Re: Are Best Tabs best?
- Subject: Re: Are Best Tabs best?
- From: J* S* <t*@yahoo.com>
- Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 07:42:01 -0800 (PST)
Too many myths and bad practices going on here. Mostly because we do some things a certain way because we've always done them that way.
1. Not all plants need fertilizer. At any time. Some plants actually resent it and can even be damaged by it. Mediterranean plants are particularly susceptible to fertilizer damage. Australian plants, such as Grevillea, seem to be at the top of the list for such damage.
2. Fertilizing at planting time is a waste of time, money, material at best. Studies have shown that 80-90% or more of a fertilizer used at planting is leached away before the newly-planted plant develops enough roots to actually use a significant amount of the fertilizer.
3. The best method of fertilization -- if and when needed -- is to apply a fertilizer across the ENTIRE root zone as it parallels the "drip line". And then some -- slightly beyond the drip line to feed those roots that expand outwards. "Tabs", "sticks", "stakes", etc. aren't efficient in this regard.
4. Best Tabs are a synthetic fertilizer high in salts. The salts alone break down the structure of the soil, suppress beneficial bacteria and fungi, including the valuable mycorrhizal fungi, and dehydrate plant roots.
Dig a hole, break up and clean up the native soil and put it back in the hole when you backfill. That's all. No amendment, no B1 and no fertilizer. Not even worm castings.
Joe
Joe Seals Landscape Designer, Horticultural Consultant Pismo Beach, California Home/Office: 805-295-6039 --- On Fri, 12/5/08, N Sterman <nsterman@plantsoup.com> wrote: From: N Sterman <nsterman@plantsoup.com> |
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