Eucalyptus trees dying ?

[Albedo]

Bloody Aussie trees mate thats what it is, can't take a wee bit a glasgee snow n frost like innit:biggrin:

[White Noise]

Still lots of Eucs looking in really poor condition round here ?

[Samuel]

The eucalyptus we have in our garden looks like he is dying, it has brown leaves and does not look in the best of condition and looks like it is dying.

[Albedo]

I've been giving this a bit of thought...

 

Its probably euc gunnii that were mostly dealing with out of hundreds of euc species.

 

Eucys suffer fire damage in Aus, so does frost damage go deeper than this?

 

To kill the tree the damage might need to be at a vascular level, like burst pipes, otherwise its no worse than a flash fire.

 

I've done a bit of googling and there are some articles on treating eucs as a perenial coppice, removing the damaged bits and awaiting the regrowth.

 

But haven't found anything yet to back up my thoughts on what might be terminal damage.

 

This snipet from the RHS website:

 

"Try to remove the dead aerial part (dead wood) during late winter or better once frost season is over to encourage regrowth from lignotuber instead of regrowth from the naked buds located in branchlet axils"

 

I have at least added the word 'lignotuber' to my armoury:001_smile:

[Albedo]

'A lignotuber is a starchy swelling on underground stems or roots. Jarrah and mallee plants use them as a life support system in case of fire or animal damage. They are able to sprout back from buds on the surface of the lignotuber.'

 

The above seems to be the generally accepted definition of 'lignotuber' so the RHS quote above is less helpful as I assumed it meant to prune back to more substantial woody bits in the crown, not to wee lumpy bits on the roots.

 

Doesn't hurt to look into it though. The tree I'm taking out next week has to come out for other reasons as well - i.e. client doesn't want regular maintenance costs.

 

But may experiment a bit on others, including doing nothing, to see what happens.

[Husqvarna King]

i re-pollarded 4 in a row this March - they were healthy and have no signs of re-growth as yet - client is gonna go mad:blushing:

[nepia]

Just come back from a weekend on Worcs/Gloucs border and noticed quite a few similarly affected eucs as described but they seemed to be small/medium-sized trees. The few large ones I saw looked OK.

[Albedo]

Just come back from a weekend on Worcs/Gloucs border and noticed quite a few similarly affected eucs as described but they seemed to be small/medium-sized trees. The few large ones I saw looked OK.

 

Thats interesting, maybe the smaller ones copped some root damage (from ground freezing) and the bigger ones less so.

 

Theres still a mistake in my last 2 posts re my reading of my RHS quote but I'm gonna let it lie as I'll probably make another one correcting myself.

 

Re huskys pollard, if it was march this year that they were ok and after the frost, then it would defy all reason if they didn't come back.

 

 

Edit: Gloucs = down south too though so another variable as might be less cold

[nepia]

Thats interesting, maybe the smaller ones copped some root damage (from ground freezing) and the bigger ones less so.

 

A couple of points. Firstly the fact that I said the larger trees seemed OK doesn't mean that it's true; that's an inexpert perception so don't take it as read. Another variable for you!

 

Secondly a friend of mine is doing an RHS garden design course and the tutor has apparently put the large number of plant deaths from last winter down to dehydration, not pure cold. Plants can take so long without water but even during dormancy some is needed; they can't get it from ground that's frozen for a long time.

Could a similar situation exist with small/medium trees, larger ones having the root depth to survive such conditions?

 

Vivid imagination or food for thought?

[White Noise]

Cheers guys some interesting points here . Ive asked the local TO if she has had any problems with the Eucs . Awaiting reply