I have got a lovely 6ft high standard ficus in a pot, my wife would like to
plant it in the ground however i have heard these things can grow rapidly
and the root system could grow into the foundations. What I would like to
know is if i do plant it in the ground what would be a safe distance to do
so from the house. If i do plant it can i expect it to grow into a fully
fledged tree or will it keep it's standard size. We mainly want to plant it
to provide more shade in our yard.

Thanks
Luke

g'day luke,

um a safe distance from any house foundations, roads, driveways,
sewerage drains etc.,. oh around 40 or 50 meters.

and no matter if you put it in the ground and keep the top trimmed to
the standard shape, the root system will still develop to the fullest.
we went to the bat caves up near rocky i forget exactly how deep we
were but there was this thick as a mans arm fig root still going down.

if you didn't keep it trimmed it most certainly would grow into a
fully fledged tree.

best thing keep all those type ficus out of suburbia.

len

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 15:29:18 +1030, "Luke"
wrote:

I have got a lovely 6ft high standard ficus in a pot, my wife would like to
plant it in the ground however i have heard these things can grow rapidly
and the root system could grow into the foundations. What I would like to
know is if i do plant it in the ground what would be a safe distance to do
so from the house. If i do plant it can i expect it to grow into a fully
fledged tree or will it keep it's standard size. We mainly want to plant it
to provide more shade in our yard.

Thanks
Luke


--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

"Luke" wrote in message
...
I have got a lovely 6ft high standard ficus in a pot, my wife would like
to
plant it in the ground however i have heard these things can grow rapidly
and the root system could grow into the foundations. What I would like to
know is if i do plant it in the ground what would be a safe distance to do
so from the house. If i do plant it can i expect it to grow into a fully
fledged tree or will it keep it's standard size. We mainly want to plant
it
to provide more shade in our yard.

Thanks
Luke


Don't put it in the ground unless have about 50m of space around your
home...at least. Leave it in the pot...the only reason it should ever come
out of a pot is to be potted up or after you have given it several doses of
round up and you are going to throw it out.
If you want to make more shade in your yard don't even attempt to put it in
a bigger pot and place it on the bare ground becuase the bottom of a
plastic/terracotta/concrete pot doesn't make a very good barrier to the
ground.

I agree with those Mogsy and len--dont do it

"thanks everyone, iwasn't really fond of putting in the ground , will look
for a different sort of tree now

G'day Luke

I have to agree with what others have said....when I bought my current
house just over 12 years ago there were two very small Ficus (about 60cm
tall) in the lawn area, fortunately I knew about their reputation and
kept a close eye on them. One year we got lots of rain and they took
off (literally). The roots were above ground level and wrist thick
while the trees were still only around 2m tall. They got the chop
because some roots were heading towards the house (and foundations). I
was told they would reappear but they didn't......so my advice is as
above. They make a nice potted specimen but for open
ground..........Don't do it!!

HC ;-)
Luke wrote:
"thanks everyone, iwasn't really fond of putting in the ground , will look
for a different sort of tree now