Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thats it... anyone know where I can buy the ficus seeds? I would like to grow them myself....
Thanks
Jason

You can buy them,
Right hurrr....

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CANADIAN CHAMELEONS

Ficus benghalensis
Banyan Tree

Is that the ficus I want?

Jason

Wrong link? Oops.
Try this.

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CANADIAN CHAMELEONS

to grow a ficus mature enough to have in your cham's cage from seed? They are a woody plant and often have problems with certain fungal diseases when young. You would need to maintain very specific temperature (bottom heat) and humidity requirements while germinating and very evenly controlled temps as it is growing. Do you have a greenhouse or conservatory where you can offer this? Unless you are looking to go into business with these 5 years from now, you are best off buying them at HD for $8. I have never paid more that $7.87 for one that is about 3' tall.

The Banyan tree is a tree (HUGE!) and is not what you want

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I've NEVER grown a single ficus from a seed. I'm pretty sure that most ficus species come from very small seed...
However, I grow lots of ficus from cuttings. You can use pretty good sized cuttings too- I've used cuttings as thick as my wrist. I've had best results starting my cuttings inside in water.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Hey Victor,
Do you grow them for your bonsai? Even cuttings for a 3' chameleon-worthy tree would still take quite some time - no? I know of a bonsai site discussing cuttings (though I am sure you could give even better advice )that I was going to link him to, but if he's doing it for chams, HD is an easy answer I wonder how available seeds for ficus benjamina or other (not banyan! lol!) even are. Considering their pruning and end sale use getting them to flower and even produce seeds is probably not on too many growers agenda. Then there is the variability from seed compared to the clone of vegetative repro. How fast do you find them to grow from cuttings? The person would need a healthy plant to take cuttings from in the first place.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Hey LELE where is this HD and can you link me to it? I was unaware that ficus is that hard to grow i figured before i bought the seed from a website they would tell me about growing conditions...
Thanks
Jason

Jason,

sorry for my abbreviation - HD = Home Depot stores. Most woody plants (plants that have trunks or woody stems and do not die back to the ground in the winter) can take quite some time to grow. Victor's suggestion about grwoing from cuttings is a good one, but only if you want to pay attention to them, give them the light/heat etc. that it needs and have an interest. If you are just looking for a cheaper way to get plants I do not think it would be worth your time. Victor and I LIKE to grow plants but it is not for everyone Just be sure that when you buy from Home Depot, Lowe's -wherever - to repot and wash the plant to remove any residual fertilizers and or pesticides.

Hope this clarifies for you
lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Sheesh, way to paint a portrait, Lele!
The way you're making you and me sound, people will think you and I are some sort of neo-hippie, granola eating wood dryads/druids with nothing on our agenda except the comtemplation of the higher existance of consciencousness, the reflection upon our place in the web of life (we are merely the gardner in this Eden, not the Land Lord), and the duality of our own altered state- everything is nothing. Nothingness is everything. Contemplate your bellybutton...
No, on the contrary. I hate all living things! (hides bowl of Grape Nuts) I do not care for greenery, I do not care for the things that crawl upon our planet. (tries to hide growing nose) My concern is only in the cold, hard facts. If I cannot feel it, touch it, taste it, see it, then it holds NO interest to me.
Yes, that's a picture of the Dali Lama on the wall over there... what, he owes me $5 for a burrito I bought him. And no, I don't know who put that "I brake for inner-peace" bumper sticker on my VW Bus, it was already there when I bought it I tell ya!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Sheesh, way to paint a portrait, Lele!
>>The way you're making you and me sound, people will think you and I are some sort of neo-hippie, granola eating wood dryads/druids with nothing on our agenda except the comtemplation of the higher existance of consciencousness, the reflection upon our place in the web of life (we are merely the gardner in this Eden, not the Land Lord), and the duality of our own altered state- everything is nothing. Nothingness is everything. Contemplate your bellybutton...

isn't that exactly who we ARE???? I mean when you asked to go in on a truckload of crunchy granola, sent me a book on pagan rituals on the solsctice and then argued with me about who the better belly button lint (you might have more, but mine is higher quality)... having you been deceiving me all this time? Well! I will be sending you thoughts of BAD, BAD, Karma!
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I prune my bonsai constantly so I almost always have cuttings at some stage of development growing on the bench. Sometimes I will allow a bonsai to get quite leggy before pruning back hard (ie when I want to ad bulk to the trunk/branch).
I have been known to acquire a plant SOLELY for the purpose of cutting material. I believe this is called 'Stooling', and you have to make sure the host tree is quite healthy, strong, and well fed before starting this process. I'm sure Lele knows more about this than I do.
Now, as far as simply having a tree for your chameleon- I would have to agree with Lele in that going to your local Home Depot type store would probably best suit the average person's needs. If you want to do this because you want to save a few bucks by growing your own- well, this might not be a bad idea PROVIDED you already have the space and equipment necessary on hand to grow a few cuttings. If this is the case, then I highly suggest trying your hand at growing a few cuttings.
I've grown a few of my own bonsai from cuttings and my mother has a very nice 12 foot banyan tree growing in her yard- a tree that started as one of my cuttings.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com