How to Fertilize Your Trees in Spring


Preparing your trees for the growing season is essential if you want them to stay healthy and prevent pest infestations or plant disease. While deep root watering can help your trees survive the winter unscathed, fertilizing your trees in the early spring is a simple and effective way to set them up for a successful growing season. Before you start applying fertilizer, you need to understand how to do it correctly. Here’s what you need to know from your trusted tree service.

Fertilize at the Right Time
Believe it or not, there are times that are ideal to fertilize your trees and times that are less ideal. For most trees in the Denver area, the perfect time to fertilize your trees is between late fall and early spring. During this time, your trees are actively pulling up nutrients from the soil in an attempt to collect enough nutrients to both survive the winter and prepare themselves fro the growing season. Since the trees are actively looking for nutrients, they’ll be better able to use the nutrients that the fertilizer provides.

Apply It Correctly
Applying fertilizer in your yard requires great care. Add too much and you risk scorching your trees’ roots. Add too little and your trees won’t see the benefits. Make sure to spread fertilizer over your trees’ entire root systems. Younger trees have roots that are located closer to the trunk, therefore requiring less fertilizer spread over the surface. Larger trees—if they need fertilizer at all—will need fertilizer spread over a larger surface area. If you’re not sure how to best apply fertilizer or how much to use in your yard, let your plant health care team help you figure out the appropriate amount. Remember, your tree care team can also apply fertilizer directly to the roots so your trees reap the full benefit. 

Consider Alternatives
Commercially available fertilizer is full of chemicals that can leach into the water supply. Luckily, they’re not the only option. Instead of relying on fertilizers that you can buy in the store, consider spreading a generous layer of compost around your trees. Compost is highly nutrient-rich and, since it’s derived from food waste, has less of an impact on the environment. Your local garden center and many hardware stores around the Denver metro area sell compost at affordable prices, so you can stock up without breaking the bank.

Let the Experts Help
Fertilizing your trees is a simple way to give them a helping hand during the spring months. The nutrients in the fertilizer make the soil around the tree richer and better equipped to support the tree during the growing season. As long as you apply the right type of fertilizer for your trees and take care to spread it throughout the soil around the tree’s roots, you’ll be able to give your trees the help they need to thrive. If the thought of fertilizing your trees on your own is too overwhelming or you’re worried that you won’t be able to do it the right way, schedule an appointment with Root Tree Service. 

 
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