Eucalyptus tree

[johnsuperchef]

I have 2 very tall eucalyptus trees 30 to 40 ft. In the high winds we have been having, is there a high chance they will blown over. They are healthy trees. John

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by johnsuperchef

I have 2 very tall eucalyptus trees 30 to 40 ft. In the high winds we have been having, is there a high chance they will blown over. They are healthy trees. John

In my limited experience of fairly young (up to 10years) eucalypts they are very elastic and bendy so go with the wind rather than cracking under the strain. I've never seen any blown over but there may be variation amongst species and with age?

[coasty]

There a couple of them in a park near me,,, They are at least 50 yrs old and very tall ,, They seem to stand anything the weather throws at them.

Andy

[Mercadante]

A previous owner of our house seemed to love Australian trees - we had four acacias and two eucalyptuses. As a group they haven't been that stable, and we've now lost three - but to be fair two of those had never managed to grow sturdy enough to stay upright in the first place, and the third had its roots damaged by a passing digger. The remainder seem as sturdy as any of our other trees.

[Bub-les]

There are quite a few over here and they stand head and shoulders above the other trees and seem to be able to withstand very strong winds. Some were planted in the local glens in Victorian times. They seem to be very flexible and sway a lot so I think that helps to survive strong wind.

[stripee]

I grew some of these from seed some years back. Now they are planted in a row, one of them is extremely tall, and towers over the woods and other trees. It is very flexible, once during a strong gale the base split up the trunk, but over several years it has healed itself, and I am wondering just how tall it will get. It's Broad Leaved Kindling Bark, eucalptus darempleana (prob not right spelling), and the trunk regularly sheds its outer bark. In many gardens, I have seen eucalptus listing to one side, and this seems to be what they do rather than falling right over

[cathyh]

Johnsuperchef,
Your two trees are rather tall now but all varieties of Eucalyptus will stand drastic chopping (pollarding). If cut right back, they will regrow with lovely new foliage, much as a Buddliea (butterfly bush) will do. So if anyone is concerned that their Eucalyptus is growing alarmingly fast, as they do you need not fear instant death of tree. if you reduce it to manageable size.

P.S. Eucalyptus is reputed to be the most flammable tree in the world due to the oils! (bush fires ) boy scout style Bar-b-qs?
Cathy.

[Bub-les]

I'd be very wary of trying to pollard an older tree. They don't always take too kindly to it.

[cathyh]

Bub-les,
Making mental note, don't leave it too long before taking the chainsaw to our Eucalyptus thanks for note of caution

We did have a neighbour who used to chop his Euc' tree down to a sad 3 ft stump, every few years, when it had gotten lovely and 'branchy' and about 12-15ft tall. It used to re-grow very well
...I was really thinking of trees like this, rather than ones already 40ft tall, bit dodgy to chop D-I-Y

Cathyh

[Bub-les]

Yes it works well if you chop it like your neighbour. You could stagger the pruning and only chop those branches that have reached a certain size. That would prevent the bare stumpy look after chopping all off.