Fertilizer Program for Containerized Plants II
15 years ago
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Fertilizering Containerized Plants IV
Comments (333)My recollection is that tapla wrote that we would not fertilize above 80 degrees F. soil. These are the temperatures of these days: @tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a), I would like to return to this topic briefly. I have read many things you have written about the fact that one should not fertilize when temperatures are high and why it is good to avoid it. Here however for about 2 months the maximum temperatures are on average 34-36 degrees centigrade and in the 30 days before and in the 30 days after anyway around 30 degrees centigrade. In short, the temperatures here are much higher than in Bay City, Michigan. Avoid fertilizing in the two hottest months? Avoid fertilizing for almost 4 months? In other words I ask you: does it do more harm not to fertilize for such a long time or to fertilize with very high temperatures?...See MoreA Journal for following the development of Containerized Maples
Comments (150)Baby Acer - Foliage Close-up 4, Day 4 from planting, 25.9.12...See MoreFertilizer Program - Containerized Plants (Long Post)
Comments (127)"It looks like you switched to the Dyna grow 9-3-6 last year. Do you still use CRF in your soil mix if you are still using this fert?" Actually, I rarely use the CRFs at all. I like the near complete control the soluble fertilizers give me in containers. I'm pretty diligent about fertilizer applications, so I really don't need the CRFs to cover the 'in case I forget' base, or for any minor elements they might supply. I included them in the soil recipes to make it easier for others. As long as you're faithful to your nutrient supplementation program, you can easily do w.o them. If you think you'll be lax at times, I'd include them. 109 ppm alkalinity is nothing to be overly concerned about with fast container soils. It would be interesting to learn how the Ca and Mg levels are though. Alkalinity is related to pH because alkalinity (practically speaking and for our applications) determines your water's resistance to pH changes. If you have water 'A' at a pH of 9.0 with an alkalinity of 75 mg/L CaCO3, and water 'B', with a pH of 8.0 (a full point lower to begin with) and alkalinity of 300 mg/L CaCO3, it will take about 4 times as much 35% H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) to bring the water with the lower pH down to That aside - your water is better than mine, so I really doubt you'll have Fe/Mn issues if you're using either the 9-3-6 or MG. I will say though, that bark/peat soils have a potentially high Fe:Mn ratio, so applying Fe w/o Mn could easily create a deficiency of Mn. If I were in your shoes, I would do nothing until I actually saw evidence of an Fe deficiency. Then, I would acidify. Oh - the other likely cause of an Fe deficiency is too much P, which combines with the Fe to form an insoluble precipitate, so avoid the high P fertilizers - they are useless unless you are using them to supply the exact amount of P needed while intentionally (severely) limiting N. I used this strategy last year: I fertilized with regular dosages of 9-3-6 until the plants were well established. I then cut way back on the dosage and added ProTeKt to the solution. I rather like to envision that I used the added K (and got the benefit of the added silicon) to change the fertilizer ratio to 3:1:3 from a 3:1:2. This allowed me to reduce the dosage of N (reducing vegetative growth) while still having adequate P and K. Take care. Al...See MoreUsing a plastic barrel as a Tree pot
Comments (5)A true dwarf in a 27.5 gal container should be OK. Some drawbacks are, you have to show caution when picking it up, so as not to dig the dolly into the bottom and disturbed the root system. More susceptible to moister and rot issues, even with pea gravel in bottom. The root ball is above the freeze line and even in a shed may freeze the root ball. Unless the shed it heated. Planted in the ground the roots are below the freeze line, and able to wick heat from lower levels of soil, offering the roots a less severe temperature shift. But you would have to cover with some type of material, during spring freeze. Pro and cons, to anything. But hey, if it was easy, it would not give nearly as much satisfaction. Be well...See MoreRelated Professionals
Wrentham Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Cudahy Landscape Contractors · Little Ferry Landscape Contractors · Munster Landscape Contractors · North Chicago Landscape Contractors · Oak Forest Landscape Contractors · Oxnard Landscape Contractors · Peoria Landscape Contractors · Ringwood Landscape Contractors · Webster Groves Landscape Contractors · 07920 Landscape Contractors · Reisterstown Landscape Contractors · Paramus Solar Energy Systems · Jacksonville Fence Contractors · Atascadero Fence Contractors- 13 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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