Fertilising raw material

[colley614]

Hello,

I have a Hawthorn, maple, yew, scots pine, Chinese Juniper. They are all start material that has been potted up in the last 12 months and I'm wondering what my feeding regime would be for them.

Last year I used oceana slow release sparingly and I would like a feeding schedule to encourage some good growth next season.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Spring: heaps and heaps.
Summer: moderate heaps.
Early fall: heaps again.
Winter: small heaps.

That is.. If you want to grow them bigger.

 

[colley614]

Spring: heaps and heaps.
Summer: moderate heaps.
Early fall: heaps again.
Winter: small heaps.

That is.. If you want to grow them bigger.

What should I feed?

I'd like loads of growth

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

You should feed your plants, and yourself!
But fertilizer is like a clothes thing, everyone has something that works for them. Something they think is the best.

I use generic brand, cheap as chips "processed animal waste". A 10kg bag goes for about 9 euros. Contains feathermeal, bloodmeal, cow and chicken crap. I sprinkle some of that seaweed stuff too, whenever I miss the smell of sea water and dead fish.
A bottle of liquid trace/micro nutrients never hurts too, get that boron, zinc, iron and manganese in there. I apply that once or twice a season as a soil drench and as an antifungal preventative during the spring as a foliar spray.

 

[colley614]

You should feed your plants, and yourself!
But fertilizer is like a clothes thing, everyone has something that works for them. Something they think is the best.

I use generic brand, cheap as chips "processed animal waste". A 10kg bag goes for about 9 euros. Contains feathermeal, bloodmeal, cow and chicken crap. I sprinkle some of that seaweed stuff too, whenever I miss the smell of sea water and dead fish.
A bottle of liquid trace/micro nutrients never hurts too, get that boron, zinc, iron and manganese in there. I apply that once or twice a season as a soil drench and as an antifungal preventative during the spring as a foliar spray.

I have a shore at the bottom of my road so I can literally make my own seaweed extract.

Could I use fish emulsion in spring, balanced pellets in summer?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Like @Wires_Guy_wires said, pretty much anything and as much as you want.

If those were your options. I would give a generous dose of balanced pellets spring, summer and fall, and a half dose of pellets in winter. Give full dose of fish emulsion 4 times a year.

Top dress with seaweed if you want. Rinse the seaweed well to get rid of salt. Second thought, make a compost pile with the seaweed. Water with fresh water at least monthly to flush out salt. Turn pile monthly. After a year salt should be gone, use it to top dress your pots.

 

[colley614]

Like @Wires_Guy_wires said, pretty much anything and as much as you want.

If those were your options. I would give a generous dose of balanced pellets spring, summer and fall, and a half dose of pellets in winter. Give full dose of fish emulsion 4 times a year.

Top dress with seaweed if you want. Rinse the seaweed well to get rid of salt. Second thought, make a compost pile with the seaweed. Water with fresh water at least monthly to flush out salt. Turn pile monthly. After a year salt should be gone, use it to top dress your pots.

I'd like to feed as heavy as possible without upsetting the trees.

With the fish emulsion, is one feed as season okay?

I already own a seaweed compost heap from last winter!

 

[SeanS]

I'd like to feed as heavy as possible without upsetting the trees.

With the fish emulsion, is one feed as season okay?

I already own a seaweed compost heap from last winter!

Many around here including myself give weekly doses of fish emulsion. I’ve also started rotating the fish sauce with a locally available bonemeal/bloodmeal liquid fert. Seems to be working wonders! I also apply liberal amounts of pelletised organic fert all season long

 

[Shibui]

Once a season is definitely NOT enough when using any liquid fert. Liquid fert is water soluble so the nutrients leach out with regular watering. Most nutrients are gone out of the pot within a week or 2 so Regular liquid fert every 2-3 weeks will keep nutrients in the root zone so you'll get much better growth. Some use weekly applications of liquid fert and may be getting some benefit from the extra.
Solid fert tends to release nutrients slower over a longer time so applications about every month should give good nutrient levels. I use both liquid every 2 weeks (cheap and cheerful like @Wires_Guy_wires ) and a pelletized chicken manure every month or so.
Controlled release fert like Nutricote or Osmocote release soluble nutrients every time there is water and continue to release for 6-12 months (depending on the formulation). I use these to supply a continuous background level of nutrients even if I forget to apply the liquid regularly.

There's no point adding nutrients to deciduous trees with no leaves as they cannot use nutrients while dormant. In colder climates even evergreen trees probably shut down but here I still get good response to lower fert applications over winter.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Feed em! I'm in the Walter Pall school........give the trees fertilizer and water heavily. The trees will take what they need and the excess flushes out. I don't know what they need at every time of the year or every stage of their developement, but the TREE knows.

 

[Bnana]

I fully agree with Joe (and Walter). What you use is less important, cheap fertiliser with micronutrients is fine. All these complicated recipes are more important for the grower than for the tree.

 

[colley614]

Feed em! I'm in the Walter Pall school........give the trees fertilizer and water heavily. The trees will take what they need and the excess flushes out. I don't know what they need at every time of the year or every stage of their developement, but the TREE knows.

I like this idea

 

[colley614]

So, its really mild at the moment. Can a fertilise my evergreens atm? Scots pine, English yew and Chinese Juniper.

 

[atlarsenal]

I'd like to feed as heavy as possible without upsetting the trees.

You can’t really over fertilize with organics. Chemical fertilizer is when you have to be careful.