eucalyptus

[ACE]

This is a tree on a property where I am doing some work, the wind blew it about a bit yesterday and a few small branches came down. Now when I went to clear up the debris I found that there was something that looks like seeds on one of the branches. Ever the opportunist, I gathered a few up with a view to try and propagate them.

I think I have heard somewhere that these seeds need extreme heat to get them out of their shells, so I am going to try roasting some in the oven, giving some a blast with my blowtorch and nuking some in the microwave.

Do we have anybody on this forum that have tried propagating eucalyptus, if so give me some tips, I might even have a spare bit of seed over (no promises)





PICTURES OF LEAVES AND SEEDS

[ACE]

[tim]

No - but don't they grow!

Ours is onlya single stem but it has trebled its height in 2 years - to some 20'.

Love them.

[Barnowl]

You might try just laying a piece of newspaper over the top of them and setting fire to it.  This was suggested to me by a lady at a garden centre re some other Australian seeds.

[star]

I think you are probably right ACE, Australian plant seed usually only germinate after fire has furnaced them.

If you get some more leaves and set fire to them, to replicate the mother tree on fire, and put the seeds among the leaves. Then use the resultant ash in the top layer of compost when you sow.

I guess that's the closest you will get to the outback! I wouldn't do it till the end of May or June though.

Good luck :D

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

that's the seed capsule and not the seed. Seed is tiny. T&M used to offer a mixed eucalyptus seed mixture. I managed to get a lot to germinated, tho I can't remember if I did anything special with it, like stratify. Problem was, some were definitely gunnii, but I couldn't identify the rest

this seems to cover it

http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/seed.html

[ACE]

Well after reading all that Rhubarb, I reckon my capsules are a bit green and the seed is not ready, I will look tomorrow to see if there are any older capsules around the area. Warning to anybody thinking of doing the same. Don't put them in the microwave, the kitchen now smells like a chemists. She'll kill me when she gets home.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

I was going to say it didn't look ripe, after having a look at that website. Maybe they never fully ripen in the UK. Seeds certainly germinated for me though, and that was in the early days, when I didn't have a clue

[star]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D Im totally wrong...........again. (No change there then) ;D ;D ;D ;D

[ACE]

;D ;D ;D ;D Im totally wrong...........again. (No change there then) ;D ;D ;D ;D

No you are not, what you stated made logical sense. I shall use some of the leavemould from under the tree as compost if I find some viable seed.

[valmarg]

;D ;D ;D ;D Im totally wrong...........again. (No change there then) ;D ;D ;D ;D

In my case Star, it's OH telling me 'Well, its not very often your right Mrs, but you're wrong again' ???

valmarg

[star]

Good luck ACE, it willl be fantastic to get some seed germinating. Keep us updated on your progress ;)

Valmarg........my OH says he's glad he married Mrs Right, he just didn't know my first name was Always ;D ;D

[Rohaise]

 Be careful with that blow torch ! Eucalyptus is highly volatile ...sometimes I use the bits blown down as kindling in my woodburning stove. The wood burns very fiercely indeed .   Rohaise

[froglets]

I've been wondering about that Rohaise.  Our neighbour finally cut his tree down at the weekend after several branch drops left it straggly and mainly over out garden.  He gave us the wood & its outdoors seasoning at the moment, but I have wondered about the safety of putting the logs into the woodburner.  I might try it in the chiminea with a bag of sand close by!

[Robert_Brenchley]

When you buy a packet of seeds of a plant that needs fire to stimulate germination, it comes with a pad impregnated with chemicals that spoof the seeds into thinking there's been a fire. You put the pad in water and soak the seeds in it. I don't know whether you can buy the pads, but apparently it's the same stuff that beekeepers use as a spray, to substitute for real smoke. I've never tried it; apparently you can't move the bees around with it, so I stick to the old Victorian type smoker. It might be worth a try for this though.

[Amazin]

Ace, I'd happily take a couple of capsules off your hands if they're going spare.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

eucalyptus seeds don't need fire to germinate, but eucalyptus trees do promote forest fires. Eucalyptus trees produce a lot of litter, they contain large amounts of flammable volatile oils, and the bark easily falls off in strips. The idea is that by encouraging the spread of fire, they knock out competing trees, with the eucalypts generally being able to take over by resprouting from the base or the lignotuber bit, which the other veg can't do, being basically dead

[ACE]

Guess what I have just picked up the capsules to put in an envelope for somebody who requested some and the seeds started dropping out. I reckon they might have opened up because of the central heating.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

that is clever - a plant that's adapted to central heating

[Amazin]

Have you met my ex?

[Eristic]

I like eucalyptus.

£15 to plant it.

£150 to dig it up. £20 from the neighbors to take the wood away, and the whole afternoon down the lottie.