5” rain and fertilizer

[ethompson]

In your personal opinions, do you guys think that much rain (in a 4 hour period) will leach out the fertilizer that I put out for my trees at the beginning of April?

 

[bwoods11]

Where was that?

 

[ethompson]

East texas

 

[Telemark]

I don't think it will leach it through the soil. It might run over the surface if it hasn't dissolved yet.

 

[John-W-WI]

I think it probably just fed the trees, just like you hoped.

-John

 

[H20fwler]

Yep I wouldn’t over think it, should be fine.

 

[OakSeeds]

Depends on whether it was liquid or granular ...... if it was liquid (water soluble powder or liquid concentrate you mix with water) and, if you had applied the fertilizer within the last couple of days, a 5-incvh rain probably would have moved a good portion of the fertilizer past the trees root zone. Since you fertilized early in April your trees had some uptake with sap runs for a couple of weeks. If you used granular, a 5-inch rain will cause some loss (including reduction of your granules above ground and fertilizer - washed in from above ground granules - contained in the root zone. If the trees are 3-4+ in age, I'd probably be comfortable giving each another handful of triple 10 or 13. They can probably handle it.

 

[TreeDaddy]

East texas

Rule Number One......

.........Never complain about rain in East Texas!!!!!!!!

bill

 

[Hoytvectrix]

If you got more than 3/4" of rain, you probably lost a decent amount of nitrogen through leaching. It depends on what fertilizer you used. What is the analysis and do you know the amount of water soluble nitrogen that makes up the N?

Soil texture, OM percentage, and ground cover will all affect it too.

 

[Tree Spud]

Rule Number One......

.........Never complain about rain in East Texas!!!!!!!!

bill

No kidding! You can always throw down more fertilizer, you can't just throw down more rain

 

[Mortenson]

Depends if you planted your tree on the side of a big hill.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I would think that "leaching" is exactly what you want. Tree roots go well below the soil surface. Unless you just planted your trees, leeching is exactly what you need to get the fertilizer to the tree roots so they can actually use the fertilizer.

 

[FarmerDan]

I thought about offering a more thorough lecture on the subject, but I'm in recovery....

Looking thru the responses, in my personal opinion, the best are (I'm sorry. I have too much time on my hands):

1. TreeDaddy: Never complain about rain in East Texas!!!!!!!!
2. Followed by Tree Spud: No kidding! You can always throw down more fertilizer, you can't just throw down more rain. (This is CLASSIC and be Immortalized!)

(Because I'm so guilty of this) Honorable Mention to:
H20fwler: Yep I wouldn’t over think it, should be fine.

And because it's so easy to understand and goes to the heart and truth of the issue, KUDOS to the winner:
John-W-WI: I think it probably just fed the trees, just like you hoped.

(What if the trees weren't hungry? That might sound silly, but if you want to overthink it....)