Eucalyptus

eric

Dear all,
Florists in Holland sometimes include Eucalyptus twigs with flowers.
I love the smell they give and so I figured; why not have a bonsai eucalyptus...
I have the twigs cut not too long and put some root hormones on the ends and stuck them in a moist bonsai soil. I mist daily and keep the soil moist but not too wet. The room temp. is about 18 degrees celcius.
My questions are;[list:56697a32c3][*:56697a32c3]Does anybody knows the exact kind I have shown on the photo?
[*:56697a32c3]And second, do I have a chance creating a small bonsai out of these twiggs?[/list:u:56697a32c3]
Thank you for any information.
Regards,

Eric L. Criens

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TreeBay

Hi Eric,

Around here, Eucalyptus grow like weeds. They were imported from Australia because of high drought resistance and their fast growing nature, but it was soon discovered that the wood was brittle and not good for much, and the trees carry a lot of oil that explodes in flame when fire hits them.

There is a stand just behind my house (different than what you have here) That does provide some afternoon shade, but I also have several photos of limbs resting on prized bonsai after the storms.

I have never seen a eucalyptus bonsai, but you could certainly train a bonsai from any tree or shrub, or even in some cases grasses and seasonal herbs, as Wolfgang's Accent gallery featured at the top of this site this month shows.

The folks over at fukubonsai have a writeup on the Eucalyptus that you might enjoy reading:

http://www.fukubonsai.com/Nature1.html

Typically with cuttings, I would put a large plastic bag over the pot to increase the humidity and reduce the need for watering a lot. I couldn't find anything specific to eucalptus cuttings on the web. So you may be breaking some new ground here.

Regards,

Matt

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Bonsai_james

Hi Eric

In addition to Matts info - it looks like Eucalyptus gunnii to me - relatively small leaves, quite twiggy, clusters of white flowers and peeling aged bark - not bad material for a larger bonsai of say 2 ft or more (so the tree is in proportion to its leaves, flowers and twigs).

James

P.S. this tree grows to 60ft - good luck!!

shaun22

Eric,

It's a Blue Gum.

We farm these trees and harvest them and make "chip board" out of them. a compressed timber or partical board.

kind regards,
shaun22

eric

Goodday Shaun,
Unfortunately they all died on me.
I love Gumtrees, the smell, etc. They remind me of my many travels (even immigrated for a year once) to Australia and New Zealand.
I did found some gumtrees in California but it was not the same - the view of the countryside and the smell in Aussie was much more peculiar. You live in a great country which always has a special place in my wife's and my heart.
If you have a chance, you could do me a favor to send me some seeds... I wouldn't know how I could reimburse you for mail but if you are willing then please send me a personal email for my addres. If it's difficult no problem too.

Kind regards,
Eric

shaun22

Not a problem at all.

Consider it done.

Kind regards,
shaun22

Carl_Bergstrom

Unfortunately, eucalyptus are notoriously hard to grow in containers; consequently they are rarely if ever seen as show-quality bonsai. I believe that this is due to their propensity to create very deep root systems, but I could be mistaken about this. It's a terrible shame, because of the old eucalypts rival the White Mountain bristlecones in their picture of endurance against the elements.

Of course, knowing this didn't stop me from trying (when I was living in California, where they grow very well in the ground.) I had no luck; I was never able to attain any root reduction at all without killing the trees.

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