I purchased my first few maples at the start of '05 and have found some things that work and some that do not. I have found that slow-release fertilizers do work, but I prefer how the fertilizer is despensed using dilutable mediums. I use Dynagrow and Pro-tekt at about 1/4 recommended dilution rates to use every watering. There are some times I do not use these fertilizers and simply mix water with a little fish emulation. Of course I see mjh's point that it can be pretty expensive watering a large tree with dilutable fertilizers. I can't imagine watering each of my nine trees with half a gallon of water in a few years and try to keep up with it's feeding schedule.

Dave, Regarding Pro-Mix -- I recently bought the HP because while I really liked the Eden Valley Blend I tried -- I wanted to try both Happy Frog and Pro-mix since so many rave about both. I've never used the BX. But it was also a rare moment when I was out of bark, so for a few days, I had some of my extra Serrano seedlings in HP plus additional perlite, just to get them out of the seed starter pots. I also potted up a Bougainvillea I had knowing how much water that guzzles up over summer. I always intended to move the peppers but was thinking of keeping the Bougainvillea in the HP. On the Serrano, the first leaves that immediately emerged a day or two later were significantly and a bit alarmingly yellow and all of the cotyledons took on a yellow tint. That compelled me to run out for bark (doesn't pay to be lazy lol) and I took all four seedlings and moved to 5:1:1. One had not sprouted first leaves whereas three had. Interestingly, the last to sprout did sprout green leaves in the 5:1:1. Could be coincidental... The Bougainvillea, which could just be transplant and root pruning shock, was also showing yellow tints after a week (and I had watered once, drenched it through and never watered again as it was still nicely moist), I just moved that to 5:1:1, too. So I am curious -- how different is your BX and how do you use it that it works so ideally? Incidentally, the Pro-Mix HP *IS* the peat portion of the 5:1:1. Everything looks okay and on track at this time as far as I can tell. In the photo below, note the one on the right is the one that sprouted first leaves in the HP, and the other is the one that did so in 5:1:1 a couple days later. Thoughts? And 3.8 cu. ft. is the largest thing I have ever seen, OMG -- I will be using this until 2025!!! (Side note.) Grace

Agree about the foliage spray and disease problems. I was trying to figure what Carolyn didnt like about slow release fert. I think she has a lot more knowledge then me, and I was just trying to learn from her. I dont plant in the ground any more, im 100% container on tables. Shes talking about a long period of time in ground. Love to hear what she thinks about slow release fert. Plant em if you got em. Sam

There is a difference between slow release and controlled release fertilizers. Slow release fertilizers are usually granular, and supply nutrients in a form unavailable to plants unless converted to something useable by the plant's physiochemical activities or acted upon by soil biota to convert the fertilizer ingredients into ionic form the plant can use. Controlled release fertilizers are usually coated by a membraneous material and released in ionic form that is readily available regardless of soil biologic activity. Release rate of controlled release products is usually dependent primarily on temperature and thickness/type of coating. Al