Eucalyptus dalrympleana leaning after gale

[bath_ed]

Hi all

 

I am seeking advice about a Eucalyptus dalrympleana tree in my parents garden that is leaning at a slight angle after the recent gales we have. The tree is about eight years old and was approx. 8-10m tall with a trunk diameter of approx. 15-20cm and a tall, narrow crown.

 

Before the gales of the past week or so, it was completely upright. The garden is on a south west facing hillside open to the Mendips about 30 miles away and exposed to strong winds. After the gales the whole tree was leaning slightly, perhaps two or three degrees off vertical. There is nothing around it that may be damaged by falling.

 

As an emergency measure, my parents had the top half of the tree removed. This has removed most of the crown, foliage etc and so should reduce the wind resistance but the lower half still leans.

 

Several years ago, when the tree was smaller, it had a similar problem and became loose in the ground. It was cut back by about half in the hope that its roots would strengthen by the time it regrew in height. Until the past week it had been growing extremely well – vertical and very healthy looking and its trunk was starting to get interesting bark. Strangely enough the E. gunnii and E. perriniana I planted at the same time have both grown to be leaning because of the prevailing wind, but haven’t been damaged by the gales, while the dalrympleana grew dead upright but has now been blown over a bit.

 

I was thinking the best thing may be to cut it down to close to ground level and let it resprout from the stump, but please offer any advice. It has some value to me as I planted it myself and was an attractive tree.

[tree monkey]

was it a pot grown tree?if so could have girdled roots,meaning the roots are growing in a circle rather than spreading out as the should naturally if this is the case i would personally remove and replace with a better formed specimen.

also if t is second time this has happened i would replace anyway to be sure of the tree not blowing over.Good luck with the out come

[bath_ed]

Thanks for your advice, though I was hoping not to have to do that! It was a pot grown tree, I planted it when it was about 30cm tall and it did not appear potbound. I thought that was small enough. It is an exceptionally windy site though for somewhere inland, near the top of a hill facing south west and with nowhere higher for many miles.

 

Of the three Eucalyptus I have, this one had by far the best growth.

[bath_ed]

Here's a photo if it helps (broom for scale). The top has been removed just above the top of the picture (I couldn't get far enough back to get it all in) but you can see the slight if not alarming lean.

 

[openspaceman]

Hi all

 

I am seeking advice about a Eucalyptus dalrympleana tree in my parents garden that is leaning at a slight angle after the recent gales we have. The tree is about eight years old and was approx. 8-10m tall with a trunk diameter of approx. 15-20cm and a tall, narrow crown.

.

 

I'm no arborist, mine is a forestry background but if you consider the environment in which most gums have evolved it is subject to flash fires. It puts up a long initial shoot in order to keep its growing point out of danger but may not succeed first time, so it self coppices after the fire and second time it has a sturdier root system. In SE UK environment it seems to outgrow its root system which is why many gums develop a bow at the base. IMO it actually pays to coppice it at 3 years and then store a single stem.