Eucalyptus MacArthurii

Description

Eucalyptus MacArthurii, Camden Woollybutt

Hardy:	Medium to -8°C
Soil:	Generally will do well in PH neutral soil that is moist but well drained.
Growth:	Fast, up to 2m per year
Height:	Up to 40m with a crown of three quarters the height if stand alone.
Biomass:	Firewood logs

Eucalyptus MacArthurii is grown commercially for biomass and paper pulp.

As firewood logs they are recommended by Wariapendi Nursery as what I term a biomass mini forest, i.e suitable for anyone with a spare piece of land that’s currently unused.

I’ve grown them now for a couple of years and I am definitely in favour of experimenting with this variety. Those that were out during all the winter gales of 2018 / 2019 were remarkably resilient, with no noticeable wind burn. They developed sturdy stems quickly and so should require minimal staking if at all. NOTE also that my experience of Eucalyputs generally has been that they only become unstable if the ground becomes particularly saturated.

As in the photo below, they make grand stand alone specimens a trees in a large garden.

I’m particularly keen on promoting mini forests agroforestry and alternative land use. Macarthurii looks to be suitable for a wide range of rural food and biomass production. You could certainly graze cattle and other livestock below those in this photo by Paco Garin

Honey and other bee products, hand creams from the wax would also in my view be a good alternative use of agricultural land. The flowers of most Eucalyptus attract bees. It’s unclear from my research so far when you can expect flowers, according to EUCLID January and May, perhaps two flowerings per year ? Generally my personal experience seems to suggest early spring.

Photo by Paco Garin

Also known as Camden Woollybutt from the area where they were first discovered and the appearance of the bark near the base. Eucalyptus which are native to areas where wild fires occur generally have thick fibrous bark to protect them. I would assume that as MacArthurii only have this thicker bark at their bases, that the wild fires they encounter are low level scrub and don’t become all engulfing infernos. The native range is quite localised to a small area in South Eastern Australia.

Photo by Paco Garin

All of the photos above are from trees growing in Spain, though as I say, I have had very favourable results here in Ireland with even the young leaves having a thicker waxier surface which I find makes for more resilience to wind burn. So I am happy to be growing Eucalyptus MacArthurii for firewood logs and flowers for bees and insects which will attract wildlife.

Strong healthy trees with good root growth establish quickly and will require minimal if any aftercareTrees regenerate in two ways:

• The awakening of dormant buds at leaf and branch nodes
• Growing from the roots using lignotubers

Eucalyptus MacArthurii does not have lignotubers, and is not suitable for coppicing.