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Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyBri

** I hope to post a follow-up with detailed photographs, illustrating how I would treat Euc tubestock of similar age and condition to yours. Please find attached a pic of 10 Corymbia citriodora (formerly Eucalyptus citriodora) I purchased for $5. Expect this follow-up soon.

Well, here it is. It's not rocket surgery, but I hope it helps...

[1] & [2] Pics of the the roots as the tree is slipped from its tube. Note the lack of fat, white tips which would indicate that the roots are actively growing.
[3] You can see that a good deal of soil has come off the top, exposing the little lignotuber. Often times, tubestock like this will be devoid of roots in the upper soil, so it is better to work out where the roots are before trimming the lower roots. In this case, I have removed virtually no roots, and have merely shaken out the excess soil above the roots.
[4] A more vigorous specimen: there are the very beginnings of new roots tips at the lower right, but I'm happy to continue without fear of harming the tree.
[5] I've prodded the roots here and there to open them up. I've cut back the major root and trimmed the minor ones.
[6] It was a hot, windy day when I performed this root work, so I had a tub of water at hand to keep the bare-rooted seedlings happy. Note that I have decided to work on all 10 seedlings at once... Why would I want to do that, I wonder?..
[Tools] Nothing more sophisticated than a pair of scissors and piece of 10mm dowel carved into a point (my patented Stick Of Poking™).
[Note] I have removed some of the foliage from each seedling (not shown). At a guess, I probably removed about ⅓ of the upper foliage by simply cutting back the upper trunk(s).

So there you have it. Root-pruning Euc seedlings in a nutshell. I wish I could make it seem more involved and mystical, but it's really not.

Thanks.

Fly.