r/australianplants • u/proofpanic • 5d ago

ID and pruning advice

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Can someone let me know the name of this tree? I would really like to prune it back hard to reduce its overall size. The previous owner had done a hard prune before but i would like to go a bit harder. Maybe right back to 2-3m off the ground. Is this going to kill it or would it come back from a hard prune? About where the red line is.

Location: Inner Brisbane

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u/TXsweetmesquite 5d ago

I can't tell exactly, but I'd guess that's a Ficus of some kind. There's a good chance pruning that aggressively would kill the tree. Typically, removing a third of a tree is considered a hard prune, and it's not recommended to do more.

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u/jsvlly 5d ago

Agree. It looks like a Benjamina which doesn’t not like to be defoliated or trunk pruned. That being said I was remove it kill it all together (unless you plan on keeping it small forever) I love ficus and the Benjamina Is one of my favourite trees however it’s only a matter of time until those roots destroy the fence, or any piping in the area and potentially the foundations

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u/CartographerUpbeat61 5d ago

I think you are correct. It’s looks like a Benjamin’s Ficus , these were sold as house potted plants and people ended up putting them in the garden where they cause a lot of damage.. this should actually be removed completely. It will quadruple in size and goodness knows what the roots will do .

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u/treeslip 5d ago

You're going to need to post pictures with a closer pic of a branch, a closeup of both sides of the leaf and any fruits, seeds, flowers if possible. Because it's in a garden there is a good chance it could be an exotic, so posting in r/gardeningaustralia or r/whatplantisthis or r/treeidentification might work better as this sub is for Australian natives(it could be a native but too hard for me to ID from pic others may have some luck)

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u/DasHaifisch 4d ago

make sure you check council requirements for removing and pruning trees.

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u/citationstillneeded 5d ago

Don't prune the tree like that, it's a stupid idea and very much against the best practices. Ask a qualified arborist for advice about your tree.