus are available.

[Bredbury Blue]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_benjamina

Thanks for that, now i can discuss it with the wife. I'll also throw it in to the gardening forum to see what they reckon.

[Bredbury Blue]

Maybe a concern as i have a couple of youngsters:

Poisonous Part

Plant sap from all parts.

Symptoms

Itching of eyes, cough, and wheezing following frequent contact. Skin irritation with itching, redness and stinging following contact and exposure to sunlight.

Toxic Principle

Furocoumarins, psoralens, ficin.

Severity

SKIN IRRITATION MINOR, OR LASTING ONLY FOR A FEW MINUTES.