go dig them up.. and throw them away ...

what did your soil test indicate.. that convinced you your trees will EVER need fert???

they are trees .. not children. .they dont need to be fed ...

and i suspect there are thousands of trees in your area... that no one feeds ...

ken

btw .. if you fert your lawn.. your trees will grow roots under the lawn .. and get everything they will ever need ...

...but the bigger factor is, fertilizer spikes are a ridiculous way to deliver nutrients-even in cases where there is justification for fertilizing. simply broadcasting granular material over the top is what you want to do. Beware of "deep root fertilization" as offered by some firms. Roots are not deep and in particular, the feeder roots that actually do the job of absorbing water and nutrients are mostly just under the surface, facing upward.

Placing a large concentration of nutrients in tiny little areas, a la fertilizer spikes, makes no sense to a tree which has roots running all over the place. A terrible product that just won't die.

According to the soil test we are extremely low in potassium and phosphorus and borderline on other nutrients. The dirt where we planted the trees is a combination of dry clay and builder fill.

I dug the spikes out, crushed them up and spread them like granular fertilizer. We initially chose the spikes because the ground is sloped and we thought the spikes would keep the fertilizer in place longer rather than just letting it run off.

Thanks for the info. We will just use the granular stuff from now on.

Yeah, I can see that. Oh well, ya done good to still use the material. Sounds like maybe not so great of soil. Almost any go-to-hell soil tests out OK for potash and phosphate.

Have you mulched around the trees? That is probably the single most cost-effective thing you can do to enhance the health and boost the growth of your young trees.

Mulch protects from temperature and water extremes, fights weeds a little and turns into future fertilizer.

I am impressed you did the soil test btw.

Honestly I am not sure what I would do if my yard was short of something. What IF I planted a Sugar maple which needed this or that to thrive amd I gave it this or that. In 20 years it might STILL need this or that and it would be 50 foot tall and need a lot of this or that!

Oh, I don't bag either. Clippings while a mess are future soil.

We did spread hardwood mulch over the whole area when we planted the trees. But because of the slope, most of the finer material has washed away. I've been thinking we should add more mulch around the trees. I've heard of people using compost as mulch. Would that be a good option?

Im hijacking for just a sec. Are the spikes useless for fruit trees also?

Bossy, fertilizer spikes in general are a very poor method of fertilizing anything, even houseplants.

dang! wasted $

Yes, it depends on the exact nature of the compost. First of all, only well-cured material should ever be used for anything. In such composts, bits of leaves or twigs may still appear to be leaves or twigs, but when handled, easily disintegrate.

Second, what is the texture of the material? I'm thinking fine stuff may also be washed away, while courser material may hang around better. So there's that.\

Otherwise, there's no particular reason to not use compost in this way. Sure, I prefer shredded bark and/or wood chips, but this should work as well.