have you tested your soil?

unless a soil test indicates something is missing from your soil ... there is no need ...

my 500 conifers are on glacial sand.. and in 15 years.. i have NEVER fertd ...

they are trees.. not children ...

if any are struggling.. in the same yard that others are not.. its probably NOT a nutritional issue ... more likely bad roots .... or improper planting ...

all that said.. a little of this or that probably wont hurt ... the numbers dont matter.. as long as it isnt high nitro lawn fert ...

a bag of 12-12-12 or 14 or 16 cubed.. is good as any foo foo brand name nonsense ... use exceedingly sparingly ... they simple dont need it ...

i wish you luck ...

ken

ps: i cant grow cypress in my z5 MI ... you will get a lot further with your plants.. if you get some IDs ... and that can be had here with some pic ...

BTW .. in my MI ... two severe winters have damaged a lot of mine.. again.. they are not hungry.. they are severely stressed ... and food only helps stressed peeps... not plants ...

From the way I understand it, if you're using manure (well-aged of course) or any other type of bulk wood mulch, a lot of the nitrogen in the soil will be used to break it down. That means there is less N for plants to use. Even though I use a lot of manure as mulch, I found that fertilizing once a year has done wonders for stimulating nice dense growth on all of my trees and shrubs and other plants. The fertilizer I use is urea. It's the same urea that you would put down on your lawn around the last mowing of the year, before your lawn goes dormant for the winter. The urea profile is usually 46-0-0. Trees primarily use N, and not much P or K. I'll spread urea around my plants immediately after fertilizing the lawn/

Not to sound disgusting--this is a serious question: can you use diluted urine instead to fertilize? We're in a severe drought--with things looking even worse in future climate projections--and I've often thought about peeing near my trees to give them supplemental water and N.

Ha, good question. I pee outside quite a lot, but it's usually for convenience. I even keep a gallon milk jug in both our shed and garage that I sometimes use and then pour on top of our compost bin. Urine should be diluted at a ratio of 1 to 8 parts water. Keep in mind that any drugs you are taking can have a negative effect on your plants. Also, organic veggies and grass-fed meats equal better quality pee. Overdosing your plants could be a problem?? Check the Hippy forums for advice on how much and how often to apply to plants.

"Nitrogen drag", or the supposed tying up of nitrogen by woody or other cellulosic mulches and/or soil amendments is more theory than reality. IOW's, the idea makes sense-that decay organisms could "rob" N from the soil matrix as they do their job of breaking down these organic materials. Trouble with that idea though is that it's rarely if ever been proven to actually be taking place. Now if we discount your manure for a moment-that's really taking things in a different direction-and focus just on low-N organic materials like woodchips or bark, realize that even though I just described these things as low in nitrogen, they do contain some. So in reality, when one applies these materials to their system, they are adding N, not depleting it. So, what actually takes place? Sure enough, decay microorganisms do require N to do their life's work. Then what happens? Well, these organisms are not immortal. They die and immediately return the N back to the system. I wouldn't plant a tree or any other plant in straight wood, but generally, this nitrogen drag is wildly overemphasized by folks. Further, should a planting indeed show signs of N deficiency, a light topdressing of N fertilizer can easily make up for any lack.

+oM

One thing IS know. Wood chips as a mulch will not tie up nitrogen. Mixed into the soil could tie up nitrogen, but not on top.
Pamela, if your trees are anywhere near a lawn that gets ferts, you definitely needn't worry about ferts. I'd let your trees recover on their own for now. And yes, please define your term "cypresses" as it can mean quite different plants.

tj