February 2024

Join us as we tackle our first time starting eucalyptus from seed in our basement nursery.

If you are new to the flower world, like myself, it can often be a little overwhelming trying to figure out where to start. See our blog post My Strategy Going into my First Year of Producing Cut Flowers to learn how I started our flower journey on my couch the October prior to our first season.

Eucalyptus is a slowwwww grower.

Native to Australia, it’s generally more difficult to grow eucalyptus in colder climates. It also has an extremely long maturity timeline. According to my research (+ seed packet) Eucalyptus takes approximately 200 days to mature fully. Therefore, in order to maximize its flower potential I figured out that I needed to start my eucalyptus, for hardiness zone 6B, mid-February. (Roughly 10-12 weeks prior to the last frost for the year). After completing my typical research+review of the flower, I purchased one packet of silver dollar seeds from johnnyseeds.com. I anticipated planting roughly 5 plants in my backyard garden and maybe giving a few to family/friends. However, since this was my first time attempting to grow eucalyptus and it seemed a little more temperamental then other seeds, I decided to utilize the entire seed packet I purchased and planted approximately 50 seeds on February 18th. (See my post on my seed starting process if you’re interested in how I prep my soil&what tools I use at the start of germination). With the environment outlined below, the eucalyptus produced ~35 sprouts within 4 days.

How to Replicate my Germination Environment for Eucalyptus

• 24 hours prior to planting, place eucalyptus seeds in a cup of warm water.
• On the day of planting, moisten soil mixture and prep seed trays.
• Plant seeds approx 1/8″ deep with a light layer of vermiculite on top.
• Provide light (~12″ above the soil level) for approximately 16-18 hours per day. If your light has multiple “color modes” like mine, I would recommend using the blue light mode during root development. I would also highly recommend setting up some sort of automatic timing system for your lights. I personally like using a smart outlet which allows me to turn the lights on&off remotely on my phone as well as create&monitor lighting schedules.
• Maintain a soil temperature ~70-80 degrees Fahrenheit. I used a heating mat to do this.
• Keep moisture level to ~70%-80%. Humidity domes help maintain these high moisture levels for longer.
• Water plants “from the bottom”. Place seed trays in a container filled with water and allow water to soak up through drainage holes. This method keeps the seed undisturbed while providing the necessary water.

Once I saw >20 sprouts popping through the soil, I removed the humidity dome and heating mat.

I reduced temperatures to ~50-60 degrees Fahrenheit and I began watering up to ~70% moisture level every time my soils moisture was ~30%-40%. The sprouts really took off quickly. I maintained this environment for the next month.

On 3/30/2024 we transplanted the eucalyptus to 4″ pots. We organized these pots into totes that were then oriented under the grow lights. At this point, we check up on the eucalyptus sprouts once every 2-3 days. When the top 2″ of soil is dry, I water each sapling thoroughly until water drains out the bottom of the pot.

As of 4/15/2024 we have approximately 18 healthy saplings!