fertilizing program

When is the best time to fertilize shrubs such as azaleas, mock orange, etc. and what should I use? Is this a one time a year thing or should I fertilize more often?

How are your plants growing now? Are they putting on good new growth every year? Is the foliage a nice, solid green? If the plants look healthy and are growing at a respectable gait, they might not need any fertilizer at all, which is the case more often than not.

Scott

I think they could use a boost. Things are moving a bit slow. There are a couple that seem to be doing well, but I have very low phosphates in my soil here so I will give them some bone meal.
I just don't know what is approriate for my shrubs.

This is from Henning's Rhododendron and Azalea page, a truly great site for rhodie and azalea lovers:

Now there's some information I can use. I have had a thread going about coffee grounds elsewhere and am glad to know the azaleas like them. As for the other shrubs, I think I'll just stick to some Black Kow and bone meal for now.

Holly-tone, although very expensive, is a very highly respected product in the trade, especially among growers of acid-lovers like hollies and members of the Ericaceae (rhodies and azaleas, among others). It's an organic product, so it is easy to apply without screwing up (meaning it is almost impossible to burn plants with it), and it fertilizes slowly but surely over a period of time. But Black Kow (I'm assuming rotted cow manure?) and bone meal are good too, although I wouldn't put a lot of either down.

Scott

Scott certainly is right about Holly-tone being expensive and highly respected. In the past I have been advised not to use it until the soil temperature begins to warm up, I am not sure why but it's so expensive I didn't dare have it go to waste. kt

Yes Black Kow is composted manure. I see it in yellow and black bags everywhere in the south. Easy to handle and spread. I tend to put it on everything in the spring except sedums and butterfly weed. I also use a lot of bone meal as our soil is low in phosphates.

I was trolling through some old post looking for the same information. After I read this, I realized that I do have this information in a book that I bought a couple of years ago. This is a Month By Month book for Gardening in the Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C.) The authors, Andre and Mark Viette, recommend to begin a fertilizing program in late February/March for this region. Based upon this, I would assume that North Carolina should begin fertilizing azaleas several weeks earlier.

These monthly books are available for all different regions. I was just outside looking at my forsythias, azaleas, and flowering quince, when it hit me that they would benefit from a fertilizer. They looked great this past year, but a little TLC never hurts.