Eucalyptus wood tryout

[beanluc]

Eucalyptus is supposed to be allelopathic. But there's a lot of it around where I live and there are plenty of cool-looking falls that I'm itching to mount upon.

I'm going to test a division of my Miltassia on a piece of eucalyptus wood. It's long dead, well-seasoned and free of bark, so, I'm going to find out whether the allelopathic properties are present in bare wood and/or do affect orchids.

My idea is that leaf litter and living roots are what exude the toxins. I'm taking a chance that bare wood is inert. We'll see!

[kmarch]

My Australian friends can correct me if I'm wrong and sound like a silly transplant, but I think Eucalyptus is a kind of gum tree? Am I right? If so I have a Dendrobium tertagonum mounted on a small gum tree branch, going on more than 2 years now, so far so good.

[patticake]

How cool! keep us posted on how it does!

[beanluc]

Originally Posted by kmarch

I think Eucalyptus is a kind of gum tree?

A lot of Eucalyptus and some Corymbia too are called "gum" of some kind. The ones 'round here are "Blue Gum" or "Spotted Gum".

(not related to the "sweetgum" tree, genus Liquidambar)

Well, glad to hear you've not had problems with Eucalyptus mount! Thanks for the report. I don't get: is it on a living tree or on a wood mount?

[kmarch]

My tetragonum is growing on a dead, barkless mount. A stick.