Myron Platte wrote:What are the uses of Ficus Benjamina? I’m having trouble finding any.
It's often grown as a house plant, in which case this makes it worth its weight in many situations: "The NASA Clean Air Study determined that this plant was effective at removing common household air toxins formaldehyde and xylene." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_benjamina (requoted from here) (formaldehyde is one of my known sensitivities, so I admit I'm biased)
If it's happy, it will also grow biomass for harvesting. I'm occasionally looking for "clean mulch" and this would do it.
Myron Platte wrote:What are the uses of Ficus Benjamina? I’m having trouble finding any.
Hi Myron,
its the most common tree in almost every tropical restaurant as hedgerow or single in a pot tree and separator plant between the tables, household, office and shopping Malls.
Ficus Banjamini
or also called the Weeping Fig
In northern climate the usual no brainer birthday gift and as soon in a house the heater goes on you will see them standing beside the garbage bin leafless and dried out.
Also home and distributor plant of about billions spider mites in houses and apartments and as side role a good dust catcher.
Alive not much more of a use than udders on a bull...
I know I am a permie... (just to stay on topic) :-) ...when I not buy a Ficus Benjamini in the local supermarket and think I get soon a harvest of tasty figs in my living room.
You know you're permie material when people are always raving about how you can make something useful out of seeming trash, (in this particular case, a solar hot water heater out of cast-off everything) and you respond,
"Yup, I've done so much with so little for so long, that now I can make anything out of nothing!"
Every time you look over the fence into your elderly neighbor's yard, rather than being annoyed that there's old "junk" everywhere, you're upset by the thought that it will likely be sent to the dump by their kids when it could be so useful to you and less work for them to clean up!
Anytime that the seriousness of an illness forces you to resort to antibiotics, you think about the deaths of all the innocent and beneficial members of your microbiome who got caught in the crossfire. And maybe even feel guilty. Same feels when you end up having to use chlorinated water to bathe in or drink. Sorry my little bacteria friends. Rest in peace, you will be missed.
You really hit home on the junk in the neighbors yard. I have learned to develop a long memory. When I see junk piled up in someone’s yard for too long, I stop by and ask for permission to remove some or all of it. Normally, the answer is positive.
We're working on some ideas for simple, clean sterilization for the returned egg cartons now....spraying with lysol just seems so, well, ugly, but March in Maine is not the time to be leaving things "out in the sun for a few days" ;)
You know you're a permie when you find yourself agonizing over how to cleanly (greenly?) sterilize egg cartons so they can be safely reused in the time of coronavirus
Would it work to expose the cartons to sunlight in the sunroom/greenhouse, or does the glass barrier interfere with the sterilization process?
You know you are becoming a permie when everything organic you would have previously thrown away is now put aside to improve the soil and help build up the hugels.. holey socks and towels that are finally no longer good as cleaning rags, used cotton pads, etc... and your SO just shakes his head...
you know you are a permie when all your neighbors call you before sending leaves, branches etc to the brown bin, to see if you want them...
Myron Platte wrote:What are the uses of Ficus Benjamina? I’m having trouble finding any.
Sidewalk busters.
In our area where these trees grow aggressively for the entire year, the tree-roots from ficus cause massive damage to hardscaping and even house foundations. I cringe when I see that someone has taken their cute little ficus with the three-limb braided trunk and have planted it in a little space between the sidewalk and the street, or next to their house in a planter. Say goodbye to that planter within 5 years, and expect to have to fix the significant foundation damage to your house in 10. Once established, these trees are tough little suckers. They AGGRESSIVELY seek water and and push their way under concrete.
Where there are no bad plants, there are certainly bad locations for many plants, ficus being one of them.
Heather Sharpe wrote:Every time you look over the fence into your elderly neighbor's yard, rather than being annoyed that there's old "junk" everywhere, you're upset by the thought that it will likely be sent to the dump by their kids when it could be so useful to you and less work for them to clean up!
Exactly! There was an elderly woman living next door (we never had any contact, because she always stayed indoors) and then that was what happened now she's gone. Lots of useful stuff, even beautiful old things from her homeland (she was Moroccan) were destroyed and went into the trash. And now I hope the new inhabitants won't destroy the fruit trees and herb plants growing in that garden ...
Myron Platte wrote:What are the uses of Ficus Benjamina? I’m having trouble finding any.
Sidewalk busters.
In our area where these trees grow aggressively for the entire year, the tree-roots from ficus cause massive damage to hardscaping and even house foundations. I cringe when I see that someone has taken their cute little ficus with the three-limb braided trunk and have planted it in a little space between the sidewalk and the street, or next to their house in a planter. Say goodbye to that planter within 5 years, and expect to have to fix the significant foundation damage to your house in 10. Once established, these trees are tough little suckers. They AGGRESSIVELY seek water and and push their way under concrete.
Where there are no bad plants, there are certainly bad locations for many plants, ficus being one of them.
When for the first time in my life I arrived in a tropical country (Caribbean) I was surprised how tall such a Ficus can grow! I only knew them as houseplants, often dying from standing too close to the heating. And now there, right in front of the apartment, there was this beautiful tree with many stems, growing out of the concrete terrace! Immediately I started making photos and a sketch, to remember that wonderful tree. (sorry, can't show the photos now, have to search my files first).
When your son proudly tells your husband, "I planted lots of different plants to confuse those bugs!" (He's wanted to just plant radishes today, and ended up adding spinich, peas and carrots....it might be too early for carrots, but we used old seed. We'll see what happens!)
When your neighbors are more interested in giving you useful cast offs than you are in getting them. I have 60 pallets lining my driveway ... with another 40 on the way.
haha, Tristan...we're in town now and have folks just stop by...I'm getting quicker.
another that only a permie would understand...
...you and your husband/wife/partner/friend discuss how to perfect composting toilets during dinner
I’m so glad I’m not alone in this! I’d be happy to join you all for dinner.
My compost toilet discussions with friends have invoked comments from them that perhaps the reason I’m not married is because I’m talking about compost toilets too much and in too much detail.
haha, Tristan...we're in town now and have folks just stop by...I'm getting quicker.
another that only a permie would understand...
...you and your husband/wife/partner/friend discuss how to perfect composting toilets during dinner
I’m so glad I’m not alone in this! I’d be happy to join you all for dinner.
My compost toilet discussions with friends have invoked comments from them that perhaps the reason I’m not married is because I’m talking about compost toilets too much and in too much detail.
Just a couple days ago, I went to the Banya with the boys, cracked open a cold one, and we started discussing gardening techniques, compost toilets, and Sepp Holzer.
Myron Platte wrote:
Just a couple days ago, I went to the Banya with the boys, cracked open a cold one, and we started discussing gardening techniques, compost toilets, and Sepp Holzer.
Ooooo a Banya, I used to go to one up in Denver.. really miss it!
You know you are a permie when ... you use white out in a small notebook to cover the times you used ink to write down something instead of a pencil because as long as the page has writable surface, you are going to use it; and you use pencil to writ in it because its easy to erase it to reuse the notebook page yet again...
... even when you have access to a gas or electric dryer, you prefer drying your clothes on the line in the sunshine (or near a rocket stove)
... you save your Apple core, strawberry stems or any other plant pieces (that you don’t feel like eating) wherever you can do that you can put it in your compost when you get home
... you feel bad when you flush a toilet in mainstream society because it’s a waste of clean water
... your bookshelf is filled with second hand books about harvesting wild foods, gardening, reusing things, and living as a conserver
... you mend clothes and fabrics multiple times until they can no longer be worn and then you use them for other things
Oh my...I'm a permie and had no idea. It's like discovering your DNA components. Or that you secretly love opera.
I remember my neighbor coming to reap my hay field - and I stopped him for a day to collect the wild herbs and barley in the field. He told me it was all weeds. But no, my fine Sir, you are mistaken - and I proceeded to collect items in my basket blocking his thatching machine with a talk to the hand gesture.
Lots of purslane that day.
My gardens have always been "wild" and I instinctively use pairings to invite bees and stones to invite snakes. I thought it was some genetics inherited from my farmer great-grandfather.
And now...my son and your fellow Boot, has inherited my proclivities.
Is it wrong I get aroused (intellectually) by herb or tree catalogues?
I clicked the search bar at the top of the page, put in "soap" told it to search permies and it said " 2160 threads containing 5264 posts" Lots of soap stuff here!
This thread started in 2016, some people don't see replies years later.
You can’t make this stuff up. I had to make a short trip this morning that took me by a physicians house. The pond in his front yard had statues of a deer, a heron, and some turtles on a log. Anyway, I get home, pour some coffee, and chill on my front porch .... to notice the herd of deer on the far end of my pond, the two herons standing in the water, and the real turtles on the real logs.
When you live in suburbia and your neighbors fall clean up guys blow away your leaves by mistake and you (enraged!) go out and yell at them to put them back.
They do.
Then at the neighborhood winter holiday party you mention being upset about another topic and suddenly your leaf episode is the topic of choice. They think your're odd but lovable you think they're gullible but nice.
wayne fajkus wrote:Your garden has weeds and you don't care
Your garden has weeds, and you're EXCITED to see which ones are edible.
Moreso, you propagate the edible weeds and even disturb some nearby soil so they will take.
When, in a large apt complex, your windows are packed with green growth
Which feeds the guinea pig
Whose (wood chip) bedding becomes stealth mulch for the guerrilla garden in the neglected parking lot island
Where the cherry tomatoes lure in the packs of unsupervised apt urchins
Who I then educate about the wildflowers and bumble bees
And the onsite manager is grateful for the flowers so he turns a blind eye to the discreet pile of wood chips (stealth compost) tucked way back in the corner of the neglected little bit of woods
Where I'm ripping out ivy and educating the owners mother about invasive ivy strangling trees and harboring rats
Also I have to dry my hands with paper towels (medical) so the clean but damp paper towels then wipe mirrors/glass/counters etc then become seed starter sheets or liners of plant pots to keep the soil from leaking out the drain holes
When you go to a Cracker Barrel restaurant, walk around and look at all the antiques on the walls, and not only can identify almost all of them, but have many of them, and covet the rest, not as decor, as TOOLS! Cabbage slicer!! OOOH!! My sauerkraut wants it!
Talked to a lady who was stunned and amazed by cast iron pans that made wedge shaped biscuits, I showed her the ones that make the little corn ears of cornbread, told her I had made some like that just the other day, she said "did you buy the pan here?" Um, no. I have had it for 40 years or so...
When a good portion of your weeding consists of removing pesky invasive grass clumps that show up because you want more dandelions, chickweed, and plantain instead.
Your friends’ children ask you to help them design and build a lego house so you put on a living roof (the Wofati design wasn’t working out), lots of natural light as to not need electricity, a living pool & pond, a polyculture garden... couldn’t find the right pieces for a rocket stove/oven or the right animals for regenerative agriculture... so dinos & camp fire it was.
Kaye Harris wrote:You know you're a permie when...
...you think people are insane for spraying toxic gick on GOOD FOOD like dandelions and yard plantain.
Or you get to where everything is so far from the disturbed soil stage that you can't grow plantain in your medicinal herb patch without transplanting them. So all your plantain is in a nice neat row.
When you get a UV flashlight, hoping to find the source of a cat pee smell, but then upon using it, realize it causes all sorts of other organic matter to fluoresce in interesting ways. So you end up spending half the night playing with it, looking at herbal salves, collected rainwater, wood, rocks, the composting toilet, spiders and insects, basically everything in your house other than potential locations of the smell you ostensibly got it to find...Then after seeing how neat fungus in your firewood looks with it, you start contemplating taking it out to explore the yard at night once the new moon rolls around and it's dark enough out there for it to work well...
1. You've asked construction companies and the insurance company about building a rocket mass heater and the standard response is a long silence and then a statement promising they'll research it to find out what it is and get back with you afterwards.
2. You have several close friends, but only ONE you will discuss ALL of your permie info with. I ain't goin there with anybody else lol!
3. You attend garage sales but don't have to get there early because there is no competition for the stuff you're interested in.
4. You actually purchase weed seeds so you can plant them and learn to recognize edible plants at each stage of development (not that I've done that....).
5. You are on a first name basis with the employees at the local lumber yard.
6. Your Christmas list resembles a popular mechanics wish list.
7. You're with a group of friends and you lie about your plans for the weekend because you're well aware that your idea of fun and their idea of fun ain't even in the same ballpark.
Post by:autobot
There's no place like 127.0.0.1. But I'll always remember this tiny ad:
permaculture thorns, A Book About Trying to Build Permaculture Community - draft eBook
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