AusBonsai

Hi All ,Collected this Eucalyptus last June from a mates property. It came from the bottom of a deep gully in a damp well shaded area , very close to a creek. It wilts quickly and I keep in a shaded area and well watered .Rubbed out most of the buds and put a little wire on the leader. I would like to make a serious start with this one. My dilemma is wether I should cut the side branches and try to get some forking happening. Previously I let a Eucalyptus lower branches go and when thick enough I cut it back but got no buds at all. Also thinking of carving behind the leader to aid taper and begin the healing process ,as it seems to be powering on. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks John..

Ooops sorry about the pictures hopefully one of the more computer literate can help..... John.

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Thanks Tony you are a champion......

Hi John,

I've found with my Eucalypts I can cut back hard on long branches and get new buds as long as I also prune the rest of the tree at the same time. You are right to plan on letting the lower branches grow unheeded to get them to thicken up in the shortest space on time but Eucalypts are very good at dropping branches they don't think are necessary, especially if there is strong growth above. Luckily if you prune the entire tree hard you get new buds everywhere so you can usually get them where you want.

Short answer - don't touch the lower branches until they are the desired thickness then prune the whole tree hard.

Hope that helps.

HI Matt ,Thanks for the advice ,you either see them at this stage or nearly complete. I will wire a little movement in the lower branches and wait patiently. Cheers John.

No worries John. One last tip, in my opinion Eucalypts look best with a lot of movement in the branches (look at examples in the wild) so I like to put a lot twists and bends when wiring. Obviously that's a design choice for you and only my opinion but that's my 2c.

Matt.