Haunted by a Fig Tree

[gata montes]

I have four large Fig trees, yes I know, you can only eat so many figs and to be honest, wouldn't say I'm a great fan of figs either, but they grow like weeds here and what starts out as a small shoot, very quickly becomes a large tree. and could develop into a fig tree forest quite rapidly, if not kept in check.

One of the Fig trees was far too close to the house, and if you've ever had the misfortune, of listening to hundreds of blue magpies telling jokes and laughing at the crack of dawn, every morning, you too, would understand why, three nearly four years ago, this Fig tree was cut down, had holes drilled in the stump and was fed the relevant product to kill the roots.
Which has worked well, on the Silver Birch tree, that was also cut down at the same time.

However unlike the other Fig tree shoots that pop up everywhere, and normally respond favorably to a regular application of weedkiller, to keep them at bay, the shoots that come up from this stump are prolific and twice the size, easily reaching well over a meter in height within a week or two- often resembling what could, easily become a Fig tree forest in no time, right next to the house - which is for me, a very scary thought.

No amount of regular applications, of the strongest industrial strength weed or stump killing solutions are stopping these prolific shoots from appearing, infact they actually seem to like it.

Because this tree or tree stump is proving to be so hard to eradicate, and seems to be really determined not to leave, I'm actually beginning to think, that this particular tree, is trying to haunt me - for chopping it down, so if anyone has any ideas that would help, they would be greatly appreciated.

 

[justusforus]

I had a fig tree that did much of the same. It shot up so many shoots I just kept cutting them back. It never hurt the tree or the production. I am a huge fan of figs, so I guess I never blamed the birds for their like of them too. I hope someone here has an answer for you. I don't think the stump is haunting you, I think it was just very prolific and still seems to be!

 

[zigs]

Can you ringbark the stump? That'll make it die of death.

 

[gata montes]

Can you ringbark the stump? That'll make it die of death.

Death sounds good

But what is ringbarking - apart from a dog imitating a mobile phone?



JustusForus

Quick Tip : The more you cut back the shoots of a Fig tree, the more they will grow, often resulting in a low cropping but very bushy tree.
I would try and kill the suckers, which the shoots are, rather than keep cutting them back.

 

[zigs]

Pretend you're a rabbit & nibble the bark off right round the tree

http://forestry.about.com/od/treephysiology/a/kill_tree_organ.htm

 

[ChanellG]

Have you ever thought of digging it up? It's a much better idea than using poison. It might be an aggravation to dig up a tree stump, but it's the only sure method you have to know that the tree won't grow back. You could try offering the tree to someone so the new shoots can be salvaged. I'm sure there are plenty of people who'd like a free fast growing fruit tree.

 

[Jewell]

We had to have three large diseased filbert trees taken out early this last summer. Our filbert stumps were too big to dig and we could not figure out a way to get a stump grinder into the back yard. They were also sending up lots starts.

We are trying combined methods I found on the internet. Can not say how successful it is until late next spring, but this is what we are trying. Drilled holes all over the top of the stump and the chopped starts. Then we poured epson salts into the holes (acts as a tree killer). I also added some nitrogen fertilizer (supposed to aid in decomposition)

Then we covered the stumps with multiple layers of cardboard to make it so no light will get to the stumps or starts. Then I creatively stacked some of the firewood gained from taking down the trees to hide the layers of cardboard. (The actual directions were to use a plastic garbage can to block out all light but the stumps were too big.) Without light the theory is the tree will die. The article did say it can take up to a year for the tree to die and to start to rot. But at least I have not had to deal with all the starts during the growing season.

I will take a peek in the spring after all the trees are leafed out. I am patient and put enough money into having three trees taken down. It seemed worth a try.

Here are the traditional methods I found for stump removal on the internet: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/nonharmful-ways-rid-tree-trunks-30502.html

 

[gata montes]

Pretend you're a rabbit & nibble the bark off right round the tree

http://forestry.about.com/od/treephysiology/a/kill_tree_organ.htm

I could - but I'd need another set of teeth for that


Many thanks for the information, which has helped a little, particularly where it says "some trees are prolific sprouters" and even after cutting them down, they will continue to sprout from the original stump.
Which is of course the problem that I have and need to find a solution.

Visually the stump looks totally dead and all the bark is gone, so I can only think, that these prolific shoots are still coming from the roots, which as the tree was at least 60 years old, it probably had a massive root run.

Any suggestions?

 

[gata montes]

Have you ever thought of digging it up? It's a much better idea than using poison. It might be an aggravation to dig up a tree stump, but it's the only sure method you have to know that the tree won't grow back. You could try offering the tree to someone so the new shoots can be salvaged. I'm sure there are plenty of people who'd like a free fast growing fruit tree.

The tree was at least 60 years old and leaning against the side of the house and causing damage, which was the actual reason for having it cut down, although the blue magpies antics contributed as well.

I agree with you, digging up a tree would be a much better idea than using poison, but have you tried moving a giant 60 year tree with a massive root system, that runs under your property, without it being aggravation or damaging your property

As I mentioned, Fig trees grow prolifically here and everyone has the same problem, of trying to get rid of all the new shoots that appear, in order to avoid having a Fig tree forest - so no - I don't think anyone would appreciate my offer of any kind of fig tree or its offspring

 

[zigs]

Well i'm stumped

I'll paste your question onto the uk forum, see if anyones got any ideas over here

 

[gata montes]

Your stumped - I'm stumped - definitely confirming my suspicions, that - I am being haunted by a fig tree.

Many thanks for your offer, of pasting my question onto to UK Forum, it is very appreciated, hopefully someone will come up with an answer, especially, as I've been searching the internet for several years now, to try and find a solution.

 

[zigs]

I've posted it, see what happens.

Only other thing I can think of is the "Never let it see a Sunday" approach. Just cut off every sucker till the roots run out of energy.

 

[zigs]

First response

I dont actually believe it.
Not sure what they are using, but SBK kills most things after a couple of applications as long as you expose the green stuff, ie. drill holes and plug them.
The new shoots could be hit with glyphosate.

 

[ChanellG]

@Jewell, I wish we'd had this "chat" when you were covering it - you could have put down black plastic to block out all light.

@gata montes Maybe you can try killing the tree by completely covering it up and robbing it of light and nutrients. If I were you I would still (down the road) try and dig and chop up the roots, even if you don't do it all it once, but work in segments. If you can make a significant effort in reducing the root system you just might win the war with the tree.

 

[gata montes]

First response

I can fully understand disbelief on this, but Fig Trees, are renowned for being notoriously hard to kill, which is one of the main reasons for posting this question, as not only I, but others in the area, have a similar problem and as yet we have not been able to come up with a solution.

For clarification - all commercially known products for weed, stump and root killing have been applied, at the strongest possible commercial strength, legally permitted for use in an agricultural area.

These products very successfully dealt with, the Silver Birch Tree that was cut down at the same time, even though it had a much larger root run than the Fig Tree. and visually appears to have done the same to the Fig Tree.

However, although the Fig Tree looks dead, its roots are obviously not, as the shoots are still sprouting prolifically, have even managed to uncover some root near the stump, drill holes in them and applied chemicals that way - but still these prolific shoots appear.

What will kill this tree am not entirely sure, its totally baffling or as Zigs said - got us stumped

The only other possible solution that I'm aware of, is to try and smoother the roots with cement, by concreting the entire area, but as this is going to be rather difficult to bring about , due to access problems and cost, is something I have been trying to avoid doing, on top that, I have heard reports of people doing this and finding Fig Tree roots coming up through the floors.