I am familiar with compost tea for use in gardens and for lawn care, but am uncertain if this is an effective fertilization method for trees. I'd like to hear some opinions from other professional arborists before I make a decision. Thank you!
Answer this question for me.
In a forest, or rain forest, are the trees fertilized ever?
Synthetic or chemical fertilizers ARE NOT the answer, but building a comprehensive soil food web is.
I liken trees being fertilized to people on life support. Wouldn't you rather a self supportive environment?
Deep root fertilizing, spears go down and inject a solution, lots of evidence suggesting it's very beneficial to the applicators bank balance rather than the soil profile and tree roots.
You can make your own tea easily, but better still .... why not simply mix a concoction of readily available ingredients and water in. Mix up some seaweed product,
soluble silicon, mycorrhizal fungi, liquid blood and bone and a dash of soil wetting agent all in a watering can with rainwater and water in. Might have to mix a few watering cans up that's all.
Mulch (natural in forests) is also a key component, lawn around trees not so good, so see if you can get a better environment for your trees.
Not all mulches are good either, avoid the 100% bark one (pine bark mostly) and the fine ones, best ones are coarse mulches preferably aged from wood chippers of tree guys, they contain a blend of leaves, wood and bark.
There's some good info here about
fertilizers, soils, and
fungi.