I hope someone can help me here.

I've inherited a couple of Eucalyptus trees from my sister (in the process
of turning an overgrown mess into a garden). They were both pot bound - been
in pots for something like 6 years.

The smaller one, only about 4 foot high, seems to be dying - lots of yellow
and brown leaves after only 11 days in the ground. It had some yellow leaves
on it when it was planted, but seems to have accelerated.

The taller, 6 foot one, seems to be faring better but also has some yellow
leaves.

Soil is well drained and I've been watering them at least every other day,
only missing doing it if the area still looks damp from the previous day.
Can they be over watered?

I've read that Eucalyptus do shed leaves in summer but this seems too early.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ilkesto...days%20ago.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ilkesto...0yellowing.JPG
(taken from 72 feet away as it's raining here)

--
Steve

On 21/6/08 14:00, in article ,
"Steve Turner" wrote:

I hope someone can help me here.

I've inherited a couple of Eucalyptus trees from my sister (in the process
of turning an overgrown mess into a garden). They were both pot bound - been
in pots for something like 6 years.

The smaller one, only about 4 foot high, seems to be dying - lots of yellow
and brown leaves after only 11 days in the ground. It had some yellow leaves
on it when it was planted, but seems to have accelerated.

The taller, 6 foot one, seems to be faring better but also has some yellow
leaves.

Soil is well drained and I've been watering them at least every other day,
only missing doing it if the area still looks damp from the previous day.
Can they be over watered?

Eucalyptus are trees that are particularly difficult to get going after
they've been potbound. Normally, they have quite robust root systems and it
is possible that yours just won't make it or that a high wind will topple
them. All you can do is wait and see. If nature is watering them for you,
leave them alone and only water in drier spells. In your situation, I think
I'd take the top foot out of them and give the roots less work to do. It
might be kill or cure, though, and I've never had to do it, so please don't
blame me!

I've read that Eucalyptus do shed leaves in summer but this seems too early.

It can be a sign of stress, too.

BTW and just for future reference to help you, it helps urglers to help you
if you tell us where you live and what kind of soil you have. If you don't
know the latter, looking to see what your neighbours or local parks grow
will help you.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ilkesto...days%20ago.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ilkesto...0yellowing.JPG
(taken from 72 feet away as it's raining here)


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

Sacha wrote:

: "Steve Turner" wrote:
:
:: I hope someone can help me here.
::
:: I've inherited a couple of Eucalyptus trees from my sister
::
:: The smaller one, only about 4 foot high, seems to be dying - lots of
:: yellow and brown leaves after only 11 days in the ground. It had
:: some yellow leaves on it when it was planted, but seems to have
:: accelerated.

: Eucalyptus are trees that are particularly difficult to get going
: after they've been potbound. Normally, they have quite robust root
: systems and it is possible that yours just won't make it or that a
: high wind will topple them. All you can do is wait and see. If
: nature is watering them for you, leave them alone and only water in
: drier spells. In your situation, I think I'd take the top foot out
: of them and give the roots less work to do. It might be kill or
: cure, though, and I've never had to do it, so please don't blame me!

Thanks, Sacha. The problem with taking off the top foot is that it would
leave me with just two branches with leaves on. And both these have the
dying leaves. I think there's only one "good" branch. However they all seem
to have flowers coming right at the tips

: BTW and just for future reference to help you, it helps urglers to
: help you if you tell us where you live and what kind of soil you
: have. If you don't know the latter, looking to see what your
: neighbours or local parks grow will help you.

I live in Ilkeston, South East Derbyshire. All I know about the soil is that
it drains really well (you wouldn't believe it rained non stop yesterday,
the sparrows love taking dust baths) and about 1 foot below the surface it
is a sandy clay that breaks up quite well. My brother says that they have
clay but the garden stays quite wet after rain because it's the heavy sticky
kind.

Because the garden slopes up away from the house about 4 foot over 30 foot
we've terraced it and it looks like the clay slopes as well, which probably
helps drainage.

As for plants - well a year ago it was all couch grass, brambles, bindweed
and assorted weeds and everything grew really fast, and that's what is
either side of me. At the top end there's a hedge and the neighbour to the
east has conifers and some big tree/bush thing.

I don't know if the soil was brought in when the council housing estate was
built in the 50s or whether it's naturally local.

--
Steve

On 22/6/08 15:39, in article ,
"Steve Turner" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

: "Steve Turner" wrote:
:
:: I hope someone can help me here.
::
:: I've inherited a couple of Eucalyptus trees from my sister
::
:: The smaller one, only about 4 foot high, seems to be dying - lots of
:: yellow and brown leaves after only 11 days in the ground. It had
:: some yellow leaves on it when it was planted, but seems to have
:: accelerated.

: Eucalyptus are trees that are particularly difficult to get going
: after they've been potbound. Normally, they have quite robust root
: systems and it is possible that yours just won't make it or that a
: high wind will topple them. All you can do is wait and see. If
: nature is watering them for you, leave them alone and only water in
: drier spells. In your situation, I think I'd take the top foot out
: of them and give the roots less work to do. It might be kill or
: cure, though, and I've never had to do it, so please don't blame me!

Thanks, Sacha. The problem with taking off the top foot is that it would
leave me with just two branches with leaves on. And both these have the
dying leaves. I think there's only one "good" branch. However they all seem
to have flowers coming right at the tips

In that case, I think it's a question of leaving it and hoping for the best.
The prognosis doesn't seem good though. I talked to my husband about this
last night and he agreed that the one thing eucs most particularly dislike
is being potbound. I do hope that despite all this, we are proved wrong and
yours survive. But if they don't you will know you've done your best!

: BTW and just for future reference to help you, it helps urglers to
: help you if you tell us where you live and what kind of soil you
: have. If you don't know the latter, looking to see what your
: neighbours or local parks grow will help you.

I live in Ilkeston, South East Derbyshire. All I know about the soil is that
it drains really well (you wouldn't believe it rained non stop yesterday,
the sparrows love taking dust baths) and about 1 foot below the surface it
is a sandy clay that breaks up quite well. My brother says that they have
clay but the garden stays quite wet after rain because it's the heavy sticky
kind.

While you don't want to let yours dry right out, you don't want them to get
water logged, either. In fact, not many plants like that. So you will need
to do a bit of a balancing act there. Eucalyptus will, normally, go a long
way in their search for water, probably because of their native habitat in a
very dry country. But yours can't because their roots have been bound. OTOH
being absolutely saturated all the time isn't natural to them, either. I
suppose all that contributes to the problems of them being potbound in the
first place.

Because the garden slopes up away from the house about 4 foot over 30 foot
we've terraced it and it looks like the clay slopes as well, which probably
helps drainage.

As for plants - well a year ago it was all couch grass, brambles, bindweed
and assorted weeds and everything grew really fast, and that's what is
either side of me. At the top end there's a hedge and the neighbour to the
east has conifers and some big tree/bush thing.

I don't know if the soil was brought in when the council housing estate was
built in the 50s or whether it's naturally local.

You can get a soil testing kit from most garden suppliers which will tell
you what kind of soil you have and you could always dig down a bit to see
what the builders have covered, if you're worried about it! But a good way
of checking what will grow with you is to see what kind of plants the
neighbours have. And for those starting off in gardening, the Hessayon
books are a mine of information. Using the National Gardens Scheme's Yellow
Book, you can also open gardens in your area open on specified days each
year. They have good plants stalls and people only too willing to give
advice and pass on information, usually!
I found this on eucalyptus planting, too and it tells you quite a lot:
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/eucgrowing.html
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

Did you untangle their roots a bit before planting them? I know Eucs don't like having their roots played with in general, but if a plant is badly pot bound then putting it in the ground usually results in an upcoming death whether it is a Euc or a gooseberry. So I would have carefully unwound the roots to try and make sure that they could head down rather than been trapped inside the ball. I'm sure I did that to a over-long-potted Euc I planted last year (which I got cheap from a closing down Euc specialist) and it has successfully established.

I really wouldn't cut the top off yet. You shouldn't do that to a Euc until it has had a chance to put its roots out. Give it a couple of years to become established it and then you can pollard or coppice it.

echinosum wrote:

: 'Steve Turner[_2_ Wrote:
:: ;799682']I hope someone can help me here.
::
:: I've inherited a couple of Eucalyptus trees from my sister (in the
:: process of turning an overgrown mess into a garden). They were both pot
:: bound - been in pots for something like 6 years.
::
:: The smaller one, only about 4 foot high, seems to be dying -
[snip]

: Did you untangle their roots a bit before planting them?

I'm afraid not and I although I'd found the link Sacha gives in her second
reply to me this was after they had been planted. I'm very new to gardening,
having to ask my brother and sister-in-law all the time how much to water,
when to cut back etc, and they just brought the plants over and stuck them
in the ground.

I expect it's a bad idea to dig them up again to spread the roots. The
larger one was in a bigger pot (18" ?) and is doing ok in not brilliant.

My sister has two more still in pots and they have red leaves on them. She
says it happens every year but they still keep growing (slowly). I'll make
sure that she spreads the roots when she takes them out.

Thanks for the replies.

--
Steve