Kitchen Garden Forum

I have a pollarded? Eucalyptus tree in my garden which is about 5ft tall and shrubby. I want to keep it small and get the nice fresh leaves on it but am not sure when I should prune it right back - does anyone know the best time please?
Polly

Polly, the best time to pollard your tree is late winter or early spring. so really it is getting a bit late. Of course you don;t have to pollard every year you can leave it up to three years if you want.
Someone else might be able to say if it is definitely to late to pollard it now.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

It will either rain or get dark.

Hi Pol.
I take it that you are referring to E.Gunii which has the sickle shaped leaves for flower arranging when young but disappear as the tree gets older.
If this was pollarded recently you will have to allow it to grow some more top growth and repeat the process in order to keep the young leaves going.
If you just keep hacking it back it will fail to produce the very thing you are after.

I planted one last year and have cut it back to about a foot in april. I was told by the grower that the best time to cut back is in april. He said to cut back to ground level. I hope he was right or I will be in trouble.
Pete

Hi Peat,
Certainly the producers of foliage to the floristy sector do just that but this has to be done at a very early age and I am not sure that Pol's tree, the age of which we are unsure, would appreciate such drastic measures. What you have actually done is coppice yours and you are no doubt getting vibrant growth from the base of yours now and as long as you do this the tree will continue to provde you with what you are after.

Thanks Johnboy. If it doesn't comeback I will have to get another.
Pete

we have a eucalyptus grower near us (he sells to zoos)
if yours is ropey he may do a cutting?

Hi Jopsy,
Sadly Eucalyptus is one of the plants that you cannot take cuttings from they are all grown from seed. I have tried to buck the system but have failed to get any of about 8 different Eucalyptus and none of them will strike. I have grown E Gunii
from seed on several occaisions and they seem quite easy to raise.
Hi Pete,
I think you have misunderstood what I meant. What you have done is fine. Eucalyptus can be grown as a shub or a tree but what I don't know is at which point in their lives will the stand coppicing. I do not know if you cut a quite mature tree down if it will regenerate. We don't know the age of Pol's tree.

Gosh Johnboy, you learn something everyday!(well unless you're clever like you that is)
I'm sure he probably has young plants though

Hi Jopsy,
I to learn something every day and sometimes by totally cocking something up! Even if it means only learning not to repeat the episode it's all learning!
Growing has been my very existence for more years than I can recall.

Johnboy I was just being naughty not rude!
Hope I didn't offend
When we stop learning we may as well be in the ground
HUGS
Jo

Jopsy dear,
I very much doubt that you could offend me. I know at times I'm a bristley old bugger but not to young and vibrant young ladies such as yourself. Only to miseable old men who will remain unnamed but I am sure you can guess who I mean!!!

Hi Johnboy
I was being a bit tongue in cheek. My friend whose garden it is planted in, gets very worried when plants are cut. We have the same discussion every year in late winter because the garden is bare. But come midsummer when all the herbaceous plants have regrown it is the overcrowded.
I'm not sure how the person I bought it off propagates it, I thought she said it was cuttings will check with her on saturday. But I have as normal stuck all the bits pruned into a pot to root and see what happens.
Pete

Hi
Thanks for the replies.
Yes, it is the Gunni. I don't know how old the tree is as we only moved in last year. But there is a stump about 3-4 foot high about 6-8inches in diameter. From this there are lots of long thin twiggy branches coming out and some more little shoots coming from bottom. The leaves on the branches look quite old and scruffy so it probably hasn't been cut for a few years. It looks rather sad and tatty which is why I would like to cut it back again to refresh it. From reading replies I will leave the cutting till next year now but when I do it should I cut all the growing stuff right back to the stump and let it all start again?
Polly

I cut a five year old euc right back in May/June a few years ago as my neighbours were getting a bit freaked by the height of it. It looked a bit shocked for a year then bounced back and produced a bushy shrub rather than a huge tree. I think they may be indestructible.