eucalyptus gunnii leaves goin brownish red

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Planted a little eucalyptus gunnii couple weeks ago and the lower leaves are starting to go brownish red. i did a search ans saw if fertiliser was not mixed with compost it could contact roots and cause that. I used some osmocote and general compost and mixed it well beofr planting. i watered it regularly as instructed and then there was heavy rain so did not need to

i went back to the garden centre to look at where i picked it up and saw the same effect on lower leaves?

Margo · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:40 pm Post subject:

Oh dear I hope you haven't one with a virus. Especially as you say others at the garden centre have got it. I expect somebody on this forum will be able to advise you.

gardenman · Rank attained: Hazel Tree Joined: 04 Aug 2011 Posts: 33

It won't be the osmocote/fertilizer as this has a slow release built in to avoid burning. If the garden center also has it, the entire crop has the same problem so its nothing you did.
Chances are its a delayed reaction to frost damage earlier in the year, gums suffered badly and it can take months for the damage to manifest itself.
Alternatively, its just a natural process of the crops shedding its lower leaves. If the crop was grown close together in the G/C/nursery light would have been limited, so the tree will have decided to discard them to put all of its resources into the more productive leaves closer to the top.

banner · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:19 pm Post subject:

Thanks guys. My ittle eucalyptus gunnii seems to be growing at an amazing pace anyway. i wondered if it would be OK to put one in the middle of a small lawn. Is that too exposed ?

Margo · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:30 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't put it in the middle of a small lawn, as its quite fast grower and can grow 20 foot or more.

The Garden Shop · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:10 pm Post subject:

Hi banner,Gardenmans post makes great sense. Also sometimes a high moisture level in the compost can cause a blistering of the leaves and they turn brown, could this be the case with your tree i wonder? about the position of where you might plant your eucalyptus, gunnii will tolerate an exposed site so plant away

walltoall · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:14 pm Post subject: eucalyptus gunnii

Banner,
I have a eucalyptus gunnii about 9yrs old and already it is over 30' tall. They can grow to over 35m on a single stem, but some people slash them and then they grow wide and the height is controlled. But doing them that way they take up a lot of space. There is one in Wisley covering the size of a tennis court.

How big is your garden and how high is your sky?

Margo · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:19 pm Post subject:

I used to cut mine back every year. One year I didn't and it ended up 20 foot high. I dread to think how high it would have gone if I hadn't cut it back. I ended up with its trunk about 2 ft in circumference.

medieval knievel · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:26 pm Post subject:

one easy benchmark when guessing the height of a tree is to compare it to a double decker bus - dublin bus, for example, use double deckers which are 14'3".

walltoall · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:26 pm Post subject: how high is my Eucalyptus

Thanks for that Medieval. I won't make any jokes about not getting too many double decker buses down where we are lol. Seriously though, (if anyone can be serious about the height of a eucalyptus) I measured from the ground to the top of the upstairs window and got 15'11" and that's about half the tree. So I'd reckon the tree should be about 30'22" oops I mean 32ft. at the minute. Tell you one thing though. It makes a brilliant shade outside the front door in the Summer for the car at the hottest time of day. We get a lot of hot sun here. It makes up for the pollution Twisted Evil