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Re: Tree fertilization

In a message dated 98-10-14 07:35:49 EDT, you write:

<< I have two Prunus Thundercloud plum trees which were planted about ten
 feet apart back in 1994.  One looks great, one doesn't.  Not as full, not
 keeping its leaves, more dead twigs. I read I should fertilize it when
 all the leaves fall off this fall.  Is this a good idea and what would be
 the best thing to use to fertilize?
  >>

Pam--

Fertilizing in the fall is not recommended because plants need time to "harden
off" 
before their winter dormancy.  Fertilizer in the fall can produce of new,
succulent growth which is then killed by the cold winter temperatures.  This
is particularly true of high nitrogen, fast release fertilizers.  

Spring would be the best time for you to fertilize your Prunus.  Even then,
remember that it takes a lot of energy for a plant to synthesize fertilizer.
When you fertilize a stressed tree, it may not have the energy necessary to
process the nutrients, and you may thus only add further stress. This is
especially true of high-nitrogen fertilizers.  For that reason,  I would never
give anything but a low analysis, slow-release, organic fertilizer to an
ailing tree.  That is unless the tree was known to have a nutrition-related
problem. It would take a lab test of the soil, and perhaps plant tissue to
determine this.  Prunus grows well in average soil, so it is unlikely to be a
nutrition deficit causing the problem.  

Plums are prone to a number of disease and insect problems.  Are there spots
on the leaves?  Since only one of your trees is affected, have you checked the
stressed one for injuries on the trunk?  Are there cracks?  Stem cankers?
Fungal organisms growing from the root zone?   Your tree may have had a stem
or root injury in the past, perhaps at the nursery.  Sometimes it takes years
for an injury to produce symptoms in a tree.  Since the other tree is not
affected, I would suspect that this not an infectuous disease, but rather some
sort of mechanical injury, or perhaps drainage or other cultural condition.
Then again, stressed trees are much, much more likely to be infected by
disease than healthy ones, so it could be a disease.  

What you can do for your tree in the fall is make sure it is adequately
watered.  But remember that Plums need good drainage.  Be careful not to
overwater.  (The symptoms for overwatering and poor drainage can look very
much like symptoms for drought stress.)  And you can prune out any dead wood
now.  But, I would say, NO fertilizer until spring.  --Janis 

P.S.  Where do you live?
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