Re: Musings on Tree diseases/Tree transpiration rates
- Subject: Re: Musings on Tree diseases/Tree transpiration rates
- From: d* f*
- Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 14:56:29 -0800 (PST)
--- William Bade <bade@Math.Berkeley.EDU> wrote:
> In add to one of Glenn's points-that eucalyptus
> sucks water up from soil,
> we were hosts to a forest professor from Istanbul
> who told us that they
> were planting eucalyptus in marshy areas to drain
> their swamps at the rate
> of 80 gallons a day per tree.
> Elly Bade
Elly,
I am certainly not an expert, but even drought
tolerant tree species of fairly large size here in
California would transpire that amount of water or
more in one day, if I am not mistaken. The key
characteristic of tree species planted to drain marshy
areas would be their ability to tolerate seasonally
wet conditions, and very low soil oxygen levels for
months at a time. There seem to be large areas of
western and northern Australia with exactly these
conditions of summer wet monsoon created swamps, and
many tree species in the Eucalyptus and Melaleuca
genus which can thrive in seasonally flooded
condtions. This is what makes them such serious weed
pests in places like the Everglades in south Florida,
where Schinus terebinthifolius also spreads like a
weed.
It is one of the wonders of nature that many of these
same species are considered prime drought tolerant
species and well regarded here in California, and
don't act as escaped weeds in our conditions.
Regarding Moira's comments on many Eucalypts being
poor choices for a lawn tree, this effect is also true
of most surface rooting trees. I have a very greedy
Morus alba tree as a street tree in my own front yard,
and I find the tree roots everywhere throughout my
entire front yard, and especially concentrated in the
small lawn. Tall Fescue sod which could easily
survive with only weekly irrigation without this tree,
completely dies out if not watered more frequently in
my garden at the height of summer.
Any surface rooting tree species will outcompete most
turf grasses in unwatered situations, and cause the
same browning effect. Some commonly planted Eucs here
might include E. ficifolia and E. citriodora, both
well behaved trees in lawns. The greater problem with
Eucalyptus species and lawns here is with the shedding
species such as E. globulus or E. viminalis, which
shed so much bark, branches, leaves that they simply
smother the turf below unless regulary removed. Very
much similar to the debris our Coast Redwoods create
if left undisturbed.
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