The colder than normal temperatures this Spring have kept the landscape plants “on hold.”
As soon as the temperatures warm up, the plant metabolism will speed up. As a plant actively grows, fertilizer provides the “building blocks” that it needs to build it’s parts. If you have not applied any fertilizer, do it now.
If you applied an early spring dose, it is time to make another application. Chalet’s favorites are the Espoma brand “Tones”; Holly-Tone, Rose-Tone, Tree-Tone, Garden-Tone and Flower-Tone. They are made from organically based ingredients like feather-meal, poultry manure, bone meal, and alfalfa meal.
Many of them have 2% sulfur, which gently lowers the pH of our very alkaline soils. Each application lasts for one month as the nutrients are slowly released by beneficial microbes in the soil. These products are healthy for the soil as well as the plants. We advise that you apply only through the end of July.
For our landscape plants, any fertilizer applied in late summer or early fall is like giving children chocolate 10 minutes before bedtime. The plants ignore the signals from Mother Nature (cooler night temperatures and shorter days); and do not go dormant. This makes them more susceptible to early freezing and other Winter Damage. Always read the directions before applying.
