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I planted some bare rooted fruit trees(2yr old) in December, and now
have access to some well rotted manure. Natural instinct is to mulch
around the base(not touching stem) for a metre. Some sites say don't
do this-other do. Any advice ?

Natural instinct tells me I wouldn't.

What your trees need for the short term is almost certainly available in
the surrounding ground. Keep them well-watered for the first year at
least.

You don't want to present lots of nutrients on a plate, as the roots
will not need to go looking for them, and weak trees (blow-over models)
may result.

For the future, bonemeal forked into the surface surrounding the trees
would do no harm - worms will help distribute it to lower levels.

When fruiting, extra potash and phosphorus is usually a good thing, but
I wouldn't give them any in the first year - indeed, it might pay to
prevent them fruiting altogether, or at least restrict the number of
apples.

For future planting, my advice would be to dig a big hole and toss in
bones - left over from roasts, stockmaking etc - some fairly large ones
and a lot of little ones - chicken, etc., also any old leather and
woollens (not plastic imitations and acrylic!) and mix bonemeal or
blood, fish and bone meal with the spoil as you replace it. (Works for
rhubarb, too: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/garden.htm - and
that's had a couple of years' growth since that pic was taken...)

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
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