Had one  grew great and started getting trunk colors    winter down to the 30's and died  even in the garage   Not cold tolerant at all   Shame its beautiful 

 

I germinated one from seed in 2013 and planted shortly after. It's about 50' away from my house and although when I initially planted it I was worried about the tree falling on the house. After two hurricanes I understand how this tree handles wind. Once gusts reach the 70-80mph speed the tree sheds it's leaves and branches. It's grown to over 40+' and has over a 12" trunk. It has slowed a bit because of the two hurricanes. After hurricane Matthew and Irma, I was left with a colorful telephone pole in my yard, but the tree recovered from both storms.

The tree handled the couple hours around 32F earlier this winter without any trouble and has handled temps in the mid-high 30s in it's lifetime.

I think the tree loves our sandy soil and high water table beachside. I notice in South Florida this tree develops roots above the soil line due to the limestone near the surface. Have not seen that here.

Nice photo of trunk:

Before Irma:

 

After Irma:

 

Been growing and selling them for years in Melbourne Beach.. have alot of experience with them.

IHB's photo just after the hurricane is typical if it gets a full hurricane hit like we did with Irma. Leaves strip off, some branches break, but generally the trunk stands straight, unless it was planted in a location where it couldnt root properly and had to grow shallow root system, in which case, like any tree in that situation, it could lean or be toppled.

Mine did the same thing after Matthew and by mid summer looked pretty much like nothing had happened, then Irma came and started the process over again.

It's about halfway back to being releafed after the recent rains, and showing some nice color right now.

Re: cold temps, mine have gone through every low temp we've had since 2004 without any real issues.

Younger sapling trees are more tender, so if its going below freezing, its advisable to protect them.

A 5 foot sapling will become a 10-12 foot tree by November if planted out in early spring, watered well and fertilized regularly. Generally In our area, thats about all thats required to get them big enough to deal with our winters.

They are easy to grow here, the one thing you have to stay on top of is making sure they are getting plenty of water at all times until they have rooted all the way down into the local water table.

I sell Rainbow Eucalyptus at Exotica Tropicals.com :

http://www.exoticatropicals.co...stock-for-sale/



Edited: 04/19/2018 at 06:35 PM by paddleout

Grew a seedling in containers up to 25 gallon and then put it in the ground in 2015. Mathew broke the top out of it when huge limp broke out of an oak in the neighbors yard and hit it. It made a new top.  

We are in Rockledge almost Cocoa Village. We had three 33-35 degree nigthts in a row one week in January and then a flash freeze the next week when it dropped from 70F at sunset to 29F by daybreak. Advection freezes like that can be pretty tough. Our Angel's Trumpets, Bananas, Papayas, Bridal Bouquet Plumeria were all hit pretty hard but not killed. Our Rainbow Eucalyptis looks fine. The only trouble we have is that it is shaded from equinox to equinox by oaks to its south. Then it gets full sun for most of the summer once the sun angle is high enough. It gets directly light from 11-3 right now and will peak at direct sun from 9-4 about solstice time. They really do best in full sun. The leaves get pretty sparse until the sun and rains of summer return.

 

-------------------------
...

I bought one from paddle out about 5-7 years ago, can't quite remember.  It's abot 40 ft now and the trunk is about 20+ inches thick; it looks really cool.  I live in Orlando and during the freeze all of the leaves fell off and the limbs looked like they were burnt.  Now, it's like it ignited the tree and there are more levaes than ever.  Lost a couple of limbs in the hurricane this year but nothing too bad.  Also, the first year or so the tree really didn't grow.  Then I dug out around it and threw some manure around the tree and it absolutley took off.  Did that the next two summers and it really seemed to help things out. 

well I want one if it would work for my yard beachside

how far from house, road, pavers, etc should it be planted? How big will it actually get here beachside?