Eucalyptus Tree dying off after pollarding??

[Julie123]

A year January I had my huge beautiful Eucalyptus tree reduced due to being to close to house. 

Sadly, it seems to be dying off.

I may have made a mistake in allowing it to have such a harsh reduction..

Anyone hopeful that it may recover this year ? 

Many thanks! 

[Mick Dempsey]

It is a gonner I’m afraid (well it’s pretty much gone anyway)

You have a bit of regrowth there but that amounts to nothing.

It will have to come out at some point.

[peds]

If you really want to keep it, snip it right back down to the ground and see what happens. If it's dead you can either remove the stump or not bother, if it gives a last gasp of regrowth and then dies it's still easy to deal with, if it puts some effort in then in a few years you'll have your tree back. 

 

Last ditch attempt. 

[Chris at eden]

That isn’t really a pollard although it is often what tree owners want when they ask for a pollard. It’s been topped.  Topping is not great for trees and although trees often grow back you are kind of rolling the dice.  Pollarding is done from when trees are small and on a regular basis. The cuts are small and become occluded forming the bolling over time.  This means they become resistant to decay and they are not site for entry of pathogens.  It does not take much energy to occlude them and you are not removing much stored energy in the small branches removed. 
 

Yours has lost a lot of stored energy from large branch removals and the wounds are too large to ever successfully occlude. Plus, they are quite prone to frost damage so pruning in January may not be the best time.   

You could try decompaction and mulching to improve the rooting area but it’s a long shot. And Enerbite injections to give the top a boost. That’s an even longer shot as trees have to be actively transpiring and the more the better. Yours only has a bit of leaf area. 
 

Chris 

 

[egghead29]

There's a good chance that this tree was on the way out anyway, or at least about to struggle. The very cold snap in November 2022 damaged a lot of eucalyptus here in Scotland. 2023 was just watching a few of them slowly die off as the damage was realised. 

[Stere]

Quote

If you really want to keep it, snip it right back down to the ground and see what happens.

 

 

I did that to one a few yrs ago when the  top that was 100% dead looking., its 30ft high now with multiple stems

 

Grown over  6ft a yr

 

 

 

 

[sime42]

Good point, what is the theory behind painting the lower portion of tree trunks white? I keep meaning to raise the question on here. It's a definite continental thing, I've seen it all over Europe, more so in Central and Eastern Europe and round the med. Also in China.

I've seen a couple of reasons;- to protect the trees from sun and insect damage. Don't really buy either of those though.

 

What's going on?

 

[Dan Maynard]

On 22/03/2024 at 16:41, Stere said:

Lime Whitewash though not a  gloss emulsion from screwfix.

Don't make a lot of difference, it's dead.

[Trailoftears]

I've done a few e.gunnii's to that extent over the years,usually for owners who are ambivalent whether it lives or dies.They usually want it done because A:its too big

B:I have to keep sweeping its dead leaves up...

In theory,if done in early April with ideally some basal growth present-it shouldnt be a drama and I'd expect it to regrow well enough.Still,when you do radical reductions like this there are no guarantees.Look at last spring,zero rain for 63 days from the 5th of April on-again no guarantees/the future cant be seen etc.It does strike me the original untouched tree looks a tad seedy,but its hard to be sure from 1 piccy odd.A lot of stripling eucs gave up last spring due to a week of wicked east winds pre xmas followed by a week of -8 temps just for a week shortly after.The leaf canopy went completely silver even before the frost period.Some made an attempt to re-sprout from the youngish main trunks-then 60 odd dry days  followed-game over...

[sime42]

Back on track with the painting tree trunks white derail. The majority of urban trees are treated that way here in China.

 

 

The practice goes hand in hand with sealing up cavities and large wounds with concrete or mortar. Not sure the thinking behind it but it seems to work. Or maybe the tree doesn't care either way, and just gets on with it's own thing of healing up.

 

That one even had drainage pipes built in.

 

 

[sime42]

Intravenous tree fertiliser.