Tree fertilization: the pros and cons of fertilizing our trees

Many of the larger tree care companies offer tree health care along with their list of surgical methods. Tree health care is an invaluable service for those who truly care about their trees and want to keep them healthy despite any problems they may encounter as a result of being in an urban or suburban environment. The methods used by professional arborists in practicing tree health care are the result of scientific study in botany, horticulture, agriculture, and arboriculture. Brilliant minds at universities with the time and resources to study plant life at the cellular and molecular level have provided arborists with information that, when applied correctly, can save and prolong the life of trees.

It’s good to know that there are medical solutions to the problems that sometimes plague our beloved trees. But only because it’s labeled “plant health careand it’s managed by a man in a green uniform doesn’t really mean it’s the right way to go. doctors to administer the medicine the right way. We know the science is there. Unfortunately, what is often missing in both cases is the well-studied physician.

Have you noticed that there is an overuse of drugs that were developed to treat human medical conditions, such as attention deficit disorder and depression? The overprescription of these drugs is an indisputable fact. The social scientists who discovered and studied the conditions also noted the percentage of the population affected. The medicine is prescribed to a percentage of the population, in some cases, that is 100 times greater than the number with the disorder. There is no doubt that medicine helps those who suffer from the disorder, but what does it do to those who are not afflicted? This is a question worth discussing in another forum.

In the case of our trees, have you noticed that the usual recipe for tree trouble is deep root fertilization? Why would this be? I have witnessed arborists prescribe and sell fertilizer before testing the composition of the soil they are fertilizing. This is a classic example of medicating without diagnosing. The fact that an arborist adds something to the soil suggests that something is missing from the soil. The only way to know this is to test it in a laboratory. The real question (besides the obvious question of spending money) is what harm can be done if we fertilize a tree that doesn’t need it? Let’s talk about it.

In a way, fertilizer is to trees what steroids or growth hormones are to humans. Promotes growth and vitality. It also tends to silence or disable the body’s natural defenses against disease. Like humans and animals, trees react to invasion by activating their own immune defense. Fertilizers can sometimes “trick” a tree into having vitality. In the process, the tree stops or slows down the production of chemicals at the cellular level that fight off invading pests and diseases. So, despite an outward appearance of health, the parasite that is causing the problem can grow unrestricted by the tree’s immune system.

If the diagnosis of the patient (human or tree) is that it is lacking in nutrients, then it is useful to apply fertilizer as a treatment. But without this diagnosis, fertilizer as a treatment is simply bad practice. If an arborist suggests fertilizer on your first visit to his property, he should be careful. He may be prescribing the only treatment he knows or is willing to apply. A good arborist, one who is truly committed to caring for the health of trees, will spend time diagnosing so that treatment will fix the problem.

Let’s not be afraid to ask the health professionals (arborists and doctors) what exactly is causing the problem. We should not take pills unless we know we have a condition that the pills are treating. And we shouldn’t treat trees unless we know they have a condition that the treatment cures.