seeds please !

Hi , I'm from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and I would like to obtain some LHI Banyan tree seeds. The climate can get a little cold here but I think these seeds would do great here from the sounds of it. I haven't seen any large banyan trees around in Canada and maybe I could start growing some here. I was also wondering about the germination process for seeds. I found a few banyan tree seeds that I ordered on the internet and put them on soil in a mini greenhouse planter you get from the store. I was wondering if you have to have constant light on them for 24 hours or on just a regular schedule. I have them sitting outside right now in the sun but was wondering if I have to bring them inside at night. Does the temperature have to stay constant as well ? Thanks, hopefully I hear from somebody soon !

The following thread was started by August de los Reyes on July 23, 2009 at 6:59 pm PST

August, there is no way the LHI Banyan tree will grow anywhere north of the Bay area. It is an extreemly marginal tree here in the Bay area and succeeds only in those areas that are both mild in the Winter and quite warm in the Summer.

The LHI Banyan tree will die if temperatures are below freezing for more than a few hours, it has little frost resistance.

The LHI Banyan tree will grow in Sunset zones 21-24 and is borderline in zones 16 and 17, and needs Winter protections in zones 14 and 15. Basically, it will survive anywhere a king palm or a kentia palm will survive.

The above followup was added by Axel on July 24, 2009 at 9:54 am PST.

I grow the Australian mainland subspecies of Ficus macrophylla (Moreton Bay Fig Tree); the Lord Howe Island Banyan is Ficus macrophylla subspecies columnaris.
The Australian one is very ornamental with big butressed roots but only occasionally will grow roots from the limbs.
I grow mine as a bonsai and it copes with temperatures down to freezing point providing it gets good summer heat to grow and recover from the winter. One year it got frosted a little too severely but regrew in the summer as a coppice from the caudex. So if you have a bright spot you could grow it as a container plant.
The seeds germinate readily if given good heat and light. They grown naturally as seedlings in tree and stone crevasses and high up on walls sending long roots down so they can be trained in this way with very interesting effects.
There are some other Australian species that grow in climates a touch cooler such as Ficus rubiginosa and Ficus coronata.

The above followup was added by Lachlann, Sth Coast, NSW on July 24, 2009 at 7:53 pm PST.

Hey Axel, I was wondering if the climate here in Victoria may be ok to grow the LHI banyan tree. The winters here are quite mild for Canada. I have seen numerous palm trees growing here around the city and in neighbouring yards. If the temperature dropped below zero could you maybe wrap the trunk or bring inside if in a pot. It is quite warm here in the summer as well. It stays above 20 degrees c from June to sometimes October. It will be 30 degrees c this weekend. Will a well established tree in a pot be less susceptible to frost resistance ? If I bring it inside during winter months will this help ? Thanks for the info, would still like to try growing this tree, if I can get enough seeds then I could experiment with different techniques. Do you know where I could get any seeds ?

The above followup was added by August de los Reyes on July 25, 2009 at 2:14 am PST.

The palms you see in Victoria Canada are hardy palms that can grow in two zones below a banyan tree. Of course you can grow a banyan in a pot and bring it inside during the winter, it's no different from growing a rubber tree inside.

The above followup was added by Axel on July 25, 2009 at 6:46 am PST.

I've had a few Ficus macrophylla -- including a LHI banyan -- in Brookings, OR (42 degrees north, USDA Zone 9b, Sunset 17). I still have one that has managed to hang on as sort of a climate-pruned bonsai. After seven years it is 16 inches high. The summer here isn't long enough for them to succeed. A plant has a certain minimum threshold temperature at which it put on active growth. At temperatures below that, the plant needs to draw on reserves stored during the time of good growth in order to survive. Obviously a plant needs to spend more time in good growth than it spends consuming its own reserves. LHI banyans and other forms of Ficus macrophylla need a good eight months of warm summer and no more than four months of weather where overnight lows fall below 50F. There are some magnificent specimens in southern Spain where daily highs are over 90C for more than 6 months of the year. They don't really need high heat to grow, just sustained moderate heat over a long period. The West Coast has suitable such climates widely spread over southern California and occurring in spots and patches as far north as the eastern portions of the San Francisco Bay.

Magnolia delavayi and Rhododendron sinogrande are two of the cool-growing plants that make suitable PNW substitutes for the effect produced by LHI banyans.

The above followup was added by Steve in Brookings on July 27, 2009 at 11:50 am PST.