Apple care grab bag for SECOND LEAF trees

[Lot2Learn]

Since I don't think these questions warrant a dedicated thread, I thought I'd put them in a single thread.

Even if you can't answer them all, please answer any on which you have some knowledge or an opinion...and thanks in advance!

1. Any idea how much fertilizer is in a 'spike' like this one: http://bit.ly/1w0VWkj
2. For trees where I got 4' of growth and thus the leader is now 7-8', should I skip fertilizing those particular trees or fertilize them as normal?
3. For a tree that is thriving and the leader is above 5', would it be wrong to prune back ALL of the branches below 5' in order to drive the growth to the leader and not waste any more tree energy on branches that will eventually be removed?
4. Scoring the leader: For b.118 and mm.111 trees for wildlife, how far should my scaffolds be apart?

- Lot2Learn

 

[CrazyEd]

3. Yes, don't prune like that on small trees. Basically much as you want the tree to grow up, this lower branches will grow leaves which catch sun and help your tree grow faster. I made this mistake of removing limbs too soon in the past.

4. I'm doing 24-36" on b118. I had a thread about this topic on the other board, I think it's in the sticky thread over there.

 

[sandbur]

I'm not quite answering question number one, but I know Jobes makes at least two different sizes of fruit trees spikes. There is a smaller generic type of spike in a cheaper bag/label and a bigger spike that can have added microbes or some other micro nutrients in them. the bigger spikes come in a box, with a colored label around them and might last for longer periods of time.

Answer-all spikes aren't the same, but might be very similar.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

X-3 on the 10-10-10 program. A lot cheaper than spikes. I sprinkle a circle of it around each tree 1st week of May. I also spread mushroom compost around the trees and - thanks to some advice from Maya - will scratch the compost into the soil. Done.

 

[Lot2Learn]

Thanks all.

I used spikes last year on the six trees that I had in the ground then, but now that I have 56 the idea of spending 5x for the convenience of spikes doesn't make sense. Thanks for the heads up.