Fertilize or not

[4wanderingeyes]

I have had other more important projects going on this spring, and I never put any fertilizer on my apple trees. Some have fruit, some don’t. Is it to late to fertilize them now? Would you fertilize all of them? Or just the ones not bearing fruit?

 

[chickenlittle]

Wait until next spring about leaf out.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

I personally would wait. I put the last round of micro fert down mid june.

I'm not pushing extreme growth but have seen about what I hope for in a year. In the 7-10in growth range on most.

That with the first growth spurt getting stunted by the extreme heat we experienced to start things off. Lot of wind burn on the new leaves.

 

[Apple Junkie]

Just in case ya need a third opinion, I'd suggest you don't bother fertilizing now too. As chickenlittle and trampled suggest above, early spring is best, and might help up to mid-June. By now, it's really just a waste of time and money in my opinion. When you do fertilize, fertilize all of your trees.

 

[Charman03]

I just fertilized my home trees again yesterday. It's also high 90s this week and I water them every evening by stretching out a lot of hose. I get some really good growth by doing this that's for sure.

My orchard trees are more on their own but I may try to get some water to them this week. I know it's hard for most but if you can water your younger trees during the hot summer they really grow

 

[Barndog56]

If you just mean nitrogen or a normal NPK chemical fertilizer then I would say no. However if you're open to learning what your tree actually needs right now, and on into fall, to optimize it's fruiting bud set for next spring, then I would say watch this video from Advancing Eco Agriculture.

Those who only consider lime, and chemical npk fertilizers are really missing the boat on what fruit trees, garden plants, food plots, and ag crops really need for optimal production. I'll post a thread in a day or two showing how foliar mineral fertilization has helped my stuff.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I would say you are reaching the end of fertilizing season, but if you do just go with something that is a bit lower in N. I agree that foliar fertilization can be a good approach, maybe just more involved than habitat guys want to get.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I figured it was to late. I usually get on it in May, but this year has been crazy busy. I am planting a food plot around the apple trees one last year until I convert it to clover next year. So they will get a little unintentional fertilizer anyhow, but I usually give them some triple 10, or triple 19 in the spring. I also had intentions on discing in an old clover plot this summer and planting brassicas in that, but no time. So I will just keep the one plot that is in clover in clover, and plant brassicas around the apple trees one more year.

Thanks everyone for the info!

 

[Barndog56]

Yes, foliar fertilizer is mostly a quick fix. The wiser, less expensive solution would be to add the needed minerals to the soil.

 

[SmallChunk]

I look forward to hearing your experiences!

 

[OhioJeremy]

My rule of thumb is fertilize plantings every 10-14 days til end of June. Because of the cooler spring, I am going for one more round tomorrow and call it for the year.