Monkey puzzles

[HeyWayne]

Anyone know anything about them?

LadyWayne's just bought one from here: Trees by Post - buy trees hedging tree gifts shrubs & wildflowers

It arrives on Saturday.

[zazen999]

I love a good Monkey Puzzle, but we haven't got room for one...No advice at all - I just love them. Usually make a bee line for them when we see one.

They do grow to be very big though...might even be taller than you in a few years.

[Mikey]

Apart from the fact they grow incredibly tall, kinda 40metres plus, not a lot.

You probably have done this already, but wikipedia do suggest that it can take about 1000 years to get there, so don't be too alarmed. A friend of mine has had one for about 8 years now, and it has gone from about 6" to just over 7', so not particularily fast growing.

[HeyWayne]

I read that they're slow growing, only growing to about 3 mtrs after 10 years - 6 mtrs after 20 etc. We should be able to nip it in the bud before it reaches it's eventual height of 25 metres! We'll all be driving around in flying cars by then.

[Mikey]

A bit like a sage it has a large tap root, so the growth can be restricted to site location, ie if you have very stony ground it may not reach its full potential. I like the idea that it doesn't drop its leaves for about 10 to 15 years, less raking, far better than the 50' eucalyptus my neighbour has.

[HeyWayne]

Well, ours will be 15-30cm when it arrives, so I reckon it'll be quite a time before we have to inform the airport authorities.