So I have the Apex predator of trees in my backyard, and yes, before you laugh, they’re created by bird poop. A bird poops out a seed, and that’s how they start. They’re known in India as the immortal tree and for damn good reason because this sucker, it’s actually called a strangler fig, has taken over all of my cabbage palms and it grows 100 feet. Yes, that’s right, 100 feet underground. I’m in Florida, Central Florida, and I need to know how to effing kill this thing. My mom is disabled, and I care for her full-time since she lost her husband due to complications of Covid, so right now I am not working, and we are on minimal budget limits. However, I have reached out to the Department of Agriculture arborist to find out how to kill this effing thing, and they don’t even know. Lovely Thomas Edison brought it over here to the guy that makes goodrich tires because it was supposed to be a gift to him. I believe to help him make rubber tires, and even now, if you look it up on the West Coast where he planted his first tree, it’s a kind of Banyan tree. This tree is now like I want to say 100 acres long because the vines that come off the top once they hit the ground turned into a tree trunk, and it just never ends. And then also, like I said, I’m so scared it breaks through concrete. It breaks through pipes and it’s getting so bloody close to my neighbor’s house and our pool area. I already found some of its little creepy, strangler vines coming out from underneath my bathroom wall outside in the pool area, so I need to kill this thing, and I am a nursery owner registered by the Department of Agriculture, so I am a nature lover before all your tree huggers get on me. I don’t wanna kill it. I’m a big believer in loving my plants. They’re all my babies, but this tree is a nuisance and it’s gonna become a problem pretty soon that I can’t handle. I have looked into what is the best tree-killing chemical, and I did buy this. I think it starts with a G. I’d have to look it up, but it’s not doing anything. I mean this tree is just relentless as you can see in the photos where I’ve tried to saw it. It just regrows more vines, and it just literally will wrap itself around the cabbage palm because it likes anything with water and it just sucks the life out of it until it’s the last host tree standing and it’s a beautiful tree. You don’t get me wrong just not in my damn yard.
by Secure-Substance4832
12 Comments
I’m sorry but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone hate a tree the way you hate that tree. 😂😂😂
Drive a few copper nails into it
I want one! I’m ashamed to admit as an arborist I’ve never heard of this tree. Guess it hasn’t made it’s way to the UK or doesn’t survive here. So from an uneducated standpoint, have you tried cutting it down?
You realize if you kill it, the cost to remove it is what over any budget you currently have, because it WILL have to be taken down after it’s dead otherwise it could damage more property. You can’t just kill it and leave it. The best is to get it trimmed but that will also cost money.
I would try a hack and squirt method of 60 water/40 glyphosate. Buy some undiluted online and mix just before application with distilled water for best results. You may want to add a surfactant to the mixture for added uptake. Hack a root/vine and spray the poison into the cut. Repeat on as many roots/vines as you can get to. The glyphosate is systemic, so it will travel to all parts of the plant. I’m not familiar with this tree/vine so you may do a quick Google search before buying and using the product I recommended. Glyphosate has gotten a terrible rap as of late, but it is still a great tool that can work wonders if used properly.
[here’s more info on the bastard](https://www.science.org/content/article/being-strangled-may-save-tree-s-life)
Post in r/gardeningaustralia. Strangler Figs are native in Australia so people have a lot of experience with them.
If you kill it, you will have to cut it down or it will be a risk to all surrounding properties. Having it cut down will likely be expensive, so I don’t see how you solve this without spending money.
If it were me, I’d have it cut down and then treat the cut stump with a glyphosate and triclopyr mix. That’s how you handle Tree of Heaven, so I’d imagine it’ll work on this tree.
Again, if you somehow kill the tree and don’t remove it, it becomes a snag and will eventually start dropping branches or fall. If it falls on your house or your neighbors house, a car, or heaven forbid a person, that’s going to be way more trouble.
I don’t know the specific tree/plant…
But either try RoundUp, or perhaps salt!?
We have an invasive species here in Denmark that doesn’t give a shit about RoundUp, but if we cut it really rough, so it has a lot of open surface at the cut, and rub a tons of salt on it, it dries out.
I worked as a climber cutter for a couple years. You will need to have it cut down and chipped. Next find a professional to use stump suppressant or killer to prevent the tree from growing back. That’s my two cents best of luck bud.
Cut at the base and keep the stump wet with high percentage Glyphosate. My bud poured used motor oil, diesel and gasoline into a bowl depression in a cottonwood stump. It kept suckers from popping up. When he burned the stump wisps of smoke came up in the yard from an extensive root system.
I relate to hatred of a particular plant. I hate that tree too, just for you.
Good advice here, I’m just hopping in to say that all of my homies hate strangler figs.