Moreton Bay Fig - 1 Gal.

Moreton Bay Fig

Here is a picture of a 1 year Moreton Bay Fig. They are a fast growing plant and can get REALLY big. Below I have a picture of 2 year plants and a picture of the monster in our back yard.

In the 23 years we have been in Southern California, I never recall seeing seedlings from the Moreton Bay Fig tree.  Even though, it always seems like it dumps hundreds of bushels of figs every fall (the kids use to call them peanuts, and they seem to rain endlessly in the fall and can hurt just a bit if they catch you square in the head).

I assumed we didn’t the have the correct wasp type to pollenize the fruit correctly.  But, then to my surprise this year, first in a batch of Hibiscus we were rooting and then in a number of other containers, these waxy leafed “weeds” kept appearing.  I pulled a bunch of them as weeds and then left a group of dead Hibiscus slips in the beds to see if there were any late rootings.  This group was allowed to sprout weeds and suddenly there were these very fast growing waxy leafed weeds.  Then I realized they were Moreton Bay Fig seedlings.

Very interesting.  Someone who really knows propagation which I do not, might be able to explain why.  In the past, even though the figs were allowed to fall into beds with mulch, they never produced seedlings.

This year because I use mulch from the Moreton Bay Fig as the primary potting soil we are obviously hitting a correct combination.  I am guessing more shade and more water.  Could be wrong.

Just the oppose is true for the Passion Fruit seeds, they don’t seem to sprout in the shade with moisture, but as soon as you move the flat into the sun with water, they sprout even after months in the containers.

I also found an interesting video where they are using moreton bay figs seedlings for bonsai.  Seems to work really well because they are fast growing and also because the trees are interesting looking with buttressed roots.  I have enbedded the video below.