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I have a few fruit trees (apple, pears, oranges, grapes) and need to fertilize them. What is the best way to fertilize them? I am planning to use a mix of chicken manure and horse manure. Do I need to add anything else? What proportion of each should I use? Do I just spread it around the tree base or do I have to dig soil around the main step? My concern around digging the soil is potentially damaging the roots.

JStorage
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  • Those aren't stone fruits. Do you have other fruit trees? – Graham Chiu Mar 29 '16 at 01:09
  • Applying manure to the surface of the ground is a good idea, however it is also important to apply fertilizer to the root level. This is easiest done with a liquid fertilizer that you can apply to the surface and let filter down. – Viv Mar 29 '16 at 05:44
  • @graham thanks for the correction. Edited the original question – JStorage Mar 29 '16 at 06:02
  • Have you composted the manure first, or is it raw? And are they already mixed now, or separate? – Graham Chiu Mar 29 '16 at 06:31
  • @graham I bought these from the store in separate bags. Right now they are separate but I plan to mix them before fertilizing the plants. Looking for recommendations on the right proportions and way to apply the fertilizer. – JStorage Mar 29 '16 at 15:49

1 Answers1

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It is a good thing to have mixed fruit trees. I hope they are not too close together.

The best fertilizer is nature. But nature needs time to do its work. You should store leaves and mulched grass beneath your trees, and you shall see a lot of little beasts doing the fertilizing work for you. Of course some of them will take their share of the fruits, but if there is a sufficient variety of life beneath your trees, the balance between predators should allow you to have your share too.

Here is how it looks on my field -- see how big the grass grows around the tree:

fertilizing walnut tree

And after I worked around and spread the mulch

  • right its a peculiar sense of beauty, but just because we're not used to it

  • note that mulch should not be disposed too deep close around the trunk. It can over-heat and over-moist the plant and kill it. Keep a 2 inches space free around the trunk, and remove wild weeds too.

fertilizing prune tree fertilizing prune tree and complicate branch building

J. Chomel
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