Saravanan Balaraman

It has been almost five years since I planted this tree. It's scientific name is Butea Monosperma, a seasonal flowering tree belongs to the Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family.

Once I planted it, it started to leaf out rapidly with light green leaves and I was happy about it but soon after the growth halted completely with the available leaves turning dark green over time.

The tree bark is only one inch thick now but sort of woody condition, (not still a young plant). At one stage all the leaves wilted out. Once all leaves wilted, the tree was leafing out vigorously and reached to three feet height with more leaves bushy at the bottom. Then the growth halted, with the leaves turning dark green over time. I decided to prune the bottom branches to facilitate growth, but after I pruned still there was no new leaf out.

Recently the tree lost all its leaves again including the 3 feet branch dieing out. Once this happened the tree leafed out immediately but only a few buds became leaves other buds dried out. The tree is alive but only a foot tall with leaves turning dark green again.

I request any sort of advice from experienced gardeners or experts as to why the tree is leafing out rapidly only when all leaves are gone but halts shortly after that? Could it be a root problem? Are the roots in stress, if so can it survive for five years with that problem? Could it be an aeration problem. (The soil is not heavy clay soil.) But it's a kind of water logged soil below 2 feet from ground. (A fig tree planted nearby used the water below to grow rapidly into a big tree in five years.)

Could installing aeration pipes solve the problem?

Hi, thanks for the information.

I am not sure about the open with a knife type you mentioned, my jackfruit tree that I bought is the type that produces the large fruits. See attached picture of the type of the big tree.



I will plant it as deep as possible like you said however it's been quite a while after it has rooted since it has grown over four feet tall.

I have bought myself a jackfruit tree which was rooted from stem cutting.

It is a general procedure to always graft jackfruit trees to obtain the desired cultivar and it contains a taproot.

For mythical reasons I do not want to plant a grafted tree in my home garden.

So in order to obtain the good cultivar, I have to go for grafting and so I bought it. My question is, since this cutting rooted tree does not have a taproot, will the tree produce fruits if I plant it? Taproot a is essential for storing nutrients and it anchors tree deep into the soil. Will the tree get enough nutrients if I grow it without a taproot?

I have a 5 year old cluster fig tree producing fruits.

I have a problem with the stem which looked like a sunscald, there was an opening through which ants transport some white material inside. I decided to cut around the opening and clean out the ant infestation, but once I cut it the outer skin started peeling off downwards.

Please see attached picture. The ant infestation problem is solved, but the opening on the bark still remains, exposing the inside.

Is there anything I should do to fix this or just leave it alone to get healed by itself?

It's fruiting but there is another big sunscald along the main stem on top.

The subgenus urostigma have aerial roots like banyan. Ficus Racemosa does not have aerial roots. I am in India, the Main ficus trees are the Banyan - Ficus Benghalensis(with aerial roots), Peepal - Ficus Religiosa and Ficus Racemosa.

Ficus Racemosa has been propagated by cuttings and once they sell them they are over 6 feet tall, so by this time they must have developed good root system. I am not sure how long the cuttings were when they rooted them, but I am sure it's not a complicated process.

Hi, apologize for the mistake, there are many varieties of figs, I was talking about FICUS RACEMOSA or the cluster fig tree. I have read that in general, cutting grown trees have weaker roots compared with seed grown and grafted trees.

I am not an expert in tree root system, but from your explanation I understand that fig trees do not have taproot hence the roots will be having the same strength and vigour and would grow fast and penetrate the rocks as good as the seed grown Ficus Racemosa tree. I am interested in growing this tree. I will go ahead and plant this tree from cutting.

Thanks a lot for your input.

Hello,

I am planning to plant a cluster Fig tree grown from cuttings. Does anyone have experience in growing big trees from cuttings? Do cutting grown trees have a weaker root system?

I am planning to plant this cluster Fig tree in my farm. There are rocks 10 feet below soil, I want the cluster fig tree to penetrate these rocks and go deep vertically below. I actually want to plant a seed grown tree but I have to get it small size from nursery and grow it for months in a small container then plant it in farm due to non availability of big seed grown trees in nurseries.

Cutting grown trees of over 6 feet are readily available in nurseries which I can plant in the farm.

I seek suggestions on this. Fig trees are normally strong and have a strong penetrating root system. But will the cutting grown tree have strong roots as the seed grown tree? Since I require the roots to be strong, is it better to plant a seed grown tree by taking the extra time and effort?

I have planted this rare variety of butea monosperma tree which is a legume in garden. It has been three years since I planted it. It started to grow well at first and reached a height of 1.5 feet only after which it stopped growing. It is growing out new leaves which are big and healthy and main shaft is woody about an inch thick. It grows bushy but not growing upwards in height. After pruning it grew out fast bushy not in height it still remains the same.

My suspect is there are palmyra palm trees nearby which might be sucking the nutrients out. Will cutting down the palm trees result in growth of this tree? Please advice.