Eucalyptus Gunnii Silver Drop from seed

10 years ago

Not sure if this is the right forum for my question....

As an experiment I bought some seeds of this "dwarf" eucalyptus Proven Winner. It is a tree, but I intend to grow and prune it as a container shrub and bring it in for the winter.

Germination information on the web is very conflicting and I'm not sure how to approach the whole affair. Some sites say to stratify the seeds for 2 months, others say 2 weeks. Some sites say 70 degrees for 21 days, others say for 100 days. Some say light is required, others don't mention it at all. Some say it hates transplanting, others say "hold it by the colydons instead of leaves when transplanting".

I have a feeling that growing Eucalyptus from seed outside of the zones it grows naturally is not a very well known craft. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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Comments (11)

brandon7 TN_zone7
10 years ago
Stratification is not required but will likely increase germination percentage and speed up the process. Untreated seed will take longer to germinate. If it were me, I'd cold stratify them for 6 to 8 weeks. After planting the seeds, keep them somewhere that has some light (in a room with a window, etc). I don't think they need light for germination, but it won't hurt and it's not hard to provide. If seeds are planted shallowly, they'll get enough light if the room has some light.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
10 years ago
These are hardy in the UK and there are now quite a lot of big old specimens about from the 60s and 70s when they were fashionable. If kept small by regular coppicing you will always have the round, silvery juvenile foliage.There's some info here. Scroll down to 'Propagation' for seed sowing advice.

Here is a link that might be useful: E gunnii
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Hi Wobur, I saw your post, but guessed nobody really knew the answer to your very specific query. My very amateur take on it would be: Eucalyptus apparently need to be planted young to enable them to develop stabilising roots. Don't know how young is young. You would need to check this info, can't remember where I read it. They are pretty tough and have had to endure starvation and drought in my garden without dying. They grow really fast and quickly become a nuisance if not dealt with by severe pruning. If it's really important to have a tree of a certain height why not get one that only grows to that height? They can be cut back more or less to the ground and respond by producing a shock of young foliage. My hunch is that if you hacked it off at ten feet or so in spring and fed it well then you would get a lollipop of juvenile foliage by autumn. Don't know if it would put up with this every year without complaint and it would probably look pretty dreadful until the new shoots were fairly well advanced. Depends how much that bothers you. If you didn't fancy the sawn-off look you could prune it back to a neat lollipop framework in late winter. It might start sending out shoots all along the lower trunk and these would have to be removed during spring and summer to maintain a "standard" look. I certainly don't water my potted E gunni in the winter, so I doubt if yours would need it either. They are easily & cheaply grown from seed so can easily be replaced if things go wrong. I don't think it is going to be viable long-term kept at a height of 15" with mainly juvenile foliage. I think you will get fed up with pruning and ultimately it will be hard to keep it a good shape and with young foliage. I think that 5 years down the line you may want to remove it, anyway. So it would not matter much if it was staked loosely or rigidly at this point. All in all, I wouldn't worry much about rights and wrongs, just do what seems sensible. It depends a bit on your attitude to gardening. I'm a bit gung-ho and rely on massed planting for effect rather than single perfect specimens. I don't mind things being temporary, either. However, your sister may be more of a perfectionist and like to have things "just so".
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I have made this comment to Logan before, but I will point out that Eleagnus umbellata is invasive in NC and should not be planted. Although I am not an expert in NC plants, I am certain that there are alternatives that will provide silver foliage effect without creating problems in areas outside of his property that other folks have to remedy. Perhaps there are some southern gardeners who can suggest alternatives. Would any of the ones listed here do well in NC? Or this? "As with E. pungens, the fruits are highly desirable to wildlife providing an effective dispersal mechanism for this species. In addition to its prolific fruit production, widespread seed dispersal, rapid growth and ability to adapt to many sites, E. umbellata re-sprouts vigorously after cutting or burning. These traits enable this plant to out-compete native plants. By creating heavy shade, it can suppress natural plant succession. . . . The ability of E. umbellata to tolerate drought and a variety of soil conditions makes this plant highly successful and competitive in natural areas. Although E. umbellata does not do well in densely forested areas, it can invade forest openings and open forests eventually forming dense stands. As with many exotic plants, E. umbellata also invades roadsides, pastures, grasslands and disturbed areas."
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jean001a
10 years ago
Stratify them until they begin to sprout, then plant immediately
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
is it legal to propagate Proven Winners from seed???

did you buy the seed from PW???

if not bought from them ..... they may be open pollinated.. and may not come true from seed ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link
brandon7 TN_zone7
10 years ago
"is it legal to propagate Proven Winners from seed???"

Why wouldn't it be????????????? I've never heard of any woody ornamental plant with plant variety protection.
rusty_blackhaw
10 years ago
Is "Silver Drop" even a named cultivar, or is it a promotional name given to common E. gunnii by PW?
brandon7 TN_zone7
10 years ago
Quite a few sources (including some university horticultural publications and professional organizations) list 'Silver Drop' as a proper cultivar name.
runswithscissors
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks all, for your input. I have the seeds in the fridge now stratifying. I will keep an eye on them daily to make sure they haven't germinated in there, but if they haven't after 8 weeks I will take them out and bring them into my germination room where I have both bottom heat mats and grow lights.

Ken - Gosh, I sure hope its legal. I bought the seeds from PineTree. In searching for info I went to dozens of websites and one of them mentioned it was a proven winner of 2007? but I'm not sure if it meant that it is a 'trademark' PW.

I chose Silver Drop because it is supposedly more dwarfed than Silver Dollar.

Anyway, it's one of my "experimental" plants for this year. We'll see how it goes.
brandon7 TN_zone7
10 years ago
The name Eucalyptus gunnii 'Silver Drop' is widely presented as a cultivar name and therefore does not qualify for trademark protection. A company could use another name to sell the plant (eg. Brandon's Bodacious Eucalyptus series), and have that name trademarked, but nothing like that has been mentioned here. If the plant was being sold under a trade name, that would not preclude seed propagation. It would only limit what you could name your plants when reselling them.

The plant itself, Eucalyptus gunnii 'Silver Drop', does not appear to be patented. Since there is no patent, you are free to vegetatively propagate it (cuttings, grafts, etc). Plant patents only apply to vegetative propagation.

Plant variety protection is used mostly for some agricultural crops to limit propagation from seed. I know of no woody ornamental plant that has ever been given this legal status. And, to go to even further extremes, I am absolutely sure that there is no patented gene in this plant. Growing the seed is 100% legal.
runswithscissors
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you Brandon. That is good information! You are very smart about this. That's why I love these forums.
brandon7 TN_zone7
10 years ago
Thank you for the compliment. I actually learn a lot from the conversations on here too.

Eucalyptus Gunnii Silver Drop from seed

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brandon7 TN_zone7

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

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Eucalyptus Gunnii Silver Drop from seed

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