On 16 Apr, 11:45, Serena Blanchflower
wrote:
I had a eucalyptus cut down, about a year ago, in the hope of turning
it into a large shrub. After a few months, there was a huge amount of
new growth and, in the autumn, the new shoots were thinned down, just
leaving a few of the stronger ones. They are now looking rather
floppy and sorry for themselves.

What can I do to encourage them to grow up and develop into a strong
shrub? Will it be enough to give them some support, to get them going
in the right direction? At the moment, they can hardly see the light,
as there are a number of taller shrubs surrounding them. You can see
a photo of it at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66407485@N00/461346555/ - the previous
picture in the set is the same eucalyptus last August, when it had
started sprouting enthusiastically.

Hullo Serena. Why did you thin it out so much?! Looked so great when
it was bushy. The remaining branches don't look floppy they are ust
seeking light and looks like they're going to have a job competing
with the bushes surrounding it. I can't think of anything you can do,
other off course reducing the surrounding bushes which I'd imagine is
out of the question. It probably won't look really nice for a while,
but giving it time it might, once pass the shade, pick up a bit and
look brighter.

We had to fell our eucalyptus a couple of month ago. It broke my
heart. It had fallen on the next door house in the storms, because the
canopy had eventually reached and passed over the houses roofs and the
wind just took hold of it.

Before ...

http://cjoint.com/?eqodjoZqWo

After ....

http://cjoint.com/?eqodWz6yeH

We're not getting any shoots on the stump because we're buildind a
decking area over it. We can't take the stump/roots out as it's been
in there for 10 years and the girth was over 30 cam and the roots are
under our house .... I've axed it several time to make sure we don't
get shoots and removed as many roots as I could, at least those the
size of my arms!! It's not guaranteed that this will work but there's
very little else we can do (without using chemicals coz I won't) ...
or is there?!