Do Trees Need Fertilizing?

When it comes to your backyard veggie garden or your rose bushes, fertilizing is a no-brainer. Fertilizing the soil will see anything you plant there flourish within the season. However, the same diligence to fertilizing is not often lent to trees. They just seem far too big to need it. In truth, trees in the forest likely don’t have much shortage of nutrients. The forest soil will have it in spades so it can support many trees. However, our yards often don’t have that same luxury. We remove all the twigs, leaves, and bark that falls from a tree that would otherwise return nutrients to the soil. This is why your backyard trees will benefit from fertilization.

Trees are very hardy plants. They can take a lot of stress, even when that stress comes from a lack of nutrients in the soil, but they show symptoms. Signs your tree is suffering from a lack of nutrients include:

• Shorter and less twig growth
• Smaller leaves
• Dead branches and tips
• Dark leaf veins
• Poor leaf color

If you see those signs, however, you can’t just dump fertilizer at the base and add water. A tree’s roots run deep and spread wide. Arborists will instead inject fertilizer deeper into the ground so the roots have almost immediate dibs on it. If they dispersed the fertilizer on the top of the soil, it would likely make your grass grow quite well, but there would be little left for the actual roots of the tree.

While trees don’t need fertilized in most cases, they will certainly flourish with it. It is something to consider, particularly if you have young trees. If you think your trees need fertilizing or need any other sort of tree service, contact us today to see what Advanced Tree & Shrub Care can do to get your trees taken care of.