Hello again. I have a question about fertilizer that maybe some of you could shed some light on. I planted some of my Japanese Maples this weekend because things are starting to cool down a bit. I used some topsoil, compost, a bit of sulfur to lower the ph and some of this stuff called Tree Tone. It is an organic fertilizer and it talked about how it is good for trees because of some beneficial microbes. I read somewhere about the benefit of certain microbes and how they are good for Japanese Maples, so I used the stuff.

However, I also have been reading more recently about how people do not like to use much fertilizer with their Japanese Maples. Also, when people do use fertilizer, they like to do it early in the spring, not at the beginning of summer. Lastly, the stuff I was reading talked about how fertilizers that are low in nitrogen are usually considered better for JMs for some reason.

I'm wondering if I should keep using the Tree Tone because it is technically a fertilizer. It's kind of too late for some of my trees because I already planted them with the Tree Tone. But I still have a couple of trees left to plant soon so I'm curious to see what people think. Here is some basic information about Tree Tone: It is 6% Nitrogen, 3% Phosphate and 2% Potash. Also it contains several various micro-organisms. The bag says that you ought to use the fertilizer either early in the spring before growth, or after the leaves fall off in the fall. Obviously I'm breaking that rule, so there is one problem.

To put it simply, here is what I want to know. Should I be using this stuff when I plant my JMs if I am doing it in the summer? I am not going to wait till fall or next spring to plant, so timing is not really what I'm curious about. I just want to know if it would be wise to use this type of fertilizer considering the fact that I'm planting in early summer.

I'm also slightly curious about another product made by the same folks called Holly Tone. The numbers are a little bit more favorable: 4-3-4. Also, it is designed for more acid loving plants which some of my Japanese Maples are. So would using Holly Tone be better for my plan?