Looks pretty good... anything you buy at the local big box store will say to fertilize... there really isn't any need to. I haven't fertilized anything of mine (big box store or specialty)

NEVER fertilize a stressed plant ...

a recent transplant is stressed ...

from other posts.. you have decent soil ... and i will yell ....

NOTHING WILL EVER NEED TO BE FED ...

besides ... in a few years.. the roots will be under the lawn.. and if you fert that.. they will get all they need ...

just remember.. they are not children.. they do NOT need to be fed.. bathed.. diapered.. schooled .. etc ...

i mean really who fed the monster trees behind them ????

no need to make the fert salesman boat payment.. move on..

the ONLY thing these things need .. is PROPER WATERING FOR TWO YEARS ... and then ignore them ...

except for tying them up every winter.. since they look like multi-leadered plants ....

ken

Try to resist the urge to get instant gratification from buying large box store plants vs. Harder to find, but more optimal specimens. Emerald green are a huge headache in our area due to snow load.. now you will have to babysit those trees every winter by wrapping them with twine or they will be ruined by next spring... multi-leader and snow don't mix... you would have been better off getting something like Thuja occidentalis 'Hetz Wintergreen'

So....in conclusion don't fertilize...and your yard looks great. Nice Job

Shawn

Thanks all! No fertilizer.
And yes, I know we will have to wrap them. Only 1 out of the 6 looks like it may be a single leader. For that spot though, we did want instant gratification.

Need for fertilizer depends on individual circumstances, same as taking of vitamins etc.

Agree with Ken's first 3 lines, but not the fourth. Some sandy soils leach everything and for example, some palms in Florida must be periodically fertilized.
Never fertilize a newly _purchased_ perennial (intended to last more than a year) plant, ever.
A newly _transplanted_ plant that was already suffering a nutritional deficiency, a rare situation, can benefit from light fertilization.
Bboy, I'm so close to making a joke about recent legislative changes in your wonderful state. Not sure what you mean -- taking of vitamins? There was a theory that B1 & C helped new transplants and many products were sold along those lines, I myself used the cool looking 1990s "Roots 2" for a while. Not sure if there is actual proof of effectiveness from scientific research though. But again, probably not needed with healthy nursery stock.
I did something kinda crazy when I moved a huge 8' Abies firma 2 autumns ago. I mixed a cup of sugar in with the water I used to rehydrate the root ball. I'll never know if it made that much a difference, probably not. The thing made it in spite of a real hatchet job of a move though.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 15:47

See Linda Chalker-Scott web pages for modern cultural information (including her discussion of Vitamin B-1) as well as the Gardening Professors pages she links to.

I checked out her website. Interesting.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Thu, May 2, 13 at 12:38

The big giants behind are fed by nature,leaves twigs that compost and fed trees in a natural setting these trees that are in a yard and raked and foolishly cleaned out all the time definately need feeding.Have a large blue spruce that was dieing of malnutrician ,35/40 ft started a compost pile under it and threw everything in it including fresh dog poop and it has come back and starting to florish.