Do they NEED fertilizing? With moderately decent soil, most woody plants (trees and shrubs) need very little supplemental fertilization, ever. They get what they need from the soil. If you have determined that they do - and really, only a soil test will indicate if this is necessary - then most broadleaved evergreen shrubs will benefit from an acidic fertilizer......like what you would use for rhododendrons and azaleas.

bazinga gal ...

another way of saying it is ... they are shrubs.. not children.. they dont need feeding.. bathing.. nor a college education ...

save your money for something else ... like more carefree shrubs ...

ken

you've asked a question to a crowd that will only provide one answer.

in the interest of answering your question, yes. one kind of fertilizer will do the job quite nicely. I'd recommend a slow release such as osmocote. a little goes a long way.

Now that's a good idea Wayne. Sometimes we just want to fertilize and Osmocote is a good one. Maybe use half strength if your plants in the garden.

And buy more plants : )

If the plants look healthy and don't seem to need fertilizer, why mess with what's working? I think a lot of gardeners add fertilizers because they believe the advertisements from companies like Scott's, but there are at least as many questions on these forums that seem to be related to the misuse of fertilizers and other supplements as lack of fertilizer. Fertilizer companies are in the business of selling, not doing what is best for plants. So unless the plants show off-color, I'd let them be.

Well, another good answer is that fertilizer is seldom needed by woodies planted in the ground.

the exceptions are where the soil is known to have specific problems.

Understand that if you fertilize, then you must prune more often than if you left it to its own devices.

Further, some folks want to accelerate tree growth. Those folks, and more, need to know that fertilizer tends to produce weak wood. Weak wood is brittle. And tends to break in wind storms and when weighed down by snow.

I don't fertilize because I love to improve my soil, but if someone was itching to fertilize, if the advertising had got to them, then a tinsy bit of Osmocoat makes more sense to me that a packet of rubbish with a fancy name and a picture of a plant that has never seen that fertilzer in its life.

I think garden centres make more money from selling unnecessary products (i.e. most of their products) than the money that they make from selling plants.

Thank you all for your informative answers! I'll just say "no" to fertilizing them:)