safely reducing the height of eucalyptus trees

Question

Hi there. I have a question for you. I’ve looked at lots of web sites trying to find out how (and indeed IF) there is a way in which we can safely have the height of the eucalypts in our yard (one acre). They are all about 30 years old and most are around 20m + and while they are messy we put up with the mess because we have a resident male koala (and his entourage with babies) and we want them to keep their ‘home’. However, some of the trees are starting to make a neighbour nervous (she keeps dropping hints which are none too subtle). We’ve had the trees checked out by an arborist before and he said that in his opinion they were ‘pretty safe’ partly because they are planted quite close to one another. He said that he wouldn’t recommend anything less than taking them out altogether if we were concerned but that’s really not an option for many reasons. Other than total removal he said he wouldn’t do anything ..but clearly they aren’t about to stop growing for our convenience so now the issue is HOW can we organise this? I don’t like the concept of pollarding (which some sites recommend) . It’s all fine in the UK with lime walks and the like but eucalyptus? No thanks.

So there’s a challenge for the week .. if anyone can give some suggestions that we could follow up on I would be most appreciative. Just to fill you in on the area here, we live in Maleny, which is 500m above sea level on the Hinterland of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. We get on average 2m + rainfall each year and the soil is fertile volcanic. It does get windy here at different times of the year but according to the original owners of this property, the excessive wind rating was dropped by the insurance people after about ten years once the gums got going – they obviously impede the August blow. Certainly we have less effect from those winds than do our neighbours who belong to the shrubs and topiary style of garden – never the twain shall meet I guess and we all have different ideas and wishes for our particular gardens for sure.

Kind regards from Kim Straker

PS: my husband seems to think that it will all be ok – and he could be correct but I’d rather have a Plan B to follow.

Answer 1

I’m afraid your options are limited to leaving the trees, removal of the trees or pollarding or topping the trees.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/eucalyptus/tips-growing-eucalyptus.htm
http://grafton-nursery.co.uk/pollarding-eucalyptus-trees.htm