Rainbow eucalyptus

[Elmar]

NOICE.
Any preview of the rainbow colors yet?


Cheers
Elmar

[Beano]

There aren't any yet. It's not old enough.

[Boics]

Looking nice and healthy!

No twists or turns yet?

[two40]

Just bought some seeds from China. Will they get through customs? No big deal if they don't because they're so cheap but

[Elmar]

Just bought some seeds from China. Will they get through customs? No big deal if they don't because they're so cheap but

Mate if you have no luck getting them in there's a couple of Ozzy sites mentioned at the start of this post... Maybe try them?!?



Cheers
EZ

[Pierre]

Hi everyone,
Do you have any updates on any of your rainbow Eucs ?
I have just bought one today, probably about 1 meter tall. Very root bound obviously... i am thinking better to just slip pot it till it gets warmer again...any thoughts on that ?
Cheers, Pierre

[Beano]

I didn't take a photo because I've trunk chopped mine for the time being so it'll be easy to transport soon. It's still really a big sapling, but the bark started to peel and revealed this lovely fresh smooth bark underneath. It was green wherever it peeled. From what I've read, once it peels, the green colour changes to darker hues, including brown and purple, then as additional layers peel back it reveals fresh new green colours again. So knowing that must mean that it takes quite some time to get a tree mature enough to have multiple colours on the trunk.

For info, I chopped it back to a trunk with no leaves and it has back budded very well. I got one root sucker and one bud quite low on the trunk that I will try to keep as sacrifice branches, but the tree is one that kills off its lower branches with increasing height and vigour in the apex foliage, so I'll have to wait and see if those buds thrive.

[Starfox]

I have managed to keep just one seedling alive this year of these, wouldn't be any more than 30cm high at the moment. I'm hoping it will push a bit more growth before winter kicks in as I may have to greenhouse it, not sure yet. Still after the wind has killed off some of my Banksia seedlings I'm going to be very cautious with this one.

[Beano]

I have managed to keep just one seedling alive this year of these, wouldn't be any more than 30cm high at the moment. I'm hoping it will push a bit more growth before winter kicks in as I may have to greenhouse it, not sure yet. Still after the wind has killed off some of my Banksia seedlings I'm going to be very cautious with this one.

All mine died except that one tree. I planted mine together. I wonder if they're the type of tree that won't grow in groups? I think my germination rate was about 20% then eventually they all slowly died except the one.

[Starfox]

That pretty much mirrors my experience too, at first I thought it may be the seed itself.
I have a few seeds left over so maybe it is worth trying to spread them out more because just sprinkling them on the tray didn't work out well.

[Beano]

Here's some photos of mine.
This is how far it's come since my last post last year about it. Tall and thin and i've chopped it for transport ease in a few months. I will put it in a much bigger pot this year.


This one shows the amount of rainbowing on the trunk I have so far. The rough brown bark eventually peels back, exposing bright green smooth trunk. After a few days the green changes to brown (brown smooth trunk in the picture, all that was green last week). The bright green bits show what bark I've flaked off today.

[Beano]

It was about 1m tall but now is about half that.

[Elmar]

Looks almost like you could chop it some more, to the lowest internode... If it's coping with such a large chop, this would not be too much of a stretch...

Might be worth waiting till new season after its coped with the move... Don't want to be reckles!

Glad your keeping this thread updated!

[Beano]

Ha! Yes, it's by no means done being chopped. But for now I'll leave it bud up and go nuts over spring. I didn't want to chop it yet but had to, so I'll try to fatten up this whole section of trunk, then maybe next year or the year after do a lower down chop and grow a new leader to build the taper. If those lower buds stay alive and thrive they'll help fatten the base up a bit.

[Rory]

Looks almost like you could chop it some more, to the lowest internode... If it's coping with such a large chop, this would not be too much of a stretch...

Might be worth waiting till new season after its coped with the move... Don't want to be reckles!

Glad your keeping this thread updated!

I agree with everything elmar says.
Eucalyptus look amazing as tall trees yes, but if there is absolutely no taper in the tree, even a bit .... Then if you allow multiple shoots to grow from the same junction in just a few weeks you can end up with difficult bulging. If the shoots emerge from down low before you've given it taper it can quickly bulge that point on thin trunks.

I usually cut eucalyptus hard when a cm or 2 thick. It is important not to allow multiple shoots to develop from same junction on relatively thin trunks otherwise it bulges very quickly.

By cutting low sooner and allowing only 1 leader to eventually stay it reduces chance of bulging when young. Also it reduces the size of scar if you allow the trunk to get to about 5 cm before you cut, because once you keep it in bonsai conditions the scar will take longer to heal.

Also just keep an eye on shoots from the lingo tuber (at base). Often if these are allowed to grow it can greatly bulge the base. If the shoots do not come out from exactly where the base is and emerge from an inch above this line you will get bulging. You have to sure the roots start at soil level otherwise the suckers thicken the base above the roots and you end up with a trunk, then a blob, then the coninuation of the trunk, and it can be very difficult to rectify.

EDIT - the reason I try to give the trunk a cut sooner is because it allows the tree to hopefully put out more shoots at young age down low. I have sometimes waited till eucs are about 4cm thick and then performed the chop with no nodes below this and it dies back to base and shoots a clump of growth from base. Heartbreaking!