Phisherman wrote:

On Wed, 07 May 2003 17:20:22 GMT, "Hank" wrote:

When is the best time of year to fertilize deciduous trees. If it makes
a difference, I live in central Kentucky in zone 6.

Hank


Winter is the best time to fertilize deciduous trees. The easiest way
to to apply 34-0-0 fertilizer in a whirlybird hand crank spreader
under the drip line when the ground is wet.

It's best to time the fertilizer so the plant can use it in spring as it
comes out of winter dormancy, as a tree uses fertilizer most efficiently
in spring and it should be available then. If you have a 1 LB coffee can
you can fill it half full of 10-10-10 and use it on a 10 foot tall shrub
with a ten foot wide breadth. I would use 5-10-10 if it was a tree
primarily used for flowers. In zone 6 a small amounts of pre winter
fertilizer may be useful too, but not so late as to freeze any new
growth spurts. Types of fertilzer are specific to certain plants, but
then that is beyond the scope of this huh?


TK