The most reliable way to grow eucalyptus is to keep it outdoors, on a patio or balcony, and move it inside (to a winter garden or cool hallway) as soon as there is a risk of frost.

We don't really recommend it as a houseplant. Only if you have a very sunny apartment. It definitely won't thrive next to a television where there is barely any natural light, or next to a fireplace or other heat source.

Eucalyptus will create a lush bush and brighten up your summer patio, but don't expect it to replace a walnut tree in your yard. The eucalyptus plants we grow don't have a developed root system and they won't turn into massive trees. If you buy a small eucalyptus from us in May, by August it will look similar to this large one.

We'd like to set expectations right from the start — eucalyptus is for advanced gardeners. If you're just starting out with eucalyptus, follow this guide; it will be easy over the summer, the eucalyptus will grow like crazy, but come early autumn, everything might suddenly start to go wrong... Even so, it will bring you joy all summer long, smell wonderful, and from time to time you can snip a sprig for a vase or dry it.

From May until September/October, it will grow like crazy. It grows incredibly fast outdoors during the summer, and your eucalyptus will double in size within a few months. Once autumn arrives, with shorter days, less light, and lower temperatures, the eucalyptus will stop growing.

Be prepared that it won't grow at all in the winter. It might survive, but you'll likely be diagnosing one problem after another — an edema from high humidity here, something drying out there. It’s a bit of a depressing period, but don't worry; once the days start getting longer and there's more light, the eucalyptus will wake up again, and you'll see new shoots. At that point, you've become an advanced gardener because you managed to overwinter your eucalyptus.

Even though we overwinter our eucalyptus at the farm, we prefer to warn you that it's a bit of a challenge, and you should prepare for the scenario where your eucalyptus doesn't survive the winter. It might simply dry out overnight. You might barely notice it, and you won't even know exactly why — whether you underwatered or overwatered it. It just turns into a biscuit.

Sunny, full sun, as much sun as possible. Here at the farm, we keep our eucalyptus in a field that gets blasted by the sun all day, and we even use black ground cover fabric underneath to intensify the heat. So, choose the sunniest spot in your garden for your eucalyptus.

As a potting substrate, you can use regular potting soil based on peat, or just regular garden soil. Mix the substrate with sand in a 1:4 ratio (one part sand to four parts soil). The sand ensures that the substrate is well-draining so your eucalyptus won't rot.

We recommend gradually repotting the eucalyptus into larger pots. If you order a small eucalyptus from us, it will arrive in a 7×7 (cm) pot. The first thing to do is repot it into a slightly larger pot. Don't jump straight into giant containers.

Before your eucalyptus gets strong, we recommend providing it with support. We use a bamboo stake that we simply tie the eucalyptus to.

Only water the pot when the substrate has completely dried out. However, be careful; eucalyptus can barely survive on dry soil for 4–8 days before it won't recover. You need to balance watering carefully; the eucalyptus cannot stand in water, but it also cannot survive in bone-dry substrate.

The best method is bottom watering — place the pot in a saucer. The plant will absorb just what it needs, and you can pour away the excess water from the saucer.

During the summer, we water our eucalyptus once a week using drip irrigation, letting water drip directly to the roots for 1–2 hours. In winter, when we keep our eucalyptus in our heated greenhouse, we reduce the watering frequency to about once every 2–4 weeks. Always check that it is not sitting in water.

From April to August, you can fertilize the eucalyptus, ideally once every week.

Do not fertilize eucalyptus with nitrogen; instead, choose a fertilizer with high potassium (K) content. Among organic fertilizers, you can use, for example, ProKton or Free PK. For synthetic options, choose Kristalon Fruit and Flower, or any other fertilizer where K is dominant. Kristalon Fruit and Flower has an NPK composition of 15-5-30, meaning there is 2× more potassium (K).

Fertilizers always state their composition and the ratio of NPK elements: N is nitrogen, P is phosphorus, K is potassium. The composition can be stated as, for example, “19-6-20”, which means it contains 19 parts N, 6 parts P, and 20 parts K. If you are looking for a fertilizer with an increased potassium content, the third number (K) should be 2× larger than the other two (N and P). The mentioned Kristalon Fruit and Flower has 2× more potassium (K).