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Pro tip: tried fertilizing my maples in fall instead of spring and got a big surprise
I've always fed my maples in early spring, that's just how my old boss out in Boise taught me 20 years ago. Two falls ago I was short on time so I dumped 3 inches of compost around a sickly red maple in October and figured it would just sit there all winter. Come June that tree put out 14 inches of new growth while the ones I fed in spring barely did 6. Turns out the roots do a lot of work in fall when the soil is still warm, who knew? Anyone else had luck switching up when they feed their trees?
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olivia_chen352d ago
Three inches is a lot and that probably made the difference. What I've found is that compost in fall doesn't just feed the tree, it keeps the soil warm longer, so those roots stay active weeks after the leaves drop. My neighbor in zone 6 does the same thing with shredded leaves every October and his sugar maples outgrow mine every single year. The tricky part is you don't want to push soft new growth too late, so I hold off on anything with quick nitrogen after mid September and let the compost break down slow. That 14 inches vs 6 inches gap you saw is real though, fall root growth is no joke.
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