If you are looking for beautiful trees that will grow well in the San Diego area, that you may be thinking about planting evergreens. At the same time, you need to make sure evergreen trees have the appropriate nutrients to grow. For this reason, you might be thinking about adding fertilizer. Not all trees will require fertilizer, and trees that require fertilizer may have specific nutritional needs you have to consider. When it comes to growing evergreen trees in San Diego, what is the best type of fertilizer to use? Remember to reach out to professional tree shaping and trimming services to learn more about what you have to do to take care of your trees.
When Should You Fertilize Your Evergreen Trees?
First, you need to know when you should be fertilizing your evergreen trees. There are several key signs you should watch for. These include:
- If you notice your evergreen trees are not growing that quickly, then you may need to add fertilizer to encourage them.
- If their needles are shorter than normal, or if they do not have a healthy green color to them, then this is a sign they may require fertilizer.
- If you are trying to plant evergreen trees in sandy or clay soil, and the conditions are not ideal for their growth. Therefore, you may need to add fertilizer to get them to grow well under these conditions.
- If the tree has suffered a lot of damage from diseases, insects, or other tests, then it may require fertilizer.
- If you have recently planted young trees and you want them to grow quickly, then you may need to fertilize them.
If you have evergreen trees that fall under these conditions, then you may need to fertilize them. How do you pick the right fertilizer?
Picking the Right Parameters for the Fertilizer
Fertilizers come in many shapes and forms, so you need to find the right one for your evergreen trees. Usually, the percentages of various nutrients and minerals included in the bag will be printed clearly. A few keep tips to keep in mind include:
- You should use a complete fertilizer that has all the necessary macronutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Usually, this will be printed as “NPK,” respectively.
- You should pick a fertilizer that is NPK 10 – 8 – 15. This means it has 10 percent nitrogen, 8 percent phosphorus, and 15 percent potassium.
- If the pH of the soil is off, you may need to change the percentages of the nutrients in the soil.
In general, evergreen trees do well in soil that is slightly acidic, which means the pH is just under 7.0. If you are trying to plant evergreen trees and soil that is too basic (having a pH over 7.0), then you may want to reach out to a professional who can help you.
When Should you Use Fertilizer?
Next, you need to think about when you want to use fertilizer. In general, the best time of year to use fertilizer for evergreen trees is early in the spring. In general, you do not want to use fertilizer late in the summer because you will be encouraging new growth later in the season. As evergreen trees continue to grow, they are more vulnerable to environmental conditions. If there is a lot of new tree development late in the summer, evergreen trees may not do well when the temperature begins to cool off. This is usually called winter injury and dieback.
Remember that if you have recently relocated an evergreen tree, it may take some time to get used to the new soil conditions before it begins to grow. Therefore, before you use fertilizer on a tree that you have recently planted, give it a little while to get acclimated. Once it gets comfortable, its growth rate should improve. Then, you may not need to use fertilizer again.
Finally, you should also combine fertilizer with regular watering. Because the San Diego area is relatively dry, you should make sure evergreen trees have plenty of water. If you want to learn more about what you need to do to take care of your trees, reach out to professionals who can help you. Our team would be glad to assist you.
Contact Pope Tree Service for Help with Evergreen Trees
If you want your evergreen trees to grow well, you may need to fertilize them. At Pope Tree Service, we have connections throughout the industry that we can use to get you the best fertilizer for your trees. That way, your evergreen trees will grow big and strong throughout the year. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you take care of your evergreen trees, contact us today to speak to our team!