One of the most important components of garden care is the spring dressing of fruit trees and shrubs in the spring. Without this, it is impossible to achieve an attractive appearance of ornamental plants, as well as a plentiful harvest of fruit crops. Remember that proper top dressing of shrubs and trees in the spring can not only saturate the plant with additional elements, but also support the fertility of the soil, improve its chemical and mechanical properties.
Top-dressing composition
During the growing season, the tree repeatedly changes the need for nutrients. It is in the early spring, during the beginning of the growing season, that plants need to be saturated with potassium, a little less - with nitrogen and phosphorus. During flowering and during its end, the tree needs nitrogen. At this time, an intensive growth of shoots occurs. After that, plants need phosphorus.
Spring top dressing of fruit trees and shrubs is necessary. But before you begin this procedure, you should consider all the features of each tree species. For example, conifers require significantly less nitrogen than apple trees and other deciduous trees. After all, coniferous trees do not need to grow foliage again. It is also known that in fruit trees with high productivity and over time, nutrients are washed out of the soil.
The amount of nutrients contained in the soil (phosphorus, nitrogen, etc.) directly depends on the concentration of humus in it. In sandy soil, its content is minimal compared to loam or clay. The potassium content is directly related to the mechanical composition of the soil. Its content in the sand is also minimal.
During spring feeding, all this must be taken into account.
Top dressing in March
Spring top dressing of fruit trees and shrubs in spring should begin in March. Fertilizing is necessary directly in the snow that melts. It is very comfortable. After all, it will become easier to walk in the snow, and with the time of melting it will pull along the soil and fertilizer.
Pre-soluble mineral mixtures must be scattered in a near-trunk circle with a handful (approximately 30-40 grams). For young trees, you can use only one or two handfuls. For adult trees, it is necessary to use a larger amount of fertilizer (from two to five).
Top dressing of young fruit trees and shrubs in spring should be evenly distributed over the near-stem circle. The diameter should be more than 1.5 m. For older trees, it is necessary to sprinkle fertilizer around the entire crown. In this zone, the largest number of roots that actively carry out absorption are located. But if the trees are located on a plot with a slope, such fertilizing should not be carried out. They will quickly be washed off by meltwater, which often does not linger on the slopes. The same can happen in the case of severely frozen soil and a lot of snow.
Top dressing in April
Remember that only nitrogen fertilizers can be added with snow . In April, when the snow finally melts, phosphorus and potassium must be added to the soil. For this, superphosphate, ash and potassium sulfate are used. When choosing fertilizers, pay attention to the composition. Indeed, for example, complex mixtures should not be used in April, because they consist of a large amount of nitrogen. In this case, you can significantly exceed the content of this element in the soil. This, in turn, can lead to a decrease in plant viability and provoke the development of various fungal diseases.
Most often, two feeding options are used:
- in March, nitrogen fertilizers are used, and in April - phosphorus and potash;
- they use complex spring fertilizers both in March and in April.
May top dressing
In May, plants should also be taken care of. Spring top dressing of fruit trees and shrubs in spring, in May, involves the use of rotted manure or ripened compost. If you don’t have organic matter at hand, you can use a complex mineral mixture in which the nitrogen content is slightly exceeded. In May, the fertilizer dose also depends on the soil and its fertility. The maximum dose should be used for wood-podzolic soil types, the minimum for black soil, and the average for forest sulfur.
Fertilizing fruit trees and shrubs in the spring is quite effective when using mulch soaked with fertilizers, which cover the trunk circles. It becomes an effective top dressing, especially if straw, compost or ripe leaves are poured into it.
Fertilizer for trees
Spring top dressing of fruit trees and shrubs in early spring together with organic and mineral fertilizers is ideal for fruit and deciduous crops. But this scheme is completely unacceptable for evergreens. Such complex fertilizers will have an undesirable effect on them.
Indeed, in these mixtures nitrogen is contained in sufficiently large quantities, which causes active growth of new shoots. And not every tree can withstand such an action. Manure is also not used for these types of trees.
For coniferous plants, it is best to use special fertilizers that are designed to fertilize conifers. They have a completely different composition of the main trace elements. Such fertilizers contain a large number of substances, among which magnesium must be present. From organics, it is better to use biohumus and rotted compost.
Remember that the use of spring fertilizers is necessary only for old conifers. For such breeds, remember: let the tree be better without top dressing than feed it.
What do you need to know?
Spring top dressing of fruit trees and bushes has some rules that every gardener must remember!
1. Faster than all, the root system of a tree will absorb the fertilizer in liquid form.
2. Feeding seedlings is necessary only after complete rooting.
3. Each dressing must be carried out in cloudy weather or late in the evening.
4. Dry fertilizers should be applied either before watering, or immediately after it. An exception is the March top dressing, which is introduced in melting snow.
Remember that liquid fertilizers must be applied only to moist soil. If you do not follow this rule, then the root system of the tree may get burned. They, in turn, can lead to a long illness of the plant or even to its death.
Fertilizer for shrubs
Spring top dressing of fruit trees and shrubs in the spring will allow you to get a good harvest. The first feeding should be carried out during the formation of new shoots (up to approximately 2 cm).
If in the fall potash, phosphorus, and organic fertilizers were applied, in the spring it is necessary to use only nitrogen fertilizers. In the basal zone, you must make:
- Ammonium nitrate - 20 g;
- Calcium nitrate - 35-40 g;
- Urea - 12-15 g.
Fertilizing fruit trees and shrubs in spring with organic substances should be carried out if fertilizers were already applied in the fall. To do this, you need to breed manure with water in a bucket and add 1 table there. urea spoon. Under each plant, it is necessary to introduce such a fertilizer bucket of 2-3 liters. Remember that immediately after such feeding, it is necessary to carry out abundant watering of the plant. The second top dressing in the same way should be carried out in two weeks. We also carry out the third top dressing.
If you do not have access to organic fertilizers, you can replace them with mineral ones. Such a fertilizer must be independently prepared from a bucket of water, 25 g of superphosphate, 20 g of ammonium nitrate and 15 g of potassium sulfate. This bucket is designed for 2-3 bushes. After fertilizing, water the plant abundantly.
Remember that the holes under the bushes should be no more than 60 cm in diameter and 10 cm in depth. After fertilizing and abundant watering, the holes must be covered with earth or mulching with peat.