Evergreen Fertilizer for 750 trees

[arminius]

I have planted 750 small evergreens in pots and grow bags and looking for economical and easily applied (like broadcast) fertilizer I can apply this Spring. I'm thinking something like this 10-10-10 or organic chicken poo. Suggestions?

 

[cpp gardener]

Both are fine. Chicken manure lasts longer, but you use more at a time.

 

[oneeye]

I wouldn't feed them because they will become dependent on fertigation. You need to use quality soil from the area they are going to be planted. Or something close to the native soil where the trees will be planted.

 

[cpp gardener]

Decades of nursery grower's success proves otherwise. Most plants produced by nurseries have been fertilized to bring to market and most of those have survived just fine, some with continued fertilization and some without. It's the care they receive AT planting and beyond that determines success or failure.

 

[oneeye]

Decades of nursery grower's success proves otherwise. Most plants produced by nurseries have been fertilized to bring to market and most of those have survived just fine, some with continued fertilization and some without. It's the care they receive AT planting and beyond that determines success or failure.

Only if you are using a soil-less potting mix to grow the trees in. Trees should be planted in garden soil and not a peat potting soil. IF you use potting soil then yes you need to fertigate your trees. Trees that are grown in peat soil-less potting soil will fail over time. Trees in nature are not fed, unless they are fed by people that don't know that trees can take care of their selves. When you start giving doses of nitrogen to new trees repeatedly you make the trees prone to disease. Not only does giving fertilizer to new trees promote fungus diseases it also causes root restriction and doesn't allow the roots to grow outwardly. Giving new baby trees nitrogen is a big no-no and if you do that, it will come back and bite you on the ass.

 

[cpp gardener]

No they won't, unless the 'over time' is 75-1000 years like any other tree. Roots grow where there are nutrients and water, from any source. Nutrients are nutrients and water is water and plants can't tell the difference between sources.

 

[oneeye]

Here's the difference where feeding peat mix and soil are different. If you use a peat base potting mix and feed it acidic fertilizer and then plant the tree in a soil where the pH is 7 or above the plant will develop chlorosis. Why because of the plant has no adaptation to the new soil pH. Now that being said, if you keep the plant in a pot for all of its life, then yes by all means fertilize as needed. But if they are going in native soil or mineral soil outdoors don't feed.

Fertilizers will not burn or damage plants if they are applied correctly. Fertilizers are salts much like table salt, except that they contain various essential plant nutrients. When a fertilizer is applied to a soil, nearby water begins to move very gradually toward the area where the fertilizer has been applied. Fertilizer salts begin to diffuse, or move away from the place where they were applied. This dilutes the fertilizer and distributes it throughout a much larger area. If tender plant roots are close to the placement of a fertilizer, water is drawn from these roots, as well as from surrounding soil. The more salt or fertilizer applied, the more water is drawn from nearby roots. As water is drawn from the roots, plant cells begin to dehydrate and collapse and the plant roots burn or dehydrate to a point where they cannot recover. If soil moisture is limited, most of the water drawn toward the salt will come from the plant roots and the damage will be severe.

Two rules should be kept in mind when applying fertilizer during hot weather and when soil moisture is limited:

Do not over-apply nitrogen fertilizer
Make sure adequate moisture is present after applying fertilizers high in salts.

Watch out for leaf curl or bronzing when using a fertilizer high in nitrogen.

 

[oneeye]

No they won't, unless the 'over time' is 75-1000 years like any other tree. Roots grow where there are nutrients and water, from any source. Nutrients are nutrients and water is water and plants can't tell the difference between sources.

That's where your wrong because the pH is what determines what nutrients are available to a plant, not the nutrient. The same goes for water too let me explain. Plant nutrients are only available according to the pH absorption scale. You can put as much iron in the soil as you want but if the pH is above 8 it won't be available and the plants will suffer an iron deficiency. If you use water that has high alkalinity then micronutrients become locked up and the plant can't use them. Soil pH is what matters most when matching a tree with growing soil. Heres what a pH chart look like. Notice the numbers on the bottom and how the nutrients diminish with those numbers.

 

[cpp gardener]

It's not whether the nutrients are available due to water and pH. The question is if the tree will fail if it is grown in peat/compost container mix or actual soil. It won't. The nutrients and water in the soil would be the same with either medium. The container mix has no effect on survival. The source of the nutrients doesn't matter either. Plants can't read and will absorb nutrients from any source available , organic or synthetic. Apply according to label instructions and the trees will be fine.

 

[YumYum]

While you are on the subject of pH and available nutrients. Can anyone explain to me why there are two charts, one for soil and the other for peat base? I understand the nutrient availabilty at a certain pH but I dont understand why it would be different in soil and then in peat.