Banyan tree

[crickets]

Has anyone grown a banyan tree in thailand before. How long do they take to get big? Can you keep trimming it so it dosent go to crazy? Can i use root guards with it? I was thinking of growing it in a big pot under ground to stop the roots spreading. Any ideas or info would be appreciated.

[drtreelove]

The Indian banyan tree, Ficus benghalensis, is a very large growing tree. I haven't grown it in Thailand, but know it well from living and working in India. They are amazing trees and I appreciate that you would want to plant and enjoy one, if you had space for it's eventual size. If you don't have space to allow it to grow to maturity, then I would discourage you from planting it. Containers and root barriers are only temporary containment for expansive root systems from trees like this. The large spreading foliar canopy and aerial roots will eventually become an issue also.

If you are referring to the weeping Chinese banyan Ficus benjamina, which is widely cultivated as a container house plant, they also can get quite large, but may be better to grow with limited space than F. benghalensis.

[Thian]

We have one in our moobaan here, it was lifting the concrete floor which was less then a metre from it's trunk. Now they removed it and made a total new floor.

They planted it right next to another concrete path

The other fig-family tree's also lifted the walls right next to them, so the walls and concrete floor is removed and guess what?! They made a new floor only 40 cm away from their trunks

They are drilling out the floor for 3 weeks in row now and sure it will be broken again soon....They are sooo smart.

But the removed banyan was cut and replanted with a crane. This one drops tiny seeds several times a year, a whole carpet of them.

I took some small branches which i want to grow as a bonsai in a bonsai pot.

I have another ficus bonsai and that made a root out of the pot into the soil one metre lower (i didn't see it at first) and grew like crazy. It was not easy to pull that root out.

Banyan's are cool but not in your garden or you must have much land available.