Is this tree going to live?

[treeseer]

do you recall the study where they wrapped wounds with Saran Wrap immediately after wounding to hold ethylene released by the tree close to the wound area, and got statistically better closure?

Yeah that was interesting, and worth experimenting with.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Yeah that was interesting, and worth experimenting with.

But it begs the question, does the faster wound closure mean less decay?
I think not.

 

[Ed Roland]

I don't doubt different plants roots utilize the same elements, or occupy the same soil space. That's my point. You can't fertilize one without affecting the other.
Grass roots, like tree roots, grow where ever the oxygen, water, and fertility are best. If that's deep, they both grow deep, if that is near the surface, they both grow near the surface.
Why then is tree fertilizer soil injected with a spray rig? Because the process then becomes a specialty, that a homeowner can't do himself, not because it's best.

I stumbled upon this old thread and had some new thoughts:

I was a lackey at the Bartlett Tree Lab trying to soak up all the info i could get from those guys while Dr. Smiley was developing root 'invigoration'. I have run an airspade for several hundred hours. How many times have you blown the turf off the CRZ only to find fibrous root material from the tree penetrating much deeper than the turf roots? Most.

It is no doubt much, or even, most of the trees fibrous roots share the same space within the soil as the turf. BUT, there is the statistical advantage to the tree for utilizing those deep root injected elements. This is the reason it is, in ideal soil, injected 8" below the surface. Combine that with the fact that surface applied phosphorus can runoff before it binds to soil particles and the case is made for deep root injected fert.

A stressed tree IS stressed even further when some generic high N fert is applied. The tree will have to deal with that, assuming the ph value is in range. But, it can be just as bad neglecting the necessary elements needed for proper fertility. A slow release product is best.

To use a human analogy, I'm under my ideal weight by about 10 pounds, should I eat 2 pounds of butter a day until I gain it? That's how I see fertilizing.
I much prefer a more holistic approach. Try to duplicate a natural optimal growing condition. Plant in groups, excluded mowed lawn, include different levels of foliage from tall trees to ground covers, have enough topsoil to support the plants, don't remove plant litter, water during drought, and if you live in an area with specific elemental deficiency or pH problems, try to use slow release surface applications (unless run off is a problem). .

Look, Mike, You got to show the plant who's Boss! Man over nature.
Don't show up at the client site with a chip box full of grass clippings to fertilize their tree. NO SIR< you show up with a gas powered deep root fert injector. Show that tree who is in control by injecting the supplemental elements into the critical root zone with 200 psi!

Lets find out what the goal of fertilization is. Is it growth, maintenance, correcting deficiency, pest problem or even root damage? Have the soil analyzed and get those elements below the turf. That whole NATURAL and GREEN movement is voodoo. The e-coli that infected the spinach crop this summer was from "natural" fertilizer - cow manure. Man made fert is pure and free of e-coli. The plant does not know the difference.

Performing deep root injected fertilization and corrections to potential hydrogen is NOT bad horticulture. It is good business.