Welcome to this post about why it might be a bad reason to plant eucalyptus trees and what makes them bad. The impact it has on the soil and the plants around it can be severe.
In this article, we will be talking about just that. As the roots dig deeper into the soil they can push out neighboring plants and trees and steal the nutrients from them.
The eucalyptus tree grows quickly and will provide a lot of wood if you need to have a constant source, but weighing that up against the soil turning sourer because of the tree can be difficult.
Why Are Eucalyptus Trees Bad
Like we outlined at the beginning of this article, there are a few reasons for eucalyptus trees being bad to grow. The tree will quickly start to spread and can within a decade take over vast amounts of areas.
This can be seen in California where it was brought and now is seen all along the coastline. The unfortunate thing is that the tree does not promote diversity, instead, it’s the only tree that’s able to grow thereafter the soil turns sour.
We are mentioning the soil turning sour because of the tree, what is it then that causes that? Well, since the tree grows very quickly it also produces a lot of leaves. When these leaves fall to the ground and they start to decompose, they will decrease the pH of the soil.
Too low of a pH will make it uninhabitable for a lot of other trees and plants. This makes it hard to ignore other things to combat the growth of a eucalyptus forest.
Another negative thing about growing eucalyptus is that the roots will grow both deep but they will also grow very wide. This means that any tree growing nearby will have its nutrients stolen and after a while will be outperformed and pushed out.
If you want to see and read about the other more positive side of growing eucalyptus trees then we have an article about that too. Find it here, Benefits Of Eucalyptus Tree Plantation.
Is Eucalyptus Trees Bad For the Environment
Unfortunately, the beloved eucalyptus tree is not very good for the environment. As the tree does not promote a lot of diversity in the forest because of its fierce competitive qualities. It makes it hard to have a wide array of things that can grow there and provide food sources for animals and insects.
The impact it has on the soil needs to be mentioned as well. As the large eucalyptus tree has its leaves fall at the end of the season, they start to decompose and will make the soil sourer.
The leaves contain a lot of natural oils that get used for flavoring soaps and scented candles for example. But if they are left on the ground these natural oils are what lowers the pH of the soil.
This makes it very hard for other trees to get a chance to grow where the eucalyptus trees are growing.
If you want to learn more about the smell of the eucalyptus tree then we have written an article about that too. Find it here, Does Eucalyptus Smell Good.
Why You Should Not Plant Eucalyptus
Like we have outlined in this article already, there are a few reasons for not planting any eucalyptus trees. It’s not a tree that grows well with others and will instead steal the nutrients in the soil and start to aggressively expand.
If left unchecked they will take over large areas and before you know it then the only thing growing there will be eucalyptus. But there are ways of keeping them in check but it’s a difficult task.
We can clearly see the possibility that eucalyptus has on taking over land if we look at California. Here it was introduced and has quickly started to grow almost all along the coastline in a matter of decades.
