Joe Seamone's Eucalyptus: A Fisherman's Tale

Posted on September 06, 2018 by Ed Coughlin

Folks are always sending me pictures, good and bad, of their Eucalyptus. I love to see progress and hear stories of success, but I also value the opportunity to solve problems and learn from their experiences.

Enter Joe Seamone, a life long gardener and consultant at a Maryland Landscape Mamagement Co. Joe's been experimenting with Hardy Eucalyptus, palms and bananas for the past 20 years. Joe ordered a 4" 'Mappa Tassie' and 'Grace' from Southern Eucs, followed proper planting and watering practices, and sent me these pictures of the trees back on June 8 (10 weeks ago).

Then Joe sent me this email with the attached pictures of the same trees just 10 weeks later.

"My two eucs I ordered from you are doing great … they are both about 5 feet high (from 8" in June). I tipped them and they are busting out."

I know Eucs are fast growers, but this is pretty impressive stuff. I contacted Joe for more information. He responded with the below email:

"For years, I have used fish emulsion on all new plants, shrubs trees, tropicals, palms etc.

I've found a weekly commitment to fish emulsion + miracle gro in the hose end sprayer and watering in the warm season did this every time.…

Because the Eucs are next to the house, I tipped them all about July. I wanted to keep them more stout and shrubby, not to keep them smaller, just to keep from toppling over in winter snow or ice."

Joe also attached a before and after photo, same regimen, of the last 18 months showing his tree growth especially with loblolly pines. The top photo was taken March 2017, bottom photo Aug 31, 2018. Wow!

A final word of advice from Joe Seamone.

."I grew my first eucalyptus about 20 years ago and had great luck with several varieties. I'm really looking forward to see how Mappa Tassie and Grace perform in my zone 7B garden. I also think that over the past several years, I have perfected my method to get the maximum amount of plant growth, whether annuals, perennials, exotics, shrubs, or trees with my concoction of fertilizer and fish emulsion applied with a hose-end sprayer weekly during the entire growing season from May through September."

On our next blog: You should have seen the one that got away! A visit with California's Redwoods.