Is it too late to fertilize shrubs and trees?

I usually fertilize my evergreen Rhododendrons (incl. Azaleas) as well as deciduous acid-loving shrubs and trees in the spring and fall, as recommended by Holly Tone.

I'm wondering whether I've put it off for too long this year, though. Our weather here is unpredictable - we sometimes have Indian Summer days until December - so I'm concerned about new growth that wouldn't harden off. Should I wait until spring?

Trees and shrubs hardly ever need fertiliser. The recommendations by Holly Tone are related more to their need to line their pockets, than the real needs of the plants.

Resin

I would think that once a year in the spring would be sufficient. If you have fertilized in the past, there should still be enough residual nutrients in the soil to get them through the winter. You wouldn't want new growth now.

Thanks! I will put that chore off until spring.

I do what Cindy does, and it seems to work. I think moisture is what trees and shrubs need now to get through winter, so I watch the forecast and give them supplemental water if necessary.

I've started giving mine some good soakings as well. I think that helped save them last winter.

Good for you! I had about 50 soaker hoses from my former home in sun land (I had a good 50 trees and shrubs). I offered them to my neighbors two years ago when we were having a terrible drought. Only one person took me up on it - and he took one. The loss of trees and shrubs in my neighborhood after the winter of 2012 was massive.

This message was edited Nov 2, 2014 6:32 PM

What's sin land? Las Vegas?

A lot of people just don't realize how much trees suffer during drought. My neighbors refused to water during a summer drought a few years ago, and their trees have had bare branches at the top ever since.

That, my dear, is what you all one heck of a typo. Although with the number of affairs going on, plus the skirt chasing of people's husbands, maybe it was more appropriate than I realized!

Ha ha Donna! I should have guessed it was a typo.

Resin, my shrubs flower better when I fertilize them, as I found out after I fired a lawn company that supposedly was doing it for me. I didn't know what a terrible job they were doing until I started doing it myself.

Haha sin land.

Haha Resin, who don't you tel us how you REALLY feel? ROFL

The only shrubs I fertilize are hydrangeas. This past spring we applied some high quality compost to Jan's perennial garden and the results were impressive. I've got a few small trees & shrubs that are lagging a bit, and I'm going to try the compost thing to see if it gives them a bit of a kickstart. I can't see how this would hurt them in any way.

Every winter I take advantage of an offer from a nursery about ten miles away that we can have up to 10 bags of compost at a time if we will load it ourselves. At $1.00 a bag. I made three trips. I saw how impressive the results were in Lake County. When we moved there was clay over hardpan (the latter being like rock) and you could barely dig 3 inches. Five years of free compost later, put down spring and fall, and I could sink my entire shovel easily into the ground.

I put compost around the base of all my shrubs, especially roses. It keeps them from being nibbled, and they get an early and slow feed in the spring. I have some once bloomers, and if they get chewed they don't bloom for a year.

Lat year was brutal, but I didn't lose a single rose.

I keep trying to make compost - I don't throw out any grass clippings, leaves and suitable kitchen waste - but inevitably I need the half-finished compost to fill a hole somewhere in the yard, and so it never becomes something I could use as a fertilizer substitute.

Yes, I have found that a healthy dose of compost has greatly improved the soil around my trees and shrubs, even the old fruit trees are doing better.
Muddy, even half finished compost will have a positive effect because it will kick off the soil microbes and such almost as well as finished compost.And the worms won't mind at all if you leave them a little work to do.

That's good to know; thanks!