Dave Wilson Nursery: Fertilizing the First Season of Container Soil Tests

Hi, I'm Bridget with Dave Wilson Nursery and we are out here with our mini genetic dwarf peaches and nectarines and these trees we are trialing in a soil mix trial for the next three to five years to see how well they grow in pots. So far they're doing really well but it's been about six months and it's so it's time to feed them. Fruit trees that are planted in pots do not have access to the same kind of nutrients that they would have if they were in the ground so we need to make sure that we refeed and we like to refeed August-September and it's September 1st so I'm right on time. Fertilizing your citrus and deciduous fruit trees at this time of the year is really important because it allows the trees to be prepared for the winter months as well as supported in the next growing season. So just like when you're fertilizing in the ground when you fertilize in a pot you're feeding that soil's microbiology. We're going to use this acid fertilizer for these trees today for two reasons. One is these trees prefer a lower pH and the water that we have out here has a higher pH so I really like using this acid fertilizer because it helps to lower that pH in the soil as well as maintain the microbiology. You don't need to use the same acid fertilizer I used if you can't find this exact one. Head down to your local independent garden center and ask them for an acid fertilizer and they'll get you squared away. So we're going to get mixing and for containers that are about 12 to 18 inches around you need about a three-fourths of a cup and for containers that are 20 to 24 inches you need about a cup and a half. So we're just going to pour this all around the top. Nice even layer for each can about a cup and a half. It might seem like it's a lot but it's almost impossible to over fertilize using organic fertilizer. For container growing fruit trees we recommend fertilizing three times a year late January to February late April to May and then this time late August September allows your tree to have a consistent flow of nutrients throughout the growing season. So we are watering our trees in now so that our fertilizer gets below that mulch line all the way down into the soil. This goes the way that I want it I'll be able to just come out here and garden anytime I want just like I do at my house. Bye guys