What Is It?
Deep root fertilization is the process of applying fertilizer directly on or near tree roots. This is different from the conventional method of applying fertilizer on the soil surface and letting it leach into the soil, eventually reaching the roots.
How Is It Done?
As you can imagine, deep root fertilization is not easy to do with solid fertilizer because it is not easy to introduce fertilizer deep into the soil. Therefore, the first thing you need is your chosen fertilizer brand in it its liquid form.
Next, you need a way to introduce the fertilizer into the soil, and this is usually achieved by a deep root feeder – a special pump that injects liquid deep into the soil under high pressure. For commercial application, the liquid fertilizer is usually contained in a reservoir at the back of the truck, with the deep root feeder attached, so that it can move from tree to tree for the injection.
Lastly, you need to know how deep your tree roots grow so that you know exactly how deep the fertilizer is to be injected. Otherwise, you may inject the fertilizer too deep into the soil (which means it won't help your trees) or inject it just beneath the soil surface where it can't help your plants with deep roots. Don't forget that different trees have different root depths; a tree professional can help you determine what depth this is for your trees.
The Advantages
Deep root fertilization looks like too much of a hassle for some people (even though it's not that technically difficult), but it does have its advantages. Here are some of these advantages:
The Fertilization Doesn't Affect Other Plants
One of the problems with conventional tree fertilization is that it usually ends up affecting other plants that were not targeted for fertilization. In a typical yard with trees and lawn grass, surface fertilization can affect the lawn grass and either make it too much green or even kill it. In fact, many people end up applying too little fertilizer to their plants because they don't want to affect other plants. You can easily avoid this problem using deep root fertilization.
You Don't Waste Fertilizer
Another advantage of deep root fertilization is that your trees will absorb most of the applied fertilizer. This is basically for two main reasons; first, the fertilizer is in liquid form and secondly, the fertilizer is injected right to the roots.
For more information about tree services, visit websites like http://www.hodgsontreeservice.com.