Propagating Eucalyptus

Question

I would like to know how to germinate and propagate the seeds from a Eucalyptus crebra. Our farm has an old ironbark that despite its great age never reproduced. It now lives in a paddock with the kangaroos and is surrounded by re-vegetating forest, but no ironbarks have grown. Our local council tells us that this tree is quite rare, and they have taken seed pods to propagate; however, we will be selling the farm soon and I would like to propagate some for our next home. The tree itself is very old and does not appear to have grown in height at all in the 70 years that we have lived with it. By comparison a similar ironbark that was only 3 meters tall when we arrived is now well over 100 feet.

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Answer 1

It might be useful to speak with local experts, such as an extension agent at a local university.

For seed germination and planting, please see this guide to growing eucalyptus from seed:
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/seed.html

Your species is not discussed specifically, so you should assume that its seeds need to be cold-stratified (chilled) before germination. This species may have poor germination rates, so plant many seeds to ensure that some germinate. Keep the seeds evenly moist until they germinate.