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Do you water your grass? Very few Australians water grass because of the strong water restrictions here.

Yes we do water. Rain falls in only 3 months of the winter. So any kind of landscaping would simply die if not watered and grass would be impossible. I also didn’t let anything accumulate under the tree.

Now that we’re in a period of less than usual rain and snow here in the western U.S. along with increasing demand, water use restrictions are becoming a necessity. How we view landscaping will be on everyone’s mind for quite a while.

We have our own “use only native flora” morons here too.

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Could the species make a difference or is something beyond water also in play?

There are a lot of different species so I’d agree that it makes a difference. No doubt also where a reasonably large amount of water is available you get enough for all plants in the area. Do you water your grass? Very few Australians water grass because of the strong water restrictions here.

I am constantly amazed by councils and govt depts recommending eucalypts in housing estates and around farms. We should be planting fire retardant types near homes. The good old pepper tree is a great fire break as are elms, oaks and other leafy imports. They catch flying embers too.

In my area frangipani is popular for growing close to houses because it is cool and shady in summer, lets plenty of light in during winter, grows slowly, never burns, easy to prune, hard to accidentally kill, non-invasive root system. Also mango trees and avocado trees are popular for obvious reasons. The council are determined to push annoying bottle brushes and gums because for no particular reason it is politically incorrect to have non-native trees. Down the road one guy planted a row of olive trees and they were doing well until the local council pruners came past and had difficulty understanding that olives grow differently to gumtrees so they pruned the olive away until it was the shape of a gumtree (with thin tufts of leaves on the top). The concept of humans making their environment into something useful is completely lost on these guys.

I certainly believe that choice of trees should be based strictly on their practical utility rather than some misguided sense of promotion of native species.

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I am constantly amazed by councils and govt depts recommending eucalypts in housing estates and around farms. We should be planting fire retardant types near homes. The good old pepper tree is a great fire break as are elms, oaks and other leafy imports. They catch flying embers too.

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Interesting observation about the grass not growing around the Eucalyptus. I inherited a large one from the previous owner and grass always grew right up around it without any trouble. Some species are relatively common decorative trees and I’ve never noticed this problem where I see them used either. I don’t doubt what you say but it doesn’t agree with my own experience. Could the species make a difference or is something beyond water also in play?

I finally had mine removed because it got too big for its place.

As I said, I’m not a Eucalyptus expert, much less a botanist. So I can only tell you what I’ve observed.

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I know someone who basically never mowed their front lawn for many years while they had a tree growing out the front because the grass always died down to a few thin strands spread over bare dirt. Eventually the tree grew old and died (most of them are not long lived trees), and the grass was back within months and they were mowing it down like crazy. Now a thick and green lawn is in the spot where there was dirt not long ago.

Cutting them down as has happened in some areas, means the sub soil
water comes nearer the surface and that causes salinity problems.

Any evidence that Peter Spencer’s property was showing signs of salinity? I agree that if you want to find ways to consume ground water then growing Eucalyptus will do that, surely a farmer facing salinity can consider such options for himself.

I also understand that over-irrigating can cause rising salinity but given that Peter’s objectives were trout streams and grazing I expect he was not doing a whole lot of irrigating either. Most of the problem in the Murray-Darling system right now is lack of supply water for irrigation, rather than too much groundwater. But again, this it rightly a matter for the farmers themselves to consider, all I’m pointing out is that the issue of growing trees consuming available water has been carefully ignored and should be considered.

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All young trees need more water when young until they grow roots
that can go deep enough to benefit from sub soil moisture. Eucalypi
from what I know are chosen for their ability to be reasonably drought resistent, and we used to export a lot to Israel.

Cutting them down as has happened in some areas, means the sub soil
water comes nearer the surface and that causes salinity problems.

Young trees do absorb CO2 more than older trees too. However strip
clearance is not as harmful to the environment as is total deforestation as observed in South America.

In the New England National Park, there are small farms, and they
are adjacent to temperate rain forest areas. A fire trail is between them and the change of the micro environment just with a ten foot fire trail separating them is amazing. And the temperature
drops within a few yards of entering a rain forest.

Eucalypti do not thrive well in a rain forest habitat. They have
to grow so tall to get enough light and their leaves are almost
non existent but near the canopy.

Must fly now, but Peter’s case should be examined, to consider a
compromise. He could clear some trees as animals need shade. Or
strip clear, leaving tracks of bush as wildlife refuges etc.
But – Chairman Rudd will not come and see him, as he is overseas
again talking to Hilary Clinton I believe.

So I think that Peter should come down now, as dying will not mean
much to the governments, and he can pursue his complaint on the ground and through the law courts or the media!

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I’ve no insight directly on Eucalyptus. I didn’t think about this a while ago. But it finally dawned on me that here in Southern California Eucalyptus appears to thrive well enough in places where the only near surface ground water could be from the rain that we get for only about 3 months (or less) during the winter. That doesn’t really amount to much water through most of the year.

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