CJR rainbow eucalyptus

[Cajunrider]

Hi,
Not meaning to be a downer and hope I am wrong as the bark is really cool but
- Eucalpytus (sorry sp. ??) are an evergreen tree, as in this tree hasn’t got any leaves after the storm x 10 strength, it might be dead.
Hope it shoots away in your Spring soon.
Charles

After the storms they came back and got some leaves then lost them again to the cold. The barks look good. I think they will make it.

 

[Cajunrider]

One came out of dormancy. The other two appears to be alive but no sign of buds yet.

 

[Cajunrider]

Finally got colors on the trunk.

 

[LittleDingus]

Finally got colors on the trunk.

Great to see this one spring back to life!

The key to getting colors on the trunk is to grow them vigorous enough that the bark splits. The colors are an oxidation reaction over time.

Newly exposed bark is bright green. Then it ages/oxidizes through various shades and tints back to brown. Here's the progression of my largest rainbow through this growing season.

I didn't take a picture after the initial bark peel so missed the brightest of greens, but here is the trunk starting about 2 weeks after the bark peeled off.

June 6


June 26


August 21


All the same trunk and the same general region of the trunk. Hard to tell in the pictures, but the trunk has about doubled in thickness since June. Parts of it are starting to split and peel again. Here it is after I peeled a small section of newly flaking bark off.



You can see the bright green compared to the picture of the same area above.

Once the trunk is large enough that the entire bark layer stops shedding at once, then you'll start to get the different color strips as seen in the iconic pictures. This is a different trunk that flaked more piecemeal over a few weeks.



That's starting to look more like the iconic pictures with several different colors in play.

As you can see, these trunks are quite small yet.



And, believe it or not, these trees were sown in August 2019! They are just now turning 2 years They don't need to be old to start showing bark color...of course the show should only get better with age

Here's the entire tree as it is today.



Due to that stupid T-branch situation in the middle there, I may end up layering off most of the top half. Most of the structural interest is up there anyway!

 

[Cajunrider]

Air layering the sacrificial branch because it is time.

 

[Cajunrider]

18 days later roots are starting to show.

 

[Cajunrider]

Roots have reached bottom of the air layer pod. Will collect in 3 weeks.

 

[Cajunrider]

Air layer collected. Main tree looks really good. It will be chopped in the spring.

 

[Kelsan23]

Finally got around to getting a few pictures of my rainbow eucalyptus. I think it’s making some nice progress and it’s finally showing some color on the trunk. Probably not the best ones I’ve could’ve taken but they’ll do. This is actually an air layer and the only surviving rainbow I have. The parent tree died for unknown reasons and the second air layer was ruined by an iguana before it put out enough roots to live.

 

[Cajunrider]

Finally got around to getting a few pictures of my rainbow eucalyptus. I think it’s making some nice progress and it’s finally showing some color on the trunk. Probably not the best ones I’ve could’ve taken but they’ll do. This is actually an air layer and the only surviving rainbow I have. The parent tree died for unknown reasons and the second air layer was ruined by an iguana before it put out enough roots to live.

Looking good.

 

[Kelsan23]

Looking good.

Thank you.

It’s actually one of the few trees I have, that I’m afraid to work on. Even careful pruning has been met with dieback and it probably needs to go into a slightly larger box or something in the training pot realm but from what I’ve gathered, eucalyptus don’t like their roots to be touched very much.

 

[Cajunrider]

Air layer will be taken off and the tree moved from a big grow box to a flat this week. It will be in a bonsai pot next year. I am done with trunk building.

 

[Cajunrider]

Air layer harvested and tree is looking good.

 

[Cajunrider]

I am planning to repot the tree soon. The soil mix will have to be something that slows down the growth. So far the sprouted branches has internodes that are way too long.

 

[Cajunrider]

Just for curiosity I spent 20 minutes search on the internet and cannot find any rainbow eucalyptus bonsai progression that is longer than mine. When I first started I did the same search and found none either. As pitiful as this 3.5 year old Eucalyptus deglupta bonsai is, it is the longest progression out there. I think this shows that the species is not particularly suited for bonsai. Nevertheless, I am trucking on into practically uncharted territory.

 

[Cajunrider]

Repotted today. The NAPA 8822 seemed to work well. There were plenty of healthy roots. I kept reading that Eucalyptus deglupta don’t like their roots disturbed but found no evidence. So I drew on my own experience with air layers that say the roots are strong and hardy. I bare rooted the whole tree, sorted out all crossing roots and put it in a flat with my bonsai soil mix.

Btw the trunk work appears solid. I keep some tape to hold it a little more. The tape will come off next month and I will continue will the sacr healing work.

The color of the trunk is gorgeous, particularly when the tree is wet.

 

[LittleDingus]

Repotted today. The NAPA 8822 seemed to work well. There were plenty of healthy roots. I kept reading that Eucalyptus deglupta don’t like their roots disturbed but found no evidence. So I drew on my own experience with air layers that say the roots are strong and hardy. I bare rooted the whole tree, sorted out all crossing roots and put it in a flat with my bonsai soil mix.

Btw the trunk work appears solid. I keep some tape to hold it a little more. The tape will come off next month and I will continue will the sacr healing work.

The color of the trunk is gorgeous, particularly when the tree is wet.
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Mine get very wilty whenever I touch the roots. I've kept them in a couple inches of water after root work on occasion and that seems to help with the wilting. They seam to recover well...unless they are too far wilted. If they wilt too far, they drop leaves and possibly branches and it takes a bit for them to rev up again.

My experience anyway...

 

[Cajunrider]

Mine get very wilty whenever I touch the roots. I've kept them in a couple inches of water after root work on occasion and that seems to help with the wilting. They seam to recover well...unless they are too far wilted. If they wilt too far, they drop leaves and possibly branches and it takes a bit for them to rev up again.

My experience anyway...

In their native Phillippines they grow in moist soil, the NAPA 8822 holds moisture well and is perfect for it. My new mix is a little more free draining. I hope it will be OK.

 

[LittleDingus]

In their native Phillippines they grow in moist soil, the NAPA 8822 holds moisture well and is perfect for it. My new mix is a little more free draining. I hope it will be OK.

Mine are in 100% NAPA as well. Chunky coconut coir as a top dressing sometimes. They do like their water

 

[LittleDingus]

Have you tried and other eucalyptus? I had 4-5 other species started but dumped them because they were still small and it was one less thing to pack when we moved. I'm thinking to start again when I'm more settled in.

I still have a large supply of rainbow seeds. $6 got me a functionally unlimited supply the dang things are so small! I've started some every year for the past 3 and their germination rates haven't seemed to fall off yet.