Eucalyptus kybeanensis – Kybean Mallee Ash – 1 of our absolute favourites

Eucalyptus kybeanensis – Kybean Mallee Ash

Good Specimen Tree for the wider landscape/for the smaller garden: Planting the tree and running away is an option, but it wont necessarily give you the best results.   See our guidance notes for growing specimen Eucalyptus in our Help and Advice section. For monthly emails on how to prune and care for your Eucalyptus, sign up to our Gumnut Club – it’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

We think that E. kybeanensis is best pruned once or twice a year. Pruning: once your tree has reached about 1.2m (4ft) in height, remove around 200-400mm (8-16 inches) off the leading shoot in mid-March. You can repeat this exercise again end of May, by lightly trimming back the growing points of the subsequent leading shoots by a few inches. Repeat the pruning of all leading shoots every March until you have achieved the desired tree shape.  As with all Eucs, choose a dry day for pruning to minimise the risk of silver leaf fungus disease. Always use clean pruning equipment.

Floral Art: E. kybeanensis is not on the recognised selected cut foliage list, but I find that it produces excellent foliage, with a vase life of around 3 weeks. I don’t  pollard the trees in the usual manner, but just snip off what I need, as required. A premium foliage with a moderate yield. Harvesting in November/December will give leafy stems with flowers and gumnuts.

Rural/Agricultural: Green foliaged species, which looks more comfortable and not ‘foreign’ in a rural setting.

Ecology:

• Bees: All Eucalyptus produce flowers with nectar and pollen, but this species flowers from November through to April making it a valuable source of food for winter foraging honey bees.
• Habitat creation and Game Cover: this species lends itself to providing good trouble-free habitat creation for wildlife and game cover, when planted in groups, on free draining soils.
• Birds enjoy roosting in Eucalyptus trees and Pheasants like rootling around underneath them.

Environmental:

• Tolerant of cold and exposed growing environments inland. However, E. kybeanensis has a very fine, fibrous root system, which can be easily de-stabilised on windy sites.  It may be necessary to keep the tree pruned for its first couple of growing seasons to ensure good root establishment, before allowing it to grow taller into maturity.  Prune every spring, to develop a compact, bushy head. Thick bark chip mulch, to a depth of 150 mm (6 inches) is essential to assist with good establishment
• Tolerant of arid environments, poor stony dry soils once established. It is essential that your Euc. is given our recommended quantity of water for its first 2 growing seasons in your grounds, during its establishment phase before you abandon it to its fate.  The tree needs to establish a good root system before it can survive in dry, challenging conditions.

No grass, no weeds and a thick bark chip mulch, to a depth of 150 mm (6 inches) are essential to assist with good establishment. Our research trials have demonstrated that grass around the trunk of Eucalyptus prevent the trees from quickly establishing and can completely stop them from growing.

Patio Pot culture: E. kybeanensis can be grown in terrace pots, but do not be tempted to over-pot it, as the fine root-system will not develop properly. Grow in air-pot containers and increase the pot size gradually.

For information on how to successfully grow Eucs in pots, visit our Blog entitled ‘How to grow a Eucalyptus in a pot and keep it alive!’