Welcome to this post about why people hate eucalyptus trees. Might seem like a harsh statement or opinion but in recent years it has gained a lot of resentment from people. The biggest reason is that it was a very trendy tree to plant for some time and then sort of lost that popularity. But growing trees is not a thing that comes and goes in a few years. They stick with us for a long time.
So people were left with trees they maybe didn’t want to have. Growing trees really is a commitment. Thankfully you shouldn’t feel bad for cutting down eucalyptus because it’s such an easy one to grow. Being one of the fastest growing trees out there you be losing out on much.
If you want to continue reading about eucalyptus and some of the arguments against growing it then we have an article covering this topic. You can find it right here, Why You Should Not Plant Eucalyptus.
Why Do People Hate Eucalyptus Trees
One of the biggest reasons for eucalyptus trees is the speed they grow at. They managed to get a lot of them growing in California in the 1850s. California is also the place where the most eucalyptus growings are concentrated in the US. They were planted for the speed at that they grew and provided plenty of lumber for building.
But this quickly turned sour and people didn’t like them anymore after seeing the speed at that they could overtake areas. It’s an invasive species that was brought from Australia. In that environment, it had to struggle to survive as the soil is dry and they barely see any rain in some places. California is also a very dry place and basically a desert to grow on. But compared to the previous habitat it was a blessing for the eucalyptus trees.
The most solid argument against growing more eucalyptus is the fact it doesn’t promote diversity in the forest and land. But growing one at home won’t do a lot of harm, at least we can’t see how it does. When it establishes itself it becomes a denser forest of it and then it’s hard to take back that.
Having only one thing growing in one area is obviously not a good thing. Both for the diversity of plants as we said, but also for wildlife. Some animals and insects are dependent on certain things growing where they are for them to survive.
Is Eucalyptus Bad For The Environment?
So are all these eucalyptus trees bad for the environment at the end of the day? The environment is probably not to the degree, we are at now. But it can certainly have a big impact if things get out of hand and we let these trees overpopulate more places.
Even though it takes a short time for them to grow compared to many other trees, it doesn’t really get noticed until it’s too late and they have established themselves. The things that can be done however to prevent them from taking over completely is just cutting them down. But then the impact the transport and the machines necessary to do this job have on the environment might be worse than just letting them grow.
Let’s reiterate again a bit of what we have been talking about in this article here. Eucalyptus is a tree that very easily will start to take over a place and force other plants living there out. This is the biggest argument against growing eucalyptus and promoting its growth. But keeping a tree at home in your garden won’t ruin the environment and you should have to worry about that.
If you want to learn about the impact that eucalyptus can have on the soil where it’s growing then we have written an article dedicated to just that. You can find that right here, Is Eucalyptus Bad For Soil?
