Cutting back Eucalyptus - help

Discussion in 'Woody Plants' started by Crize2foi, Nov 22, 2008.

  1. Crize2foi

    Crize2foi Member

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    Château-Gontier, France
    Hi, I'm new to the forum, and also new to gardening. I have a eucalyptus tree in my front garden which was badly cut back last year so that it it now pretty lopsided and an unbalanced tree. It's also as high as my house!

    I'd like to cut it back to abou 6ft, but I would like to know if I will destroy the tree in doing so. If I cut it back as I would like, there will be no branches left on the tree, just the trunk. Will the tree sprout new branches ?

    Can anyone advise me, as a friend has offered to come around and cut back the tree later today or this weekend, but I really don't want to lose the tree.

    Thanks,
    Chris
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Most kinds can be cut low yearly and grown as foliage shrubs. The ones that lend themselves to this have silver dollar type juvenile foliage and are fast growing. If yours responded to the previous pruning by sending out silver dollars on long vigorous shoots, you can prune it back each year indefinitely.

    The ones that don't respond well to regular hard pruning are the snow gum types with sickle-shaped adult foliage right from a small plant size, and slow growth.
     

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