Littleweed's Inbox

My daughter in Holland has one in a tub but of course its been kept small to get the round leaved appearance since she got it.

My neighbour across road from us in her small garden has one and now height is well over her roof.

Now whole tree looking diseased leaves going brown does
now look poorly ,but we so wish they would get it well pruned or rid of in case it falls across road.

Eucalyptus are very attractive trees, it is a pity it has outgrown your garden. I have no experience of growing them ( yet) but I am wondering if you could propagate it and limit the baby's growth by planting it in a container/pot ...... similar to bonsai I suppose ?

My Brother cut our eucalyptus tree down with my help as it got very big and if yours get's big it will cost a lot of money to fell it if you have to get someone in also the root's were going under my neighbours brick built shed and causing damage.
My advise is if you have a small garden, get rid.
Jackie x

They are very rapid growers and I think it will just keep growing. We had to cut ours down altogether because it was in a small front garden. They can grow to 25 metres. I should get rid of it.

It all depends how much room you have and whether you want a large tree or just a bush?
We had one that nearly uprooted the front wall of the garden so it had to go. If I had a large garden I would love to grow the full sized tree.

The Eucalyptus gunnii subsp. divaricata ( Miena Cider gum ) is listed an endagered species. It is endemic to Tasmania. No wonder it can grow in the UK, Tasmania has also a cold climate.
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/e-g-divaricata.html
It can grow to 15 m. Evergreen tree. I wonder if you have to prune them. I have never heard of pruning a gumtree. They are never dormant, shedding their leaves all year round. I like the bark of this pecies. When looking on internet I noticed we sell them for $2.- small trees, whilst they were something like 40 pounds in the UK.

The most common Eucalyptus grown in our gardens is Eucalyptus gunnii which can grow up to 6in (15.2cm) a year in good conditions. It's this very rapid rate of growth can take people unawares and the tree can eventually become quite unmanageable. This isn't a problem if you take action to remove the top of the tree when this is within reach, however, and it will to some extent 'bush out' near the top, though as stated above, sooner or later a leading shoot will take over and extend the upwards growth again.

There is another reason for pruning Eucalyptus gunnii, however, and that is that it has two types of foliage. Eventually the tree starts to bear adult foliage with long lance shaped greener leaves, but when it is young the leaves are rounder and a grey/blue colour which is quite attractive and often used in flower arrangements. By pruning when the plant is maybe 6in (15.2cm) high down to about 2in (5cm) or 3in (7.6cm) high you will retain the juvenile more attractive foliage but, of course, the plant will never become very large - it really depends which leaf type you prefer.

The amount you prune a plant depends on the type and when it flowers. Shrubs which flower in spring or early summer are flowering on last year's growth and benefit from removing some of the stems just after flowering. This encourages new growth which will flower better the following year.

Plants grown for their foliage or bark, such as Cornus, produce a better display from new growth. Both these can be cut hard back each spring. It may be possible to propagate cuttings from the pruned stems Hope this is of some help - all the best Ken

In late Spring you can cut it down to a stump and it will regrow like a multi stemmed shrub.