My eucalyptus tree looks very ill

Louise

I have an eucalyptus tree in my garden that I have inherited with the house, it has always been very healthy with lovely green leaves but this year it is looking very ill indeed and wondered if anyone could offer me some advice.

It is around 30 years old and has grown very large now it is not far off the height of my house and spans almost the width of the house on it's longest branches.

All the leaves have turned brown and are dry and brittle and the bark is cracking and peeling away from the trunk and branches.

If it helps it usually has a thick woody/corky looking bark with deep grooves in it.

I also have another eucalyptus tree which is looking pretty healthy but I have noticed over the past couple of weeks that a good lot of the leaves on that are turning a brown/red colour.

Has it died?

Is there anything I can do to help it?

We live in Wales in the UK so have very wet winters and sometimes dry warm summers but never very hot. We are in the middle of our summer now.

Can anyone suggest anything for me please I love the tree and don't want it to have to go.

Many thanks in advance

Lou

dov

Without pictures it's hard to say anything, but dry and brittle is not usually a sign of abundant life. Posting pictures would help a lot, also of the other tree that is beginning to die back.

Now lets start thinking about why. Many Eucalypts are sensitive to over-fertilization. Have you been fertilizing the trees or cultivating around the roots? Are the roots getting into a sewerage line perhaps?

Louise

Hi thank you for replying I will take some photos tomorrow of both the trees and pop them up here.

I haven't done anything to the ground around the trees for years, sometimes I bleach the patio and some of the water runs down near the tree would that cause any problems? I've been doing that for 5 years though and only this year it looks so ill.

I'll take photos tomorrow and maybe you will be kind enough to take a look at them I so very much want to keep my tree I love it, it was planted by my parents when I was born and I now own the house.

All my best

Lou

Eric Frei

I think you can kiss it good bye.

sounds dead to me.

Bleach has a pH of 12, highly toxic.

I bet if you did a pH test of the soil it would be rank. What were you bleaching, concrete? Concrete is also alkaline. Salts also are bad for a tree, for it to go brown quickly and totally is unusual, often parts die but for a whole canopy to die etc sounds like a chemical style kill. Maybe it was poisoned? It's not on the fence-line is it?

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dov

I agree with Ekka. The pH of the bleach could be it. Fresh concrete can do it too as well as effluent from a septic system or leaking sewers and of course fertilizing with lime. Best to stop using the bleach and just hope that the rains in Autumn/Winter will flush the soil a bit. You could also try testing the pH of the soil around each tree and if the soil shows as very alkaline (high pH) try treating with elemental sulfur. Sulfur does take time to work, but it will lower the pH eventually.

Louise

Hi

Thank you all for your advice here are some photos of it

The leaves



The trunk



The tree





My other more healthy tree



It's leaves that are turning



Although I do bleach the patio it is always with a huge amount of water which mostly goes does the drain and some may find it's way near the tree.

Many thanks if you can help

Lou

Louise

Hmmm no photos I will have to have a read of how to put them on here the links from ??????????? don't seem to work.

Lou

Eric Frei

Read the rules, it was in the email you received and the PM you received.

It says all pictures to be loaded to this server with links how to do it.

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Louise

I'll try again

I have uploaded them using the paper clip at the top.

The first 4 photos show the tree that is very ill and the last 2 show my other one, both are in very seperate parts of the garden and share no common ground.

Thank you

Lou

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Louise

I should also add it has a huge clematis growing thorough it could that do anything?

Many thanks yet again

Lou

dov

Thanks Louise. The first tree appears to be quite dead and should be removed. while creepers on trees are not generally a good thing, especially creepers like Ivy, I've seen Eucs survive worse than that.

Still perhaps try a pH test of the soil near both trees and see if there is a difference.

glennak

The peppermint is certainly dead. It died due to the roots not being feed by the top of the tree because the bark is dead. It maybe a fungal problem perhaps Armillaria are there any taodstools around the tree? It may also have been caused by the garden bed being built up around the tree.

Eric Frei

Looks like bit of a retaining wall thing happening there too, maybe roots cut, grade change?

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Louise

Thank you very much for your replies even though they bring sad news how quickly do I need to get it down? Can it be left a few months or does it need to come down soon? Will it drop it's branches?

I ask because I have children and if there is any risk I wont let them play near that part of the garden until it has come down.

Oh I am very sad.

Thank you ever so much for your help though.

All my very best

Lou

dov

Eucalypts are notorious for dropping limbs. I'd bring it down before any very windy season comes.

glennak

Its still got leaves on it so I wouldn't worry about branches falling for a long time months for twigs years for larger branches but it may pull out of the ground if it's rotten. Give it a push and pull and see if it moves in the ground if it's stable you have time.

dov

While this is generally the case, without inspecting the tree in person, I was hesitant to offer that advice. Better to get rid of the tree before it gets hit by storms, say in Autumn or Winter.

Louise

Thank you all so much for your advice I really appreciate it, as much as I didn't want to hear that it had died it is better that I know so that it can be brought down safely instead of falling down.

All my very best

Lou

nativeinspiration

Eucalypts have a lignotuber located at the base of the tree, which allows them to recover from intense bushfires. If you get the tree chopped down, but don't get the stump ground out, then the tree may re-grow from the lignotuber....and you'll have a lovely multi-trunked tree

nativeinspiration

I forgot to mention that generally eucalypts like well drained soil....so in an area with high rainfall, this is a potential issue, and the further the roots get down into boggy soil, the more it becomes a problem. If the area is wet and you want to plant more eucalypts, try a species that doesn't mind being wet..one of the swamp species, or eucalyptus stellulata

glennak

Welcome nativeinspiration just a few comments as I didn't want Louise to get false hopes.
Some Eucs have lignotubers but not all. I think this tree is a Eucalyptus dives (broad leaf peppermint) and I believe they don't have lignotubers. But this tree is dead the bark is breaking away from the trunk so the bark has been dead for a while so the roots have starved and died (due to lack of sugars) so the rest of the tree died due to the roots being unable to get water to it. I may be wrong on all counts as I'm basing this on 2 small photographs.

nativeinspiration

Thanks Glennak

I wasn't saying that it will definitely shoot back, just that it is worth a try; and worth taking advantage of an already established root system before replanting a new tree. I have done this to many eucalypts, and have had pretty good success. It's worth a try
I'm impressed that you can ID the tree as Eucalyptus dives from a few photos...nice one! What ashame........dives is so beautiful!

glennak

This was cut off and allowed to regrow do you think it was worth doing? Its a Red Gum. Would you park your car under the leader on the left?

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Treemo

I'd plant a Ficus right in the middle of that, glennak.

Louise

Thank you for the advice I may as well leave the stump there to see if it does anything I loved the tree and as very sad it has died, so it's worth a try.

I asked my Mum about the raised border bit and she said the tree was planted into the raised boarder so it hasn't been built up around the tree.

I haven't got around to checking the PH of the soil but I still have grass and flowers growing in that part of the garden.

Again thank you for your advice.

Lou

Treemo

Our powerline contractors in Brisbane, through Energex, no doubt know how efficient Eucs are at very rapidly reasserting themselves when cut at ground level, and in a lot of cases, with a single defined leader. So much so they spray them to death as soon as they get going again.

Though, usually, they were healthy to begin with.

Good luck with the tree, it really hurts when you lose one you like. A lot of our babies are vandalised/ringbarked/driven over and each one hurts, particularly after it has been powering for a couple of years.

At least you get to try something new if it doesn't work out.

nativeinspiration

No Glennak, of course i wouldn't do that to a forest giant......i'm not an idiot; but with a small species, such as Eucalyptus dives, they can be beautiful. I have done this with many SMALL eucs (ie, under 4m), and they are beautiful trees. Eucalyptus caesia, eucalyptus moorei, eucalyptus gregsoniana etc for example are great examples of this.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion based on their knowledge and many years of experience.

Louise

Oh don't argue I appreciate all the advice I have been given and have openly accepted it, I will be having a tree surgeon to take it down so will take their knowledge into account when they see the tree in person as well. I really didn't want to cause bad feeling amongst anyone.

All my best

Lou

glennak

nativeinspiration it is very true that for trees with Mallee habit (woody plants that grow with multiple stems from underground lignotubers) cutting at ground level is trouble free. Chippendale, G.M. (1988). Flora of Australia says that Euc. dives gets to 25m; not a small tree. But my ID is very likely wrong and reading through my posts I seem to come out as a smart Ar#s. I was really trying to be helpful sorry Louise and nativeinspiration.
Glenn

nativeinspiration

No worries Glennak

Eucalyptus dives only gets to 4m where i am (Canberra), so it's pretty dependent on conditions anyway...and as you said, it's very hard to ID a dying eucalypt from photos alone, especially considering there is about 700 species. All advice is helpful, as it is a very subjective profession. We aren't dealing with a manufactured product, so there isn't one, finate answer to anything plant related.

Good luck with your tree Louise, Eucalypts in general grow pretty rapidly, so i'm sure a replacement won't take long. Look for dwarf or mallee species if you want a more manageable Eucalypt (not sure what is available in Wales)