Euc - lift or airlayer, and advice please?

[Greth]

This little guy is right in the way of a future wall, and must go within a yearish. Chris had a look at it with me, and agrees it has potential, but neither of us are confident enough to give it a try without some detailed advice. It is near enough to the house that I could get to it with water, tho prob not everyday, and very exposed position. Could be possible to throw shadecloth over it if an airlayer is the best way to go, otherwise the position is very exposed and dry. We can dig back the slope as much as we want, it will just be backfilled anyway when the wall is built. not sure on the species at all, just doesn't look like one of the mallees, and doesn't smell like peppermint box. When it comes to euc identification, I will just stick to herbs, Im hopeless. We have red river gum in the area, also some people have mentioned a blue gum.

Dads shed euc2 Jan 10.jpg

Dads shed euc, Jan 10.jpg

So go your hardest and tell us what you would do and how, in detail, havent had any successes with eucs before, and although I have read a bit, consider my mind virgin on the topic. Doesnt hurt to repeat what you have said in other threads, i do know the bit about not giving up for months tho, and will keep going until tree is removed or the termites have finished it.
Im thinking an airlayer might be the way to go, the first bit of trunk is very upright and would make a huge plant to handle, but those curves further up are lovely.

[Jamie]

along with the straight section then going to curves it looks as though there is a tuber in the middle before the curves causing reverse taper, i would airlayer it as that point especially if it is a lignotuber which it looks to be as they are masses of stored energy and it might not take to long to layer, and being close enough to the house you will be able to water it as needed!

JMO

jamie

[Greth]

Yeah, thats about the place I was thinking for a layer. Do you have to water layers much, and would I need to unwrap the whole thing to water? Have visions of the whole structure falling apart in my hands when I try to water.
And would it be a good idea to trim back the outer branches before I try? Im suspecting I should do the cut in spring or autumn, they are the main growing seasons here, could have it trimmed and regrowing before then.

[Jamie]

no need to unwrap them, you can even do it with an old nursery container, then just cover the nursery container top with plastic and when you need to water it just gets moved a bit. it is a lot easier with the nursery container pots or similar i have found as with plastic it is awkward to to get on and use, and i can never get a big enough piece that will allow for a large enough root ball
nursery pot allows this.

when i did the one with plastic i never unwrapped it, just had a little opening in the top to water and check.


jamie

[Greth]

Ok, pots preferable to plastic wrap, leave a watering point. Strip the bark for a distance about equal to the diameter of the trunk, apply growth hormone and then pack with spaghnum or something else which holds lots of moisture. Keep the mix moist, and cross fingers, anyone know if it would help or harm if I trim back first? Guessing trim now, and do the deed when the weather improves, the heatwaves are killing mature eucs around here, Im sure a tree with airlayer would go bellyup if I tried right now.

[Jamie]

the foliage on the tree will be what will force the tree to grow new roots, i know you are thinking of transpiration but if the medium is kept moist then it will be fine.
i generally go about 1 and a half to 2 times the width of the trunk in the ring bark as sometimes they have a tendancy to try grow back and try heal.

i found with heavy foliage the tree pushed more roots quicker. these are my experiences with exotics and native figs. as for eucs not 100% positive.
hopefully fly bri see's this and pipes in he knows his eucs!


jamie

[Greth]

Yeah, you got a lot more humid climate there tho, here humidity is often 5%, dry as a limemakers basket. and you are mostly working with figs, which are very forgiving, If Im gonna make a big effort, I want a really good chance of success.
As you said in chat Jamie, Im really worried about transpiration, this can dry out in a day in one of our heatwaves. So Im thinking cut back the leaves, maybe throw shadecloth over it, protect it from our vicious hot days, and keep moist.Last year the 100 year old eucs around here died back a lot, lots of younger ones died completely. Its quite likely we will have another heatwave between now and March, so I dont want to start the layer before then.

[FlyBri]

Gday Greth & Jamie!

Looking at the long rootless section beneath the lignotuber, I'd say your best bet is layering. Here's a bunch of links to some of my successful efforts: link, link, link.

Looking at the leaves and lower fissured bark, it reminds me of E. meliodora (Yellow Box), but I don't know if that's present in your area. Are the leaves kind of waxy/leathery? If so, it could also be Sugar Gum (E. cladocalyx). Any chance of getting some bigger pics up? At 300+ Kb, you should be able to get decent resolution at about 1000x750 pixels.

Let us know how you go!

Good luck.

Fly.

[Greth]

this is going to sound hopeless, but there is nothing noticeable about the leaves, just very normal, but quite broad eucalypt leaves, will try to get a closeup once the baby goes down for nap.The mallee types have narrow leaves, the peppermint box smells of peppermint, surely not those. I didnt think sugar gum grew in these dry regions, but it surely isnt far away, Ive seen koalas less than 15 km away, and they live on sugar gum.

[Greth]

I googled Yellow Box, and the news is that this is not a known species from South Australia. so maybe this guy is a sugar gum, too stringy on the bark for River Red, too wide leaves for Mallee Box, doesnt smell like Peppermint Box.Not noticably leathery or waxy, just normallish euc leaves. So the ID remains a puzzlement.
What sort of chance would you give me for airlayering? Has it more than a 50% chance of living?

[Fluorine]

Hi Greth,


Just wondering how you went with this Euc. and what method you opted for.

Cheers, Fluorine.