The Takeover

Slowly but surely this strangler fig is consuming this river blue gum. Notice the debris hooked on the shrubs and the mud shining around their base. This means a job repairing flood fencing is ahead of us tomorrow and for a few days there after.

[KoalaGardens🐨]

wow, stranglers are so fascinating. I hope the repairs go smoothly, looks like there was some water really moving through there!

[Wendy]

There are invasive plants the world over - we have wild grape vines that get to be as thick as a man's wrist and they will kill a tree in just a couple of years.
Good luck with the flood fencing - a never ending job!

[Diana]

Nature can be so cruel.

[Pat Knowles]

Could you cut it off? I suppose you can't do,it for every tree that's being smothered by this type if plant, trying to think of the proper word but it escapes me.

[Jane Anderson]

Is the official name a strangler fig, or is that your name for it? I've never seen such a thing, and the gum tree will eventually die?

[Margaret Pengelly]

@janeandcharlie Yes they are actually a vine which seems unbelievable but they attach themselves to the top of the tree as an epiphyte and drop roots down to the ground once contact is made they actually send roots back up and around the tree and begin feeding from the soil. They will eventually smother and kill the host tree but this takes many generations.