The timber is strong and absorbs preservative satisfactorily but has a tendency to split longitudinally during drying, reducing its visual appeal. However, these industries offer lower prices than those currently paid by pulp manufacturers. Water availability blue gums use large amounts of water, and are prone to drought death, especially during the peak growth period from 2 to 6 years. They need adequate rainfall and sufficient soil storage to provide year-round water availability. Sites with rainfall as low as 600 mm may be satisfactory if the soil is deep but below 600 mm most sites suffer from low survival rates or uneconomic growth rates.
Most growers use drilling rigs or backhoes to check soil depth when assessing sites.
Except in water-gaining areas, growth is always relatively poor on sands deeper than 1 to 2 m. On sites with marginal water availability, reducing the number of trees per hectare can reduce the risk of drought deaths but total yield is also reduced. A better option is to grow trees in belts. This minimises the risk of drought death while maximising yield from the area planted. Trees have died on sites where perched watertables persist for 2 to 3 months within 0.5 m of ground level.