Have you ever heard that healthy trees grow from happy soil? It is true and in this article we are going to give you some basics when trying to get the best soil for your tree. We want your tree to last for years and it all starts with the soil.
If you live in the suburbs it is a little tougher to grow trees but you do see trees all over but definitely not impossible. You want to give it the best resources so that your tree is healthy. That means the best nutrients, the right amount of water, the right amount of room, and the correct amount of sunlight. See, the difference in soil from the suburbs to the forest is organic matter. The forest floor contains a lot of organic matter which brings plenty of nutrients to the soil so that the tree life can thrive. That is what we need to do for your soil. It all starts with the soil.
First thing we need to do with that lifeless suburb soil is get some life into it. That means get organic matter mixed with it and aerate it in a way that creates microbes that will bring life to it. The happier the microbe life in the soil the happier the tree. How do we do this?
We do this through deep root fertilization. If you already have the tree planted you can do this as well. You will need to dig a circle around the tree. Go about 3 feet out from the tree. If you do not want to dig a complete circle pick out 4 places you can dig holes around the tree.
Once you have the holes dug you will go to the store and buy a fertilizer. Make sure the nitrogen content is less than 10%. If it is over 10% you could over fertilize and that may spell bad news for you plants. For those that don’t know it could kill your plants.
The soil that you dug from the holes will be put in a wheelbarrow. Do the soil from one hole at a time. . It will allow you to mix around easily. Mix some of the fertilizer according to the instructions to your soil. You will also get a bag of organic matter. Mix half a bag of organic matter to the soil as well. You are doing 3 things when you mix this together. 1 you are aerating 2 you are fertilizing 3 you are putting microbes in with the organic matter.
Here is a convenient list when you go to the store.
- Fertilizer
- Organic matter
- Wheelbarrel
Once you have mixed each of these to the soil that came out of the ground go ahead and fill back in the holes. Once you fill in the holes the rain will automatically bleed the nutrients into the roots of the tree. It will provide everything through the soil that the tree needs.
There are other things that this doesn’t help with. The other things are adequate water and sunlight. Once you have those things you can be sure your tree will grow to its full potential.