Author Topic: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA  (Read 1671 times)

Rex Begonias

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Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« on: June 30, 2019, 08:08:07 PM »
Inga spp.

Anyone know how well they stand up in hurricanes?

Just potted a couple seeds which had already germinated in the mail, supposedly half seeds are spectabilis and other half an unknown species. 

Was hoping to put a couple straight into the ground though, but uncertain if I am going to regret that later...  Any help appreciated as to how they stand up to high winds and how low they can be maintained.

First post, btw, stoked to be here and thanks in advance for any help! :)

BonsaiBeast

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2019, 08:15:21 PM »
Hi and welcome!

I have only a cursory knowledge of ice cream bean, but it seems to be a medium strength wood. This makes it non-ideal for high wind.

Tho I dont know just how weaak the wood is. Others will chime in I'm sure.

Oolie

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2019, 08:15:59 PM »
Inga are quite vigorous with deep penetrating root systems. They do like to grow up though, but if you chop them down low before predicted weather system arrives, you should be good. They will sprout right back from a stump.

It's not like white sapote or annona where you need an established framework for heavy crops, more like a fig.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2019, 08:17:30 PM by Oolie »

HIfarm

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2019, 10:21:41 PM »
I have a couple dozen or so inga of 4-5 different species planted along my boundary.  I would not expect them to do too well in a hurricane but could probably be "repaired" & would recover from it.  I had one topple over on its side in some gusts we had one day but were no where near hurricane force (I'm guessing maybe 4 mos. ago).  The tree was maybe ~15' tall, I am not positive without checking but it think it was I. feuillei.    I lopped off a lot of the branches to try to give the wind less to act on until it could root in better again.  I used my tractor to pull it back upright and some ropes with t-posts to secure it upright.  It has been growing back nicely and you would not know anything had ever happened to it.  It may be our frequent rain and our clay soil but I do not see these as being deeply rooted trees but with many of the roots running right along the top of the soil.  I don't believe that the wood is very high strength but I also have not noted any branches breaking in the wind (unlike the eucalyptus around here that are brittle & always breaking).  When the tree came down in the wind earlier, the only branches broken were from the tree falling on them. 

Oolie's advice sounds reasonable -- if you have the time before the storm, take all branches back to the trunk (to lessen wind resistance) and it will probably come through fine.

John

Rex Begonias

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2019, 10:34:29 PM »
OK, thanks guys.  Are they fairly easy to manage at 12-15 ft?  I’d like to keep it under 20 and esp if they are wind prone.  I am gardening on sand here, so maybe they’ll be able to get tap root down better, thought I had read they typically shoot a pretty serious tap root, but then again any info on these could be talking about one of the 200+ species right?

Sometimes branches not breaking makes trees even more wind-prone.  One of our natives here in FL, the gumbo limbo drops branches like crazy in hurricanes, but the trees almost never go down, they let the branches go instead I guess.

I will definitely keep away from the house though with that feedback, thanks.

Oolie

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2019, 12:52:30 AM »
The one I am growing is called 'Pacay' by my Peruvian friend, and has a short curved, thick pod.
Wikipedia claims feuillei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inga_feuillei interestingly, he also said that it is called 'guaba' which is mentioned in the article.

It has an extraordinary taproot.

Routine pugging has not decreased its vigor, so I'm not sure of what you would consider easy.
The wood is soft enough to make pugging a quick job.

Are coral trees grown in your area? I'd say it's most similar in management to those.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2019, 12:58:19 AM by Oolie »

Rex Begonias

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2019, 09:56:03 PM »
Cool, that sounds manageable, I am just growing in my yard so I can stay on top of pruning esp if the wood is fairly soft.  Got my clippers, loppers, pruning saws, then chainsaws if it comes down to it, haha.

We have a native tree called Coralbean, but I don’t think it’s the same as the Coral tree you’re referring to, tho may be in same family, will have to google that.

pineislander

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2019, 07:00:58 AM »
I recently planted 120 of these direct seeded for an agroforestry purpose to be pollarded to generate biomass for mulching.
The large seeds are vigorous enough to come up quick and are generally polyembryonic making multiple sprouts from one seed. I planted 2 seeds in each position and will select the strongest. They sprout within about 2 weeks. You might get a 20 ft tall flowering tree in 3-4 years, and as you will see they respond well to pruning, topping, pollarding and coppicing.
This is one way they are used:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqIcpiE3BZc

They do tend to be weak if left to grow very big.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlzCktWCMuE&t


Rex Begonias

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2019, 11:44:47 AM »
Awesome!  What height do you (or they) plan to keep them at?

I'm pretty sure if they do well, I will be cutting them back on the regular.  I did notice a couple of the seeds were clearly polyembryonic.  The 10 seeds I ordered had all sprouted in their packaging upon arrival, talk about easy to germinate!

pineislander

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Re: Ice cream bean - wind and height - S FL USA
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2019, 10:55:17 PM »
I'll probably pollard them at head height and continue there so you can walk easily around them. They are planted between banana trees which are 8 feet apart. They are planted next to the wooden stakes you see between the banana trees in this picture.