3 Tree Fertilization Techniques_article
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Ed Roland
Addicted to ArboristSite
They shant be selling squat 2 me. My post was a retort to post #27.
I know of your passion on this subject and its fun to watch!
Wood: I'm glad to be of service! 
No, I have not ever used it, and I don't think I would. I believe that careful use of mineral fertilizers is more economically practical, and I have no bias against "chemicals". I don't suppose it would hurt plants in any way, but it sounds a little bit too "chemical" oriented for me to think people would buy it because they are trying to fertilize with an all-natural product.
Here are their ingredients, along with my thoughts:
sea kelp & alfalfa meal: relatively high nitrogen content for plant materials. I suspect that it would be better for your cattle than for your caladium. I know these are ingredients used in different human and animal food products.
peat humus: Good stuff for soil amendments, little fertilization value.
poultry manure: as good as a natural fertilizer can get, unless you have access to a bunch of guano. Lots of good things in that for plants.
iron sulfate: all mineral, slightly acidic, it is a common soil amendment. It is probably added to neutralize low pH of some other element in the bag. That, and people are accustomed to thinking that iron is somehow good for everything, including their plants. Cheap ingredient, it probably pays for itself quickly in marketing value.
vitamins B1, C, E: This sounds like a bunch of junk added to make people think it's really great stuff. Unless I am mistaken, plants neither need these vitamins, nor do they absorb them.
glycine: This is the smallest and simplest of the 20 common amino acids. Apart from it's nitrogen content, and rapid digestion by virtually every organism in the soil, I have no idea why they would add it unless it came with something else. I am beginning to think that they have some industrial source of unusable/excess vitamins, and they are getting it on the cheap and adding it to the bag.
myoinositol: from Wikipedia "Myo-Inositol was classified as a member of the vitamin B complex (often referred to as vitamin B8), but was found to be synthesized by the human body (thus, declassifying it as a vitamin)." I can't imagine why they would add this to a fertilizer. I don't really know, but myoinositol sounds like a byproduct of B-complex vitamin manufacturing. Added to the mix because it was cheap and sounded really neat. But that is just a Wild-Ash guess on my part.
No, I have not ever used it, and I don't think I would. I believe that careful use of mineral fertilizers is more economically practical, and I have no bias against "chemicals". I don't suppose it would hurt plants in any way, but it sounds a little bit too "chemical" oriented for me to think people would buy it because they are trying to fertilize with an all-natural product.
Here are their ingredients, along with my thoughts:
sea kelp & alfalfa meal: relatively high nitrogen content for plant materials. I suspect that it would be better for your cattle than for your caladium. I know these are ingredients used in different human and animal food products.
peat humus: Good stuff for soil amendments, little fertilization value.
poultry manure: as good as a natural fertilizer can get, unless you have access to a bunch of guano. Lots of good things in that for plants.
iron sulfate: all mineral, slightly acidic, it is a common soil amendment. It is probably added to neutralize low pH of some other element in the bag. That, and people are accustomed to thinking that iron is somehow good for everything, including their plants. Cheap ingredient, it probably pays for itself quickly in marketing value.
vitamins B1, C, E: This sounds like a bunch of junk added to make people think it's really great stuff. Unless I am mistaken, plants neither need these vitamins, nor do they absorb them.
glycine: This is the smallest and simplest of the 20 common amino acids. Apart from it's nitrogen content, and rapid digestion by virtually every organism in the soil, I have no idea why they would add it unless it came with something else. I am beginning to think that they have some industrial source of unusable/excess vitamins, and they are getting it on the cheap and adding it to the bag.
myoinositol: from Wikipedia "Myo-Inositol was classified as a member of the vitamin B complex (often referred to as vitamin B8), but was found to be synthesized by the human body (thus, declassifying it as a vitamin)." I can't imagine why they would add this to a fertilizer. I don't really know, but myoinositol sounds like a byproduct of B-complex vitamin manufacturing. Added to the mix because it was cheap and sounded really neat. But that is just a Wild-Ash guess on my part.
Bermie
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yes to the last part of your post, mulch and supplemental irrigation are a good start point, garden 'aspirin'. As for a wetting agent...I'm not certain its totally necessary, if you start the irrigation slowly with a fine spray over the whole area and gradually wet the soil it should take up. Wet the soil before putting the mulch down. Loosen the soil before wetting...!
We have similar soil conditions to you apparently here in Bermuda, soil pH of 8 - 8.5, and only on average a foot deep, in some parishes very sandy, others quite heavy clay but still high pH and a calcium carbonate bedrock (aeolian limestone)
Improving the condition of the soil with organic matter and relieving compaction is many times all thats needed...start with the low impact lower cost method, then bump up to other treatments IF its needed.
hokiewheeler
ArboristSite Lurker
Our fert injector tips were probably 6 to 8 inches long. Why was I injecting? Because thats what the company I worked for did and that's what I was paid to do. Root growth in grasses is tied to top growth. I have never seen a seedling put down 18 to 24 inches of roots when the plant is only 1-3 inches tall. In test holes dug in pastures or unmaintained grass fields, I have seen roots down as far as 36 to 40 inches, not thick though at depth. KBG is not known to be a deep rooted grass typically. Annual rye, the native prairie grasses are deep rooted, KY31 fescue is deep rooted, but these grasses don't tend to push roots deep if the plants don't have a lot of top growth. Lawn roots are typically not more than 3 to 4 inches deep in an old established lawn. In young lawns, it's not atypical to strip the turf with an aerator.
Hokie: I was shocked when I saw the 10 day old seedlings rooted that deep too. But like I said, conditions were ideal: 6"-9" of pulverized topsoil on top of several feet of clean sand. We had made a sand wick to drain water out of an area, but we had to dig it back up. The tiny little roots were nearly invisible, but they were holding the sand together 18"-24" down.
I suggest next time you excavate a hole in some soil, take the time to slice a 2" thick section of topsoil & grass off the side of the hole. Go down a couple of feet. Then carefully, meticulously, wash the the soil away from the roots. They are there, but they are not nearly as easy to find as tree roots. And no, you will never get fertilizer injected below the grass roots with an 8" injector. Unless it is under freshly laid sod.
BTW: in Fantastic Caverns in southern Missouri, they are fond of pointing at the tree roots coming into the roof of the cave. Close to 200' underground!
I suggest next time you excavate a hole in some soil, take the time to slice a 2" thick section of topsoil & grass off the side of the hole. Go down a couple of feet. Then carefully, meticulously, wash the the soil away from the roots. They are there, but they are not nearly as easy to find as tree roots. And no, you will never get fertilizer injected below the grass roots with an 8" injector. Unless it is under freshly laid sod.
BTW: in Fantastic Caverns in southern Missouri, they are fond of pointing at the tree roots coming into the roof of the cave. Close to 200' underground!
hokiewheeler
ArboristSite Lurker
Ok, I'll grant you that injection doesn't eliminate grass competition. I guess we've strayed a little from the OP's questions, but how about this: Injection eliminates nitrogen volatilization. If you put a nitrogen fertilizer on the surface, soil bacteria and the sun act to remove the nitrogen to the atmosphere.
Ok. I'll give you volatization. But at what cost? I can throw three times as much nitrogen on the ground as you can safely inject. Water it in. Then grass and trees have more than enough.
The cost of labor to soil inject is not justified by whatever reasoning is applied. The labor to inject a diluted (safe!) application of fertilizer is WAY more expensive than throwing a granular application of the right amount on the ground.
The cost of labor to soil inject is not justified by whatever reasoning is applied. The labor to inject a diluted (safe!) application of fertilizer is WAY more expensive than throwing a granular application of the right amount on the ground.
granular application in holes is the old fashioned gold standard for tree fertilization. Having done quite a bit of it myself, I can assure you that it has problems.
1. NO WAY can you avoid salt burns to the roots close to the hole. Vastly too high a concentration, unless your nitrogen source is entirely organic (weak), methyl urea, or urea formaldehyde. Both of the latter forms are pretty safe, but they are not found in any tree fertilizer formulations that I know of, and only partly in the very best lawn fertilizers.
Plus, very few tree OR lawn applicators know about them, and are willing to buy them.
2. Dead brown spots in the lawn, close to the fertilizer burns. Not if you are careful, but how often is that always the case?
3. HUGE dark green spots in the lawn (outside the dead spots). Most tree fetilizer guys (liquid & granular) love this effect; they figure that it shows the customer what a good job they did. On the other hand, it makes the yard look like their dog craps & pees in circles around the tree, with the grass growing taller and thicker in clumps.
Why go to all the trouble? Just to take money from your customers? Try earning it: give them good advice and do good work.
If you are really committed to fertilizing with granular fertilizer poured into holes, I can advise you of the fastest and the easiest methods.
1. NO WAY can you avoid salt burns to the roots close to the hole. Vastly too high a concentration, unless your nitrogen source is entirely organic (weak), methyl urea, or urea formaldehyde. Both of the latter forms are pretty safe, but they are not found in any tree fertilizer formulations that I know of, and only partly in the very best lawn fertilizers.
Plus, very few tree OR lawn applicators know about them, and are willing to buy them.
2. Dead brown spots in the lawn, close to the fertilizer burns. Not if you are careful, but how often is that always the case?
3. HUGE dark green spots in the lawn (outside the dead spots). Most tree fetilizer guys (liquid & granular) love this effect; they figure that it shows the customer what a good job they did. On the other hand, it makes the yard look like their dog craps & pees in circles around the tree, with the grass growing taller and thicker in clumps.
Why go to all the trouble? Just to take money from your customers? Try earning it: give them good advice and do good work.
If you are really committed to fertilizing with granular fertilizer poured into holes, I can advise you of the fastest and the easiest methods.
all western medicine has side affects
. go with the 100% organic grannular with moccorhiaza(sp) I LIKE 2-2-2 and feed 3X a year, i still use the good o'l fashion method. the stuff i use is so safe you could eat it:monkey:
No argument there !
But so much work !
But so much work !
work=money
and doing the old fashion way it requires little tools. i like to offer, advise, sell and provide good healthy tree care but will preform other wanted tree services to make the buyer happy.
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Ok. Round two to WLL.
I must admit that I got all my tree fertilization experience doing what the customer requested. Nowadays, I have no trouble talking them into a more practical approach. Since I also sell and do lawn fertilization, they are usually pretty content to take my advice and skip the tree fertilization sold by the other companies.
Then I get ALL the application business.
If you really like to drill holes in the ground, go buy yourself some "Powder Blue" [38-0-0]. Be prepared to be told by your chemical supplier that it is a special order. It is made of urea formaldehyde, a completely safe, no-burn form of nitrogen. Mix that in to boost your nitrogen analysis. It can also be used in a liquid application for liquid injection. Outstanding slow release, it sits in the soil until degraded by microbial action. So it doesn't go away in the winter time, and doesn't burn in summertime or periods of drought.
But then you could just double aerate the lawn under the tree, fling about 5lbs per 1000 square feet of the powder blue on the ground, and water it in. You would get 2 lbs/1000 sq.ft. actual nitrogen applied in the soil for the lawn & the tree, you would aerate the soil for both, and you would be done about 3 times quicker and do a better job of feeding the tree nitrogen. Do that every other year, and the tree and the lawn will grow like weeds. Other nutrients? That could be added, too.
I must admit that I got all my tree fertilization experience doing what the customer requested. Nowadays, I have no trouble talking them into a more practical approach. Since I also sell and do lawn fertilization, they are usually pretty content to take my advice and skip the tree fertilization sold by the other companies.
Then I get ALL the application business.
If you really like to drill holes in the ground, go buy yourself some "Powder Blue" [38-0-0]. Be prepared to be told by your chemical supplier that it is a special order. It is made of urea formaldehyde, a completely safe, no-burn form of nitrogen. Mix that in to boost your nitrogen analysis. It can also be used in a liquid application for liquid injection. Outstanding slow release, it sits in the soil until degraded by microbial action. So it doesn't go away in the winter time, and doesn't burn in summertime or periods of drought.
But then you could just double aerate the lawn under the tree, fling about 5lbs per 1000 square feet of the powder blue on the ground, and water it in. You would get 2 lbs/1000 sq.ft. actual nitrogen applied in the soil for the lawn & the tree, you would aerate the soil for both, and you would be done about 3 times quicker and do a better job of feeding the tree nitrogen. Do that every other year, and the tree and the lawn will grow like weeds. Other nutrients? That could be added, too.
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If you MUST do liquid soil injections:
Consider using this stuff. It has good ingredients, especially for the nitrogen source.
http://www.qpg.com/custom/xl_12_24_24_f.pdf
Consider using this stuff. It has good ingredients, especially for the nitrogen source.
http://www.qpg.com/custom/xl_12_24_24_f.pdf
Haplo
ArboristSite Operative
What do you mean by double aerate?
Aeration done properly, mandates 6 to 9 holes per square foot treated. 12-18 holes per square foot would be double aeration.
Cautionary note: some operators sell double aeration as "double pass" aeration, which is not the same thing. That only comments upon how many turns you make across the yard, and doesn't comment on the hole count nor how many areas get skipped when they make passes wider than the aeration width treated.
Cautionary note: some operators sell double aeration as "double pass" aeration, which is not the same thing. That only comments upon how many turns you make across the yard, and doesn't comment on the hole count nor how many areas get skipped when they make passes wider than the aeration width treated.
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