I am wondering, as a general rule of thumb, what nutrients should be given to trees during summer? I know salts are to be avoided but, hearing summer nutrition is upmost important since apical came into play, what specific products or nutrients are fed at what capacity or amounts?
So nutrient needs are not a one type fits all. A lot will be species specific. My understanding of the Apical process is that the nutrients provided are dependent on the specific foliar testing and what it reveals. So theirs no general answer.
In general depending on your climate and goals a spring feeding is preferred after foliage hardens off. Then if you’re growing out material I continue to feed up till summer heat for me that’s July, then take a break till September when some fall feeding is appropriate for some species like Black pine. However species like Japanese maple I don’t fall feed to manage spring push strength and node length. if your working with refinement materials, then the regime changes slightly so as not to ruin your refinement work - I go to micro-dosing to maximize health but not over stimulate growth. As you see it becomes a complicated question based on what you’re working towards.
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I use a lot of Eden products, the products behind many Apical recs.
Cholrides, sodium, potassium, and magnesium are the main salts we are trying to avoid during the summer heat, to the best of my understanding.
Most NPK type fertilizers either chemical or organic will have some if not all of these in them.
I think summer is still the worst time to fertilizer. Once the summer heat is here to stay, I am switching to immunity booster type products and forgetting about traditional ferts. Until mid to late August.
Then as evening temps start to drop I will go back to traditional fertilizers, like an NPK formula.
Calcium, carbon, soft rock phosphate could in theory be applied all summer long. But without testing you are guessing.
As the above person mentioned, what your goals are will dictate application rates
Just my 2 cents.
Hey Kyle! Lol small world. The pines you sold to me are happy on the bench for now in baskets, the tridents went in ground, and i did my first attempt at a post harden prune on that hornbeam and halved the remaining outter leaves, shes a full blown bush now, with foilage front root to apex and trunk to branch tip! Still trying to decide if i want to keep growing it out or work it down to a bonsai pot. It already has nice elegant movement and plenty of branches to choose from. Just saw the “sc” in your name and clicked and realised its you! Lol
Yeh it’s a pretty small community, and paths cross on a regular basis. Happy to hear all your material is thriving. It’s prime growing season so opportunities to develop structure and ramifications quickly ate right now. Good luck!