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heatherdavids

feeding fruit trees via watering stake

Heatherdavids
10 years ago

I have recently added deep-watering stakes to my eight stone-fruit trees, most of which are about three years old and have not been consistently fruitful. The irrigation system shrubblers go right into the deep-watering stakes. The trees are watered twice a week when there is no rain.

It is time for the February feeding with fruit tree fertilizer granules, but I don't know
a) whether I should drop into the watering stakes THE SAME AMOUNT that I would normally sprinkle around each tree, and
b) whether it should be dropped in ALL AT ONCE or if this will clog the stakes.
c) whether I should immediately follow the granules with WATER POURED INTO THE STAKES to activate the feeding process. Is it best to do this by hose (stronger flow) or by manually running the sprinkler system (weaker flow)?
(It is raining about once a week now so I have turned off the automatic running of the sprinkler system. The stakes are capped, so rainwater does not get in.)

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Comment (1)

  • Charlie
    10 years ago

    Basicly, you need to provide gradual release of the fertilizer. If you desolve it in the water provided to the trees, my suggestion would be to feed less ferilizer more often during growth periods. I don't know how stakes work, but the goal of gradual release over the growth period would remain. I often desolve fertilizer in water and then water my trees with the solution. For other trees that are larger, I spread the fertilizer granuals around the root absorbment area and then water. The fertilizer is gradually desolve by the water over a period of 3-4 waterings/rainfalls.

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