Fruit trees need good nutrition to grow and produce an abundant harvest, just like vegetables, flowers, and other plants. and if, when, and how much to fertilize your fruit trees. Or keep reading here to learn the 5 Easy Steps for fertilizing your fruit trees!
Step 1: When to Fertilize Your Fruit Trees
Fruit trees give us a rewarding crop in the summer and fall, but they need to be fed. The best time to fertilize is in the spring, just before bud break. You can feed throughout the summer but it is best to stop applying any nitrogen after July.
Step 2: Measure to Decide if You Need to Fertilize
Not all fruit trees need to be fed every year nor in the same amounts. If you feed them too much nitrogen they will grow lots of leaves but give you very little fruit. Luckily the fruit tree can tell you what it needs, just do a little measuring.
Steps in Measuring the Previous Year's Growth
First–locate last year’s growth rings. The growth ring is the point on the branch where the fruit tree started growing in the previous season. The newest growth that you will be measuring is often a different color than the rest of the branch.
Second–measure from the growth ring all the way out to the end of the branch. Repeat these measurements at several spots around the fruit tree.
Third–calculate the average of these measurements. This is the previous season’s “annual growth” of the fruit tree.
Repeat this step for each of your fruit trees. Even if you have several fruit trees of the same variety and age, they may not have grown at the same rate and thus have different fertilizer needs. Note–if you have pruned your fruit tree significantly more than normal, so that you’ve removed over 20% of its canopy within the last year, don’t fertilize until the next year.
Check the Chart to Evaluate Growth
Finally, use this chart to evaluate your fruit tree’s annual growth. If the fruit tree’s growth rate is at the low end of, or below, annual target growth, then you should fertilize the fruit tree this year. If your fruit tree’s growth rate is at the high end of, or above, the annual target growth rate, you do not need to fertilize this year (but measure again next year in case that changes!
Peaches and nectarines–non-bearing young fruit trees should grow 18"-24", mature bearing trees should grow 12"-18".
Apples and pears–non-bearing young fruit trees should grow 18"-30", mature bearing pears and non-spur type apples should grow 12"-18".
Bearing spur apples should grow 6"-10".
Plums and sweet cherries–non-bearing young fruit trees should grow 22"-36", mature bearing trees should grow 8".
Tart cherries–non-bearing young fruit trees should grow 12"-24", bearing mature trees should grow 8".
Step 3: Choose the Right Fertilizer
Fruit trees prefer an organic, high nitrogen fertilizer.
Blood meal, soybean meal, composted chicken manure, cottonseed meal, and feather meal are all good, organic nitrogen sources.
There are also specially formulated fruit tree fertilizers.
In addition to nitrogen, your fruit tree needs other macro and micronutrients too. Adding compost when you fertilize is a good way to provide organic matter and trace minerals. Azomite or Cascade Remineralizing Soil Boost are good sources of trace minerals.
A soil test can tell you whether you need to add more phosphorus, potassium and other nutrients.
Step 4: Calculate how Much Fertilizer to Use
More is not always better when it comes to fertilizing your fruit trees. Now that you know that your fruit tree needs fertilizer, and have picked the perfect fertilizer to use, you’ll need to determine the correct amount to use on each fruit tree.
For those of us who did not excel in math—fear not—we will walk you through the fertilizer calculations.
The amount of fertilizer you will use is calculated based on the age or size of the fruit tree, and the nitrogen-value on the package.
Determining How Much Fertilizer to Use
Fruit trees need 0.10 pounds of “actual nitrogen” per year of age, or per inch of trunk diameter (measured 1 foot above the ground). The maximum you should give a fruit tree in a year is 1 pound of actual nitrogen.
For example, if your fruit tree has a diameter of 5 inches (or, if your tree is 5 years old), multiply 5 by 0.10 pounds of nitrogen, equals 0.5 lb. This means that the fruit tree will need 0.5 lb of actual nitrogen.
But wait, you’re not done yet! “Actual nitrogen” pounds is not the as simple as just weighing out that amount of fertilizer, because there is more in a fertilizer than just nitrogen.
The NPK numbers on fertilizer show the percentage of nutrients per pound of fertilizer, not the actual amount. N, P and K refer to nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
For example, if the N listed on the fertilizer package is 7 (meaning 7% nitrogen), such as with E.B. Stone’s Fruit Tree fertilizer, then there is 0.07 pounds of actual nitrogen for every pound of fertilizer.
To calculate how much fertilizer to apply, divide the amount of actual nitrogen the fruit tree needs by the amount of actual nitrogen per pound in the fertilizer.
So, using the previous examples, a five-year-old apple tree needs 0.5 lb of nitrogen. The E.B. Stone Fruit Tree Fertilizer has an N-value of 7 on the package, meaning it has 0.07 lb nitrogen per pound of fertilizer. Half a pound, or 0.5 lb, divided by 0.07 lb equals 7 lbs. The answer–7 pounds–is the amount of this fertilizer to apply to the fruit tree.
Step 5: Applying the Fertilizer
To help the fruit tree “eat” the fertilizer most efficiently, apply the fertilizer evenly starting a foot away from the trunk and continue all the way to the “drip line.” The drip line is the perimeter of the tree’s furthest reaching branches.
The easiest way to do this is simply by spreading the fertilizer on the ground and raking it in.
Digging a series of small holes is another method of applying fertilizer. It is a bit more work, but it best ensures the fertilizer is getting to the fruit tree roots, especially when using a fertilizer containing less-soluble nutrients like phosphorus and mycorrhizae.
Dig the holes six inches down and 12” to 18” apart, throughout the same area as you would have spread the fertilizer. To make the digging job easy you can use an auger attachment with a cordless drill. Sprinkle a little bit of fertilizer in each hole until it is used up.
Once you have finished fertilizing, spread an inch-deep layer of compost around the fruit tree and water well.
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