AusBonsai

I’ve decided to create my own progress thread for this tree I’ve grown from seed. I realise it’s not Australian native but it is still a eucalyptus for forum categories purposes.

Dec 2014:


July 2015:


Sep 2016:


Dec 2016:


July 2017:


Nov 2017:




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Today, March 2018:

I love working with this tree. It's so resilient and comes back strong.

Great work

Yes seems a bit hardier than reports from other eucalyptus owners

Hi Bonborn, Thanks for this post. In January this year I saw some Rainbow Eucalypts at Bunnings and bought one with a triple trunk. I've been very careful with it and only lightly pruned it after re-potting, but it's taken off and is growing vigorously. So now I will be more aggressive with it and cut it back to three different height trunks that are much shorter. I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I've attached a photo of mine as it was when I bought it. Please keep this thread going as I will be interested how yours is doing.
Cheers, Frank.

Sorry Beano, I got you and Bonborn mixed up in my reply

Dammit! It’s looking sickly! Honestly, every single time I take a photo to post because I’m happy with a trees progress, it up and dies! Might have to pull the colander up and see if something obviously wrong is happening

Right, soaked it in water and it’s perked up. It was slightly wobbly so I was worried about curl grubs. Need to change my mix this year, now that I can’t get scoria and am using perlite, I need to add some zeolite.

Hi Beano
Just wondering if you keep your tree in a tray of water over the summer months. I have a couple of these trees that I have been tinkering around with for about a year or so and I read somewhere they are giant sponges when it comes to water. Both of mine have been sitting in water trays since early December (I'm in the Hunter Valley with a combination of high forties in temperature and humidity that would make Rockhampton seem arid) and I've been trimming them back every couple of weeks over summer and they have been growing like they are on "diabolic steroids". Maybe I'm just in the right climate for the Rainbow Gums.
Cheers
Swampie

No I haven’t, as it is being ground grown in a colander. But the two souls are very different, the tree colander has my usual bonsai mix and the ground is clay, I tried to improve it but it’s still basically mud. I think the clay has been quite wet but with the heat the pots have dried out and become quite hydrophobic and hard to wet again. When I was watering I probably assumed the root ball was wet and it just wasn’t.

Hi Beano
You're probably right about your soil. I've got both of mine in water trays alongside my 2 swampies and they are guzzling the water faster than the swampies. I pruned the branches back on my trees again this morning by about 4" and did the same about 3 weeks ago and I also cut the trunk back by about 8" for the second time since Xmas. I hope I haven't put a hex on the trees now and they both turn up their toes.

Yeah, I’ve been pinching a lot lately, trying to get the first branch thicker than the rest, it seemed to like it at first but now it’s looking like I’ve done something wrong. I thought the rainbows might be different to the other eucalypts at fist, comparing to other reports. But now, I’m seeing they might have some special requirements. This is my first eucalyptus, and even though not native, i worry for it like the people on this forum worry for their natives. It possibly hurts me more as I’ve grown if from seed. I hope it lives.

It’s bounced back a fair bit. I’m still colander growing it in the ground. As you can see, the top has died and another branch (not the highest) has become dominant. I’m tempted to cut it back right now to the fat branch and also reduce the height to promote a back bud.

There surprisingly wasn’t much in the way of roots escaping the colander, considering the amount of growth it’s put out. Also the base roots seem a bit too black to me, like they’re rotting. Seems it wouldn’t be this healthy if that were the case though, what do people think about it?

And only a few hours later, just snipping roots outside the colander, no disturbance of the inner root ball, and it’s sulking like this:


I put it straight back in the ground which was quite damp. I’ve watered it in again since but still sulking.