Juvenile eucalyptus have silver dollar leaves, as it growsthey switch to the lance shaped leaves. I'm not sure if its an age thing or a size thing but I would think it beneficial, with young eucalyptus you get three or four long sprigs of silver dollar leaves, very unconvincing as a bonsai IMHO Goot luck, maybe post a picture in the gallery for some creative advice from other members too.

Try http://southerneucs.com "Big O" - the name refers to the shape of the leaves, but it only reaches about 15 feet planted outdoors. I highly recommend Southern Eucs for advice, also - Ed is super knowledgeable and helpful! (I plan to grow 3 trees indoors for my Australian birds, and use bonsai methods to keep them 8-10 feet, ideally.)

It's very doubtful that the fluorescent light was too intense. I grow various seedlings under fluorescent bulbs spaced about as close together as I can possibly squeeze them to approach natural light. If your lamps are unusually intense and placed immediately above the seedlings, just back them off a little. It's more likely that something else is going on. If you are sure that lack of moisture wasn't a problem, how about too much moisture? I have had more problems with too much moisture than not enough, myself. I've had cuttings in well aerated soil to experience rot because of excessive moisture even when the top of the soil looked like it was dry. Sometimes it's hard to judge the moisture levels in the lower part of the pot. Transplanting now might be a good idea because it would give you a chance to examine the roots and see if rot was a problem. I would stick with the fluorescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs are generally not well suited for use as plant lights for various reasons. BTW, check the wavelength (temperature) of your bulbs if they aren't specifically for plants. Something around 5000 degrees K is usually best. Some bulbs are too red or too blue for best plant response.

Hi Nice to see anyone trying to Bonsai the Eucalypts. Yes it does have a tap root but I believe many worry too much about cutting the taproot. The correct name for the main regenerating organ of the Euc. is "lignotuber", it is found as a swelling at the base of t he tree. However, in many species they can also regenerate from epicormic buds all along the trunk. All very handy for recovering from fire and very useful for the Bonsai-ist. Despite what many will say the Euc. can tolerate root pruning very successfully if appropriate precautions are taken (I have done this on many ocassions - one of my gum trees has been in full Bonsai training for over 20 years). Put simply if you root prune a Euc. you must not let the root ball become dry at all for 3 to 4 weeks. After that normal Bonsai treatment will be adequate. Over several years of root pruning they become better able to withstand root pruning with minimal stress. I am sure that many will disagree but this has been my actual experience over many years of Bonsai practice. regards dennis Mc