Here at Landscape Consultants, we prefer to visually inspect your trees to determine the health and see what things could be influencing their growth. Trees require nutrients and water to grow and thrive. We see many trees that aren’t put in the most ideal location or situation from the start. Although we try to avoid planting them, some tree varieties are at higher risk of decline because of our high pH soils, which can make trees prone to iron chlorosis. Other trees are naturally prone to insect or disease pressure in our area.
As a general rule, most deciduous trees should put on 6 to 12 inches of new growth per year. Growth shoots of 2 to 3 inches in a season usually mean there are problems. These are some of the factors we look at to determine the needs of your trees when at your site. We have seen over the time that trees deep root fertilized on a yearly basis have more vigor, show resistance to insect and disease pressure, and generally look healthier.
We believe mid to late fall (after the trees have gone dormant) is the best time to deep root fertilize your trees. At this time of year, tree roots will continue to take up nutrients and grow. With the increased root growth from the deep root feeding prior to the ensuing top growth in spring, the tree is more able to deal with the additional stresses of summer.
With your deep root feeding setup, we’ll tank mix the ingredients for your trees and begin the injections. We make a circle of injections around the drip line of the tree approximately every three feet. The high pressure fertilizer mix comes out of the tip of the probe in four directions. Each injection puts approximately 50 to 60 ounces of mix in the root zone. After completing the outer circle, a second circle is made half way to the trunk. We have found that in addition to nutrients from the fertilizer, the act of forcing high pressure liquid into the root zone fractures compacted soils and brings much needed air and moisture to the root zone, a very nice side effect.
