« first day (3763 days earlier)      last day (946 days later) » 

Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
10:08 AM
Is it OK to ask here about how to kill plants growing in walls? I'm in Bombay (now called Mumbai) and I think the plants in question are mostly Peepul shoots.
Ficus religiosa
Ficus religiosa or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree, pippala tree, peepul tree, peepal tree, pipal tree, or ashwattha tree (in India and Nepal). The sacred fig is considered to have a religious significance in three major religions that originated on the Indian subcontinent, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Hindu and Jain ascetics consider the tree to be sacred and often meditate under them. This is the tree under which Gautama Buddha is believed to have attained...
They're very hard to get rid of. They keep growing back. I was considering hydrogen peroxide. Apparently at high concentrations, that's an effective weed killer.
Photos available on request, though it's nothing very exciting to look at.
 
 
1 hour later…
kevinskio
kevinskio
11:27 AM
@FaheemMitha the site here, gardening.stackexchange.com/questions, is the best place to ask a question. We'll see if anyone knows who comes to the chat room
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
11:57 AM
@kevinskio Yes, that's the site I was talking about, of course. I see that I wrote "here", but I didn't mean the chat room, I meant the site.
But my question was whether it was on topic or not.
 
Stephie
Stephie
12:12 PM
@FaheemMitha yes, it is. We deal with nurturing plants and with destroying them.
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
Oh, hi @Stephie. You here too?
 
Stephie
Stephie
yep.
Seems we meet in a lot of places on the network ;-)
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
@Stephie Only two so far.
 
Stephie
Stephie
I am one of the mods at the moment and if the community wants, I hope to still be one by Wednesday.
@FaheemMitha Now three, iirc.
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
@Stephie Three? The Frying Pan, here and...?
Looks like this might be a dupe:
4
Q: Peepal tree (Ficus religiosa) grows again and again, how do I stop it?

jaczjillFicus religiosa is a common tree in India, it is called 'Peepal' here. It can grow anywhere even where there is no proper soil. It also grows near wash-room ducts (drainage pipes) of the Apartment building. Personally I like this tree, but I cannot allow him to grow near drainage pipe of the Kit...

tree-removal
The peepal is particularly a nuisance here, though not the only one. And presumably methods that work with it will work with similar plants.
The top answer mentions en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triclopyr but is that safe? The Wikipedia page suggests it is biodegradable.
Perhaps not an exact match, since my question is about fairly small growths in walls. The one mentioned in the question sounds like it might be quite large. And the answers seem to assume that too.
 
Stephie
Stephie
12:22 PM
@FaheemMitha Coffee?
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
@Stephie Oh, I'd forgotten about that one.
I'm not sure about copper sulphate. It doesn't sound biodegradable.
 
Stephie
Stephie
^.^
@FaheemMitha There are two options:
a) try the answers to the existing question.
b) ask a new one, preferably explaining why you don’t think it’s a duplicate.
Then let the community decide.
Of course you can do a) and if needed come back with a better explanation for b).
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
I wonder if salt would work for small growths in a wall.
Would it have any effect if placed on the leaves and stem?
 
Stephie
Stephie
Couldn’t say - that’s not my area of expertise. And locale.
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
@Stephie There might be other similar questions too.
I can't say I'm thrilled at the idea of using herbicides.
Related:
5
Q: What to do with the plant/tree growing right from the wall of my and neighbour's balcony?

4-KThere is this plant growing right out from the wall of my and my neighbor's balcony (1st floor). Is this plant bad for the building/wall/balcony? Should I let it grow? Should I cut it? But if I cut it, new shoots will grow (happened before). What should I do to completely remove this plant? ...

identification urban-gardening
Those are the most relevant I've found. The first one is clearly more useful.
 
 
1 hour later…
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
1:41 PM
This list looks useful - cerbogreenhouse.com/…
@Stephie Well, the main issue I'm seeing here is choosing from the large number of options. One obvious concern is toxicity and biodegradability. Some of these herbicides are nasty chemicals that don't biodegrade. If there alternatives, I'm not sure why those alternatives are not used instead.
 
Stephie
Stephie
@FaheemMitha I’m sure you will make an informed decision in the end. Good luck!
 
Faheem Mitha
Faheem Mitha
1:59 PM
@Stephie I don't see how. I'm not a chemist or a gardening expert. But the Cerbo list looks interesting, and most of those options look relatively harmless. I could worse than try those, one at a time. Assuming I don't run out of patience.
 

« first day (3763 days earlier)      last day (946 days later) »