Quite easy. Eucalypts are not all that robust. Those iddy biddy things in your photo are just suckers, couldn’t realy call them trees, so should be easy.
Cut them down as you have done in the fore ground, paint the cuts with a herbicide like roundup and spray with herbicide or just rub or knock off any shoots.
The bigger ones like a metre or so though remove a strip of bark to the wood about 10- 15 cm wide around the whole tree between 50 and 100 cm from the ground. Termed ringbarking.
I am surprised you don’t use them for fire wood and building like I see you are doing. Before you destroy think about using the resource. Honey production,firewood, construction.
Make sure you paint herbicide on the cut within minutes of cutting it down if you go down that road.
I remember seeing eucalypts in South America growing as a fence line when green wood was used for fence posts. Couldn’t do that where I am.
Actually, it was originally planted as a source of firewood but the country is pretty developed now and people rarely use it for cooking nowadays. Same for construction, contractors and building workers use bamboo, plywood and metal sheets, they don’t want Eucalyptus anymore because it’s too expensive to buy new ones.
The main stem have been cut down hundreds of times for the past 100 years for firewood and only since the 1980’s have the trees been left to grow that’s why they are not that big. But there’s older ones higher up the mountain.
Tried ringbarking a few times, shoots just grow at the point where it has been ring-barked.
Been trying to avoid herbicide since i’m reforesting with native plants and i don’t want them to be affected.
If you use a herbicide correctly, the rest of the forest wont be affected. You can do it with 2 people. One person does the cut, the other person paints the cut with herbicide straight away. Otherwise, do the cut, then paint on the herbicide as soon as you put the saw down.
I can vouch for the fact that nothing else around the tree will be affected.
This might be more what you had in mind. I took this photo in Tasmania a few weeks back. No pesticides or herbicides were used. Large chainsaws and bulldozers basically. The big piles are then set on fire.
I shall attempt that what are your recommendations for herbicide? i can choose one that degrades quickly?
Do you know anything about Litsea glutinosa, it grows a rhizome like stem under the soil and creates pure stands that i’ve been having difficulty killing.
Yes, but can’t get any vehicles on that side of the mountain, there’s a big highway that completely blocks any vehicles. I’m gonna have to do everything by hand.
Has anyone tried making a beehive from Eucalyptus wood?
No can’t comment on that one.
Interesed to know why you chose a beekeeping group to ask your questions. May be a “Foresters” type of group would get more answers.
True. I thought since there’s many australians here, some people might be more knowledgeable about dealing with eucalyptus directly. So i figured i would ask about both bees and that eucalyptus problem i have.(questions that “foresters” might know but they might suggest something harmful to bees)
Questions like when does eucalyptus provide good nectar flow and the proper time to cut it since i want to use the flowering to my advantage too?
Can i make beehives out of eucalyptus wood?
Is the herbicide to kill the trees bee safe ?
etc…
I don’t think most Aussies are getting rid or Eucalyptus as they are a native…
Koalas use them as their only food source, etc.
If it was privet or lantana, then that would be a different story.
I am eating delicious Eucalyptus honey now from Sicily. It’s a shame you can’t use the trees/wood instead of killing them… I wonder if there is another solution for you.
Yep, need help help against lantana camara and ligustrum robustum(privet) also!!
I would love to leave them intact if they were not such a problem, basically the whole mountain range is a monoculture of them with low plant and animal diversity, so the only choice is to remove them to prevent droughts, conserve biodiversity and create flowering period during the whole year.
Interesting idea! Eucalyptus tends to burn pretty well. I’ll look into this.
I hear ya Keshav, I’m bringing my front yard back to natives, not only for the environment but for the fauna also. Fortunately gum trees are encouraged, lantana on the other hand is also a weed and is restricted.
Some gums are good for firewood but others the axe bounces off… Generally the seeds need to be smoked to germinate so burning off sometimes isn’t ideal. But I am all for using charcoal for soil building.
