Tree fertilizing question

[nateb440]

I have a planted a few hundred Chinese chestnut, alleghany chinquapin, sawtooth oak, paw paw, persimmon, hazelnut, mixture of oaks, as well as about 30 pear, apple and cherry trees in the past few years. My soil is pretty much clay after the first few inches so while the trees are doing really well on the living part, they are just now starting to show significant growth. Question(s)
should i fertilize?
If so then do all trees mentioned get the same kind of fertilizer?
And when should I do it?
Thanks for the help.
(I should mention every tree is either tubed or caged and I try to keep weed compitition down throughout the year)

 

[yoderjac]

I'm presuming they were bare root trees when planted. What you describe is quite normal. The saying with bare root trees is: year 1 sleep, year 2 creep, year 3 leap. I'll let the apple and pear guys address those trees. I'm just a few years into those. The rest don't really need fertilizer in most cases. It certainly won't hurt them. If you do fertilize them, I would do it in the spring when they are getting ready to break dormancy. Generally you don't want to fertilize late in enough in the growing season to promote too much growth right before winter when the tree should be hardening.

The problem with few hundred trees is the amount of time it takes. Generally one wants to make holes around the drip line of each tree. Generally the number of holes and amount of fertilizer is governed by the diameter of the trunk.

In a back yard horticulture environment, I'd probably fertilize all my trees. However, in a wildlife setting where I'm working with volume, I simply don't have the time. For many of the trees (except apple and pear), I've fertilized some in the early days. I didn't notice much difference in growth and certainly not enough for it to be worth my time. Others may have a different judgment on this.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[JFK52]

I have 28 mature apple trees on my land. They were all growing there when I bought the land 26 years ago. I would guess that they are 40 to 50 years old. I buy time release fertilizer spikes for these trees. In the early spring I walk around the drip line of the trees with a spud bar. Just make a hole and drop in a spike. The number of spikes placed around a tree depends on the size of the tree itself. I try and have all brush and other small trees removed from the drip line and slightly beyond. This eliminates any competition for water and sunlight. This way the apple tree gets the maximum benefits. It takes the better part of 4 to 5 hours to get all the trees done. I spend $120-140 for the spikes. I have been doing this for the past three years. It is not a huge investment in either time or money and the apple trees are absolute deer magnets once bow season opens. Some years I will still have hanging apples when there is snow on the ground.

 

[Needmorebrush82]

I think a lot of depends on if you are planting bare root trees, root pruned trees, fertilized, watered, soil, etc. In poorer soil areas my root pruned trees have flat out left the bare root trees in the dust with all things equal. I believe it's mainly due to a root pruned tree having the advantage of many more feeder roots to scavenge nutrients in less than prime situations. With tubes, water, and fertilizer I have many root pruned Burr Oaks push 6ft tall in two growing seasons. Yes you will have a few freaks that will do better, but 6ft is an attainable number in the masses. I will use a 50/50 mixture of chicken poop and triple 13 every spring when they are first getting going. A fist full spread equally into 3 dibble bar holes is sufficient. If you push the boundaries you will have trees growing so fast that they will not be able to support themselves tubed or not, been there, done that! The first year any tree is planted I water it, this keeps me limited to 500 or so trees because I simply don't have time to water anymore in one evening that I get off per week, life!

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Not the direct trees you are asking for, or the same location. So take everything you read with a grain a salt.

This is just the way I am currently doing it, when new info comes to light I am always adjusting.

1 year bareroot trees 2 month after planting - 1 Tble Epsom salt & 1/4 cup water soluble micronutrient watered in
2 year
- 1 soup can equal mix map/potash/urea applied end of march around drip line
- 1 soup can equal mix urea/ams applied roughly mid may
- 1 tablespoon Epson salt & 1/4 cup micronutrient watered in mid june
3 year
- repeat above
4 year
- repeat above
5 year stop all fert -trees are now on their own

Note: The water soluble micro nutrient I am using contains almost zero nitrogen.
Plus my soils lean a little more alkaline, 7.2-7.3 so I am using the sulfur to balance this back to 7 just a little to help with IDC issues early on.
This may not be recommended in areas that already have a low pH

Everyone's circumstances are going to be different. Adjust accordingly.

Edit: The fert app dates are not always set in stone; I try to apply it directly before a rainfall event to ensure some level of N incorporation.

 

[ksgobbler]

I put these in when I planted. Be interesting to see how they work out. Only did it on the trees last year.
https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/products.php?mi=16181

 

[Turkey Creek]

My soil is pretty much clay after the first few inches so while the trees are doing really well on the living part, they are just now starting to show significant growth. Question(s)
should i fertilize?

(I should mention every tree is either tubed or caged and I try to keep weed compitition down throughout the year)

I think we all have the notion to baby every tree we plant, but I think you have already answered your own question. If they are showing significant growth then why fertilize? Are they showing some kind of nutrient deficiency or are you harvesting a crop from them? If not and the trees are showing good growth then no reason to fertilize IMO. Over fertilizing can cause just as many issues as not fertilizing. Doing as you have done with weed control is a big factor in helping trees grow, reducing competition and returning the nutrients that were trapped in the weed previously.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

I think we all have the notion to baby every tree we plant, but I think you have already answered your own question. If they are showing significant growth then why fertilize? Are they showing some kind of nutrient deficiency or are you harvesting a crop from them? If not and the trees are showing good growth then no reason to fertilize IMO. Over fertilizing can cause just as many issues as not fertilizing. Doing as you have done with weed control is a big factor in helping trees grow, reducing competition and returning the nutrients that were trapped in the weed previously.

Agree, I believe it all comes down the situation you are facing.
Over application of Nitrogen can hurt you in the long run.
Light sandy soil, that an inch of rain can move N through rather quickly, would not benefit from a major application up front, but rather two applications of the same amount over a months time.

But we also have to be realistic and understand that not all the fertilizer is going directly into the tree. P & K are relatively immobile nutrients an can take years to move into the second layer of the soil profile. Id venture a guess an say "weeds" pick up the majority of what is put down due to their shallow surface roots.
In my situation I view the shallow rooted grasses like smooth broom (my predominant cool season species) my nutrient converters. They take any excess applied fertilizer, turn into biomass, roots, stems, leaves. Then sometime in the future, they decompose into OM thus continuing a cycle of usable readily available nutrients to the tree. May take 10 years for some of that applied fert today to actually make its way into an apple and into a deer's mouth. All I am trying to do is create a nutrient sink at this time (while I am already there pruning, training, watering, spraying). So there may be a greater available source some time in the future.

Edit: Im in the same boat as H20, I am only fertilizing select plantings. No shrub or mass ceder plantings.

 

[H20fwler]

I fertilize around the drip line with triple 10 when the trees have been in the ground 2-3 years and that's it. I only fertilize my fruit trees and conifers this way any others I just leave alone.