Eucalyptus deglupta - Rainbow Eucalyptus

[John in Andalucia]

This goes out to Matty.

Here are some seedlings of Eucalyptus deglupta sown on April 10th 2010.

The packets I sell reap many hundreds of seedlings, but as with all plants, the early sprouters will prove to be the most vigorous, and will make the best specimens. I recommend to customers to pot them up when they are about 2 inches tall, but at just over one inch in height it is possible. You have to observe some very strict rules.

First of all, make sure your germination mix is not too heavy. A lighter mix will allow you to prick out the seedlings easily. I use a 2:1 mix of coir and fine grade vermiculite. It resembles course sand, and sand is the other option, although vermiculite, along with the coir, will hold more moisture. If using compost, make sure you remove any mulch material.

Pricking out is not difficult, just pinch the stem with thumb and forefinger and pull gently upwards with a rotating motion. For successful transplanting, ensure the following: Only transplant after sundown, and just before dark when the air is cool. Use a pencil or other point to set the roots into their resting place. I use plug trays, and the soil mix is just dry enough to stir up finely. Press in lightly, then drop a pinch of soil around the stem base, ensuring the seedling is upright. Have a hand mister ready, because you need to squeeze the trigger a few times and drop some moisture around the seedling stem to water in as quickly as possible.

The next step I found to be crucial.

Your newly transplanted seedlings, after watering finally from underneath, now need to incubated in a covered, plastic box. Keep in the shade but with plenty of heat during the day, and keep them like this for at least a WEEK. Many will wilt and look dead during the heat of day for the first couple of days, but 80-90% of them should bounce back. In this photo, showing 150 potted seedlings, I replaced about 15 that did not recover. After this first week you can keep them uncovered, and after about 3 weeks, move them into full sun with plenty of water. I also use seaweed solution with these for all their watering needs. I hope this helps!

[MattyB]

John,

Thank you for the tips! I'll modify some of the things I've been doing to hopefully increase my success.

[John in Andalucia]

John,

Thank you for the tips! I'll modify some of the things I've been doing to hopefully increase my success.

Okay, Matt! Good luck, and remember that Eucalyptus deglupta can take full sun, a few weeks after being pricked out and potted up into plug trays. In terms of supplying nurseries, you need to find outlets now, because they will grow like rockets after they are about a foot tall, and Eucalypts don't like to get root-bound. They will grow whippy, devoid of lower leaves and require staking, and you don't want the expense of re-potting!

[tropicbreeze]

Seems funny, someone propagating Eucalyptus in Spain. When I was there "Eucalyptus" was a dirty word. E. degulpta is one I wouldn't mind growing.

[ariscott]

John, I had a few seedlings of E. deglupta. I used to have more, but some of them dampen off when I stick the pot in the shadehouse when I went away so they get watered. How long does it take for them to get to 2 inches?? Mine seems to take forever. And since we are VERY WARM here in Darwin, do I still need to incubate them in a covered, plastic box? I am very determined to keep them alive this time!!!! It is more difficult than I thought...

I have some dust left in the fridge, so I might try it now that is the dry season. It is much easier to control how much water they are getting this time of the year.... I am planning to put a grove of them at the back... Can't you just picture how beautiful it would be?????

Regards, Ari

[John in Andalucia]

John, I had a few seedlings of E. deglupta. I used to have more, but some of them dampen off when I stick the pot in the shadehouse when I went away so they get watered. How long does it take for them to get to 2 inches?? Mine seems to take forever. And since we are VERY WARM here in Darwin, do I still need to incubate them in a covered, plastic box? I am very determined to keep them alive this time!!!! It is more difficult than I thought...

I have some dust left in the fridge, so I might try it now that is the dry season. It is much easier to control how much water they are getting this time of the year.... I am planning to put a grove of them at the back... Can't you just picture how beautiful it would be?????

Regards, Ari

Ari, mine in the photo at the beginning of this post are nearly six weeks old now, and approx. 1.5 inches tall, so about another 3 weeks and they will be around 2 inches. Incubation is necessary in a low-humidity environment, although I think it helps generally to keep them incubated during the transplanting so that they can recover from the shock. Shade is essential too, for at least a week after pricking out. Ideally, 3-4 weeks is best. E. deglupta are weeds really, and very sensitive at such a young age. The alternative, after germinating a pot, is to break up small clumps and pot those up, and pinch out the ones you don't want! That's if you have enough seed. They seem to stay small for a least of couple a months after pricking out.

Full sun and airflow are imperative. Once they've rooted in, they grow very well here, in our hot, dry and windy climate. Maybe that's the key to them not damping off at an early age, although once under way, the humid tropics is obviously the optimum environment. They don't need a shade house, especially in the tropics, and if damping-off is a problem, spray your germinating seeds in the soil with fungicide. E. deglupta are also prone to a leaf blight, so watch out. I lost about 300 seedlings last year because I kept them in my greenhouse for too long over summer (killed 'em with kindness!) with not enough ventilation. Basically, all of these seedlings in this photo succumbed -

That was my first attempt at growing E. deglupta. Here is what to look out for. Small red speckles. In my case, it passed quickly through the entire batch and could not be cured, resulting in complete defoliation by the end of autumn. Following winter, they were just stalks, blackened at the tips, with stunted leaf growth emerging from the stems so I threw them all out. As a result of keeping them in a greenhouse that was shaded from midday onwards, they also became stretched, and confined in tree pots there was very little lateral growth. They eventually became root-bound and far too lanky to support themselves. Combined with the leaf blight, a complete disaster! Here is a photo of the blight, which starts out as red spots as small as pin pricks. The good news is that is doesn't affect other plants!

This year I am going to try bonsai-ing a few seedlings. I have seen a photo before of a large bonsai E. deglupta which looked like a shrub. If you can't grow them to full size and get the full rainbow trunk, then the foliage is just as pretty!

[ariscott]

I had to put them in the shadehouse last wet season because I went away, as the shadehouse is on automated watering... otherwise usually I put them on the shed lean-to so I can keep the water under control.

Thanks for the information... I will keep you posted on how they go. I might put down the rest of my dust. I purposely keep them to try germinating them in the dry season. It is hard to control the watering in the wet...

Pity about the leaf blight!! Those 300 seedlings would've been huge by now.. My shadehouse is temporary shadehouse (it is not finished) hence it has open ends... Not pretty, but everything seems to grow very well once established. And the open ends seems to help with air circulation. Although he wet season here tends to dump a lot of water in short period, that is why I kept my germinating stuff near the shed undercover.

Regards, Ari

[PalmsZA]

Hi guys

There are some huge trees here. Question is how do you harvest the seed? I am always looking but never find a single one!

When is the seed normally ready in the southern hemisphere? Maybe I haven't timed it properly.

Cheers

Dennis

Edited May 22, 2010 by PalmsZA

[John in Andalucia]

Hi guys

There are some huge trees here. Question is how do you harvest the seed? I am always looking but never find a single one!

When is the seed normally ready in the southern hemisphere? Maybe I haven't timed it properly.

Cheers

Dennis

Dennis, my seed stock was imported from PNG, so I can only comment broadly. As I understand, Eucalyptus seeds are stored in pods that grow in place of the spent flowers. In the case of E. deglupta, the seeds are finer than sawdust and are harvested along with the chaff. I'm guessing they must grind up the whole pods and pass the material through a sieve.

[tropicbreeze]

Eucalyptus has very hard shelled pods we call "Gum Nuts". After flowering they get larger and harden, finally going brown. Usually while still up in the tree they open one end and the seed begins to fall out. So it's best to pick the gum nuts when they start to go brown and keep them in a paper bag. They'll still open on their own and you can shake out the seed, which does have a lot of "chaff" with it. A lot of our parrots feed on gum nuts and they accidentally drop lots of them. So it's not difficult to find gum nuts on the ground with seed still in them.

[John in Andalucia]

An update 4 weeks on..

Sown on April 10th 2010 and germinating as early as April 15th, these seedlings of Eucalyptus deglupta are now 2.5 - 3 inches tall (approx. 7cm). That means some have nearly doubled in size since 4 weeks ago when the shot in my first post was taken. They now get 4 hours outside in the morning, exposed to full sun, then I put a lid over them (using another of the opaque boxes they are currently in) and put them in my open-air shadehouse (45% cover). The stems are still soft tissue at this stage, and with the leaves growing bigger they can easily get blown down by the wind. If it's a really still day here, I would leave them uncovered all day. It will be another month before the tiny stems start to turn woody, and then they can be watered from overhead without any cause for concern. Since they need moist soil at all times, leaving them uncovered outdoors in plug trays at this stage is a little precarious. Basically, they still need nursing after the first month. The roots will be quickly filling the plug trays they are in, and hopefully in about another 3-4 weeks they can be popped out and go straight into 0.5 gallon /2 litre pots. Once potted up, they will quickly root in, and growth will become evident almost daily.

One point to mention is about the leaf blight which I have discussed with MattyB. I still don't know much about this issue, but I have drawn some conclusions. Firstly, I believe it is inherent in the plant. My one and only, planted-out, six-footer has the same purple spots on random leaves, but is a healthy tree. The problem I believe I encountered, was in letting it go unchecked and take over, by keeping my seedlings confined for too long. I probably over-looked these tiny spots last year when my seedlings were no bigger than they are now. If any look particularly bad, and the purple can spread into the leaf veins resulting in a blurry purple spot, then I suggest throwing them out, or at least moving them far away from the rest of your seedlings.

Photo taken today, updates to follow in due course!

[MattyB]

Looking good John!

Some of mine are about 6 inches tall and growing strong. To prevent any dessicating I'd like to get them up to 1 gallons before setting them out in full sun all day. Right now they're under shade cloth; 30%. They seem to tolerate plucking and separating well once about 2-3 inches tall, before that they don't like it. Hopefully in a couple of months I'll have some seedlings up to a size that's appropriate to plant out in the landscape.

My large one that I planted out 2 years ago is about 7-8 feet tall. It's had a rough life in the dry canyon and fighting for it's life amongst the gophers. I can't really get enough water to it due to gopher tunnels around the rootzone. But it's showing the charactaristic peeling bark and smooth underneath colors now. They don't really start to do that until they're about 2-3 inches in diameter. Before that it's just sorta brown crusty, ugly looking trunk....nothing pretty. Hopefully someday it'll push past the gopher-zone and tap into some ground water and really take off.

Here it is in October of last year.

[LJG]

Matt, your's looks great. Mine is about that height but it has that blight John is talking about. Most leaves after a few weeks get spots. Maybe your gophers are eating your blight?

[virtualpalm]

I thought I would resurrect this thread with a photo of a large, mature tree in full flower in Homestead, FL.

Jody

[John in Andalucia]

I thought I would resurrect this thread with a photo of a large, mature tree in full flower in Homestead, FL.

Jody

Thanks, Jody! It's not often you see photos of mature Eucalyptus deglupta from a distance. The bark is usually the focal point, so it's nice to see a landscape specimen and full canopy..

A quick photo update 2 months on from my last update, 17 weeks from germination.

.

These specimens were potted up from plug trays into 2.5" x 2.5" x 3.5" pots about 5 weeks ago. At the weekend, I bumped them up into the 1.6 litre pots you see here. That's just under 0.5 US gallons. It's not necessary to pot up frequently in such small sizes, but if you're selling plants mail-order it gives you more time to ship them at a reasonable price. You can't bare-root these, and they need constantly moist soil.

For planting out, you can move them from plug trays straight into 3 or 5 gallon containers. If you sow your seeds in a greenhouse at the start of the year, you'll have a 5ft sapling by Christmas, and then the following Spring plant out.

6 inches tall and growing visibly by the day! I fed mine on seaweed fertilizer, which made them a little top heavy, hence if you look closely, some are propped up with wires to keep them from falling down. It's important to watch out for this, as the young stems can easily grow out of shape in just one day. They will look very different in another 2 months time.

[MattyB]

Those are some beautiful saplings John! Mine are looking a little more rugged than yours due to my growing conditions I'm sure. I've got more red coloration than you though. So it's a draw! haha

I had some trouble with mine blowing over when I moved them from the protection of the 30% shade cloth/greenhouse out into the open. I've got a consistant breeze where I'm at so I propped them up with small rocks for a few weeks and after being out in full, all day sun, with the wind blowing on them, they have adapted by growing stiff, woody little trunks that don't need any staking now. They took 101F the week I moved a batch of them out and they didn't mind it at all. I'm really happy with how they're performing.

[John in Andalucia]

Those are some beautiful saplings John! Mine are looking a little more rugged than yours due to my growing conditions I'm sure. I've got more red coloration than you though. So it's a draw! haha

I had some trouble with mine blowing over when I moved them from the protection of the 30% shade cloth/greenhouse out into the open. I've got a consistant breeze where I'm at so I propped them up with small rocks for a few weeks and after being out in full, all day sun, with the wind blowing on them, they have adapted by growing stiff, woody little trunks that don't need any staking now. They took 101F the week I moved a batch of them out and they didn't mind it at all. I'm really happy with how they're performing.

Thanks Matt. I noticed the pink tones on your seedlings, and I've seen this on the Florida grown specimens from the company that grows nothing but E. deglupta. Mine are just out of the shade house, so I've been pampering them! We've also had some cooler weather recently, too. On the whole, our climates are pretty similar though, so I'm still intrigued by the colour difference.

[Walter John]

bump, how is your deglupta now Matty?

[MattyB]

Hi Wal! My original deglupta is probably about 12 feet tall now. And I have a smaller one from John's batch of seeds that is planted right next to it, that's about 4 feet tall now. I still don't have automatic irrigation down in that area so they are happier now that the ground got some rain water.

[John in Andalucia]

A quick update on my Rainbow Eucalyptus planted out as a 5' sapling in 2009.

I'm guessing around 25 feet now, with some colour showing!

[MattyB]

Cool! That thing is getting huge! Mine are only about 10 feet tall and 6 feet tall respectively. I finally got drip irrigation on them last week, so hopefully they will be much happier from now on.

[John in Andalucia]

Thanks, Matt. This one has a water channel running close by if you noticed, in the last photo. That's run-off from other gardens above us, and it runs for several weeks at a time. This is now the tallest tree in our garden, having outgrown a couple of big, old avocado trees next to it. I can spot the shimmering, reddish-pink leaves from 100 yards away, and can only wonder how amazing it will look in 20 years time.

[Gonzer]

I thought I would resurrect this thread with a photo of a large, mature tree in full flower in Homestead, FL.

Jody

Jody, we need a shot of trunkage.

[DoomsDave]

I thought I would resurrect this thread with a photo of a large, mature tree in full flower in Homestead, FL.

Jody

Jody, we need a shot of trunkage.

close up, maybe with your favorite Shoe . . .

[KrisKupsch]

I recently picked capsules which were still mostly green but plump with the sutures having a prominent white margin. All readily split and the seed germinated in less than a week. The pods arent like typical Eucalypts ie not hard and woody but rather soft and thin. I ground up everything and extracted the course particles. The trees I have were planted four years ago and are now well over 8m tall from seedlings planted at 30cm height. We receive cool winters with light frost nearby however my trees have grown obviously very fast. I have however killed flowering trees in the 2007 winter snap.

[Walter John]

I lost mine in the dry summer spell we had, I might try another someday...hint hint Kris.

[tropicbreeze]

Is there anywhere in Australia where the seeds are available?

[KrisKupsch]

In my backyard

[drzoidberg1]

Matty, do you still have any of these and if so are they available for purchase? thanks!

[Jeff Searle]

I' d like to share my story. I originally missed this entire topic when first started and just now found it. We have a couple of large trees growing here at the nursery and each summer we would attempt rooting some from cuttings, of which we might get 10% to root. But a few months ago while inspecting a couple of rows of Yucca growing in one gallon pots nearby one of the trees, I noticed a lot of weeds growing and started weeding them. Within a few minutes, I realized that there were hundreds of seedlings that had sprouted and were coming up with the weeds. I looked back at the tree ( approx. 50-75' away) and smiled! I then carefully pulled out a couple of hundred and replanted them in 4" pots and placed in the mist house to acclimate them. Fast forward to now, some are now in 3 gallon pots while others are still in the 4" pots.

[John in Andalucia]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Jeff. I think E. deglupta are so fast it hardly seems worth the trouble of rooted cuttings. From seed, they're just so attractive with their velvety leaves and pink hues. I'm currently waiting on a new consignment of seed from PNG. I'm completely sold out. August 2nd saw a weird spike in sales. From 2 customers a day to 44?? Then back to normal 2 days later.The stats for my blog site went into overdrive, with a months-worth of hits in 2 days. August 2nd - what was that all about?

I got frustrated this year trying to replant and acclimatise my seedlings. I think I started too early. An alternative method if you have seed is to sow a few grains in a bag of soil and pinch out the weak ones.

Here's a few I raised that way. Notice the one with a double set of leaves? I love the variability in these young plants!

[MattyB]

Both of my in ground plants flowered this year and are putting on seeds right now.

[John in Andalucia]

Same here, Matt. You've got to get some photos up! I took these today..

The sapling in a pot is about 4 years old. It was going nowhere until La Concepcion Jardin Botanico-Historico in Malaga accepted my donation today. Great! I get to leave something in Spain before I head off to Peru!

[Adam8]

Hi, I just purchased some Eucalyptus Deglupta seeds and I was thinking about bonsai-ing them. Does anyone know if I keep it fairly small if it will ever grow its colorful bark? or does it need to be a certain thickness for that to occur? and if anyone has any other advice I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,

~Adam

[MattyB]

I'm not a bonsai expert, but eucalyptus are difficult to grow in pots. As far as the colorful bark goes, mine don't get color until they are about 2"-3" thick, something I doubt you can achieve in a pot.

[Gardengnome]

Hello, KrisKupsch,

I have been following the topic of Rainbow Eucalyptus trees and came across your post about having seed in your backyard, would you be interested in selling me some seed? I'm also a member of tropical plants and gardens and you replied on a question I had regarding buying seed or trees. I live in Darwin and would love some of these beautiful trees for myself and to sell. You also commented on a reply I had from a person about Rainbow Eucalyptus being illegal to buy in Australia. Your comment to the reply was "are you making that up" ??? The person never replied to that post and I'm still unsure if they are illegal in aus or not.

Your reply would be greatly appreciated

Thank you Vicki piert

[Palm crazy]

My latest plant purchase. It already been down to 30F and this morning at 29F. Yikes. Been in the ground for five days. LOL! I just want to see how fast this thing grows next spring.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Palm crazy

[Palm crazy]

Low last night was 23.7F/-4.6C and the rainbow euc is still alive and doing good, thanks to a shelter I put over it and place a tall candle inside to keep it warm. Fingers cross it makes it this cold winter.

For such a tropical tree its very cool tolerant so far. Luckily the highs are in the mid 40’s.

Edited November 14, 2014 by Palm crazy

[MattyB]

Wow, that's really cold. I know of one that took a light snow out in the desert and survived. Do whatever you can to protect it this winter while it's so small.

[Palm crazy]

Wow, that's really cold. I know of one that took a light snow out in the desert and survived. Do whatever you can to protect it this winter while it's so small.

Already in the upper 30’s here this morning. Will do my best to protect it. The shelter gets some sun mid morning warming it up nicely for a few hours, planted close to the house and back away form being in the open. I did not protect when it got to 29F and it sail right through it with no problem. I don’t think the ones growing in 9b cali are going to have a problem this winter since the over all winter should be very mild. Here not so much. I plan on taking a pic every month to update its progress this winter. I put a stake in and measure it to see if it will grow any this winter…Only growth so far is the newer leaves on top are getting fatter. I still may try another one next spring as a container plant and keep it around 6’ tall if thats possible? The trunk should still thicken up as it ages in a container. Next photo update will be in early December, etc.

Roger

Edited November 14, 2014 by Palm crazy