It's Time for Spring Tree & Flower Fertilization

If you provide residential or commercial landscaping and lawn care services, then you know that springtime is the best time to fertilize trees and flowers. Fertilizers help with growth, leafing, blossoms, and the plant’s longevity.

Read on to learn more about tree and flower fertilization, and product suggestions to make your customers’ landscapes stand out with health and vitality.

2 Important Steps for Successful Tree Fertilization

If you have an arborist on staff or provide complete landscaping services, including tree care, then you know that tree fertilization is key to a tree’s long life.

Here are two steps for providing tree fertilization:

Perform a soil or foliar test: You don’t know the extent of fertilization your customers’ trees need until you test the soil or leaves to determine what essential nutrients are missing.

If you cannot test the soil or leaves, then ANSI A300 (industry-standard tree care practices) suggests general-purpose fertilization rates will work.

ANSI A300 recommends an N:P:K fertilizer ratio of 3:1:1 or 3:1:2. Note that you can adjust these rates based on

Your knowledge of the growing area
The tree’s age and health
Soil and environmental conditions.

Here are ANSI A300 rates of nitrogen application for general-purpose tree and shrub fertilization:

Fertilizer Type: Slow-release nitrogen*

Pounds of nitrogen per application: 2 to 4

Maximum pounds of nitrogen per year: 6

Fertilizer type: Quick release nitrogen

Pounds of nitrogen per application: 1 to 3

Maximum pounds of nitrogen per year: 4.

*ANSI A300 recommends slow-release nitrogen over quick-release nitrogen unless the tree care program requires a rapid nitrogen release. A slow-release fertilizer, according to ANSI, is a fertilizer with at least 50% water-insoluble nitrogen (WIN).

Apply fertilizer in the spring: When you apply tree and shrub fertilizer in the spring through early summer, it’ll provide nitrogen and minerals for the current growing season.

LebanonTurf’s ROOTS Fertilizer for Trees 27-9-9 works best for springtime tree and shrub fertilizer treatments. It’s a water dispersible fertilizer with 27-9-9 NPK. The U-form urea-formaldehyde provides long-term feeding throughout the season.

ROOTS Fertilizer for Trees, 27-9-9 has a combination of .1% Fe (iron) and .05% Mn (manganese) for micronutrient replacement. This fertilizer also contains beneficial rhizosphere bacteria, sea plant extract, and humic acids to improve soil and plant health.

Learn more: Up-to-Date Fertilizer Market News

Create Beautiful and Vibrant Flowerbeds This Spring

If you provide flowerbed installation, you want to use the best flower fertilizer available to ensure that “wow” factor at the height of the growing season.

There are some basic tricks and tips to remember when installing flowerbeds for your customers:

Choosing the right plants for the right spot in the landscape: As you know, some plants prefer full sun, others are part-sun, and still others shade. You should buy your plants at a reputable garden center or nursery where the growers develop plants for your local climate.
Focus on native plants that can handle drought and hot weather: Native plants will last longer because they can take the brutal summer heat and lack of rainfall.
Use basic landscape designs for visual interest: You want order and movement in your landscaped beds with pops of color and different leaf textures for variety.
Prepare the flowerbeds: Get a soil test through your local extension office to know the soil’s pH and what nutrients are missing. Plants can be picky with their soil, so you need to amend it for healthy plant growth.
Till the top six inches of the soil and mix in fertilizer simultaneously: Use a rototiller to till the top six inches of soil. Use a natural fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 1-1-1.

LebanonTurf’s ROOTS Healthy Start Advanced 3-4-3 or ROOTS Healthy Start Advanced MRT 3-4-3 contains all-natural ingredients that provide nutrition without the risk of burning new plants.

These two fertilizers will also improve the soil’s health with beneficial bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, and other biostimulants to help new plants recover from plant stress and improve the soil’s long-term health.

Install perennials and annuals: Once you prepared the soil, you’re ready to add the plants. Ensure that you install new plants at the ground level, even with the plant container. Also, follow all directions on the plant tags to ensure success.
Add mulch: Mulch is the icing on the cake. It adds a finishing touch as well as provides the following benefits:

Prevents weed growth
Keeps moisture in the soil longer
Regulates soil temperature
Provides added nutrients as it breaks down

If you provide flowerbed maintenance and install new plants, you need to prepare for the flowers’ specific needs throughout the entire growing season. LebanonTurf’s Woodace 14-14-14 with Micros provides those essential nutrients in established beds.

Woodace 14-14-14 with Micros is a premium flower and shrub bed fertilizer with an NPK of 14-14-14. Here’s how this premium fertilizer works in existing flower and shrub beds:

It’s designed for existing trees, shrubs, and flowers’ maintenance needs
It contains 75% Meth-Ex methylene urea for long-term feeding
It has potassium sulfate for instant potassium uptake with a small amount of sulfur as an added feature
It includes micronutrients and minerals, such as 1% Fe (iron) combined with .5% Mn (manganese) and 1% Mg (magnesium) to replace micronutrient deficiencies in the soil.

If you want to invest in LebanonTurf fertilizers to benefit your customers’ flowerbeds and landscaped areas, connect with your local distributor for all of your LebanonTurf needs.

You can read more about the science behind our products at the following sources: