IKEA set to buy up more land in NZ

[harm_less]

Well I think NZ only has the male(or female, can't remember) trees just like we do with poplar trees, so they can't reproduce. Aren't all ours grown just taken from cuttings? I've never seen a single one self seeded growing on its own anywhere wild.
Smart move what was done with poplar or else we would have a real problem on our hands.
Yes they are flammable, but less of a problem in our climate, it's not like pines don't catch fire easily though.
We have possums here which I'm sure I've seen eating them, but you would think that if less pests affect the trees, that would be a good thing?
Yes your right, they do shed limbs and have witnessed it before when a branch landed on a car and dented the roof.
Probably a far more of a danger to the public if planted in parks than a stand of them in a forest.
Would be very useful feature in forestry because it requires little to no pruning(they are essentially a self pruning tree)
I do see the odd one blow over and have cut firewood from blown over ones that the owner wanted gone.
It's awesome firewood, that's for sure.

They definitely have their place for timber and would be great to see more grown here.
Treating timber uses a mix of fairly toxic chemicals, you would think that using timber that can last longer without treatment would be a good thing.
But at the end of it all, selective breeding should have gotten us better genetics if researchers wanted to go down that path and we would have varieties available with better properties.

Your memory (or imagination) is far from accurate. Eucalyptus are not a dioecious plant so can produce viable seed readily. Also from this article "For large-scale plantings, seedlings are normally grown as bare rooted cuttings."

The many negative qualities of Eucalyptus are spelt out in this article. They are also a difficult tree to process into lumber due to grain twist and potential for warping. Useful for pulping or firewood especially some varieties that will coppice readily.

Also worth considering that eucalyptus will toxify soil more than pinus do so reestablishing bush after harvest can be problematic. This (and sparsity of wild seedlings) may also be an exhibition of allelopathy though I'm unsure if this trait is that specific for gums.