To be real scientific you need to have the soil tested. Otherwise it is kinda a crap shoot.

FWIW my neighbor just throws maricle grow on everything and it seems to work for him.

I don't fertilize anything because I am scared of growing a forty foot tree that needs me to fertilize it every year for eternity else it dies lol.

A friend of mine planted about 100 Green Giants about three years ago. They were about 18-24" tall when he planted them. Green Giants are pretty deer resistant, but where my friend and I live there are just too many deer in a small area (island) for that to mean much. The first year he planted these 100 Green Giants, the deer destroyed about 25 of them. After he replaced them, I recommended that he start using Milorganite fertilizer around the trees to keep the deer away. (It's an unadvertized fact that Milorganite acts as a deer repellent.) He started dumping Milorganite around the base of the trees on the perimeter of his property and the following year those were nearly 2ft. taller than the other trees (same growing conditions). Needless to say he started using it around all the Green Giants and this year some of the ones that he started using it on first are taller than me (6ft.).

I started using Milorganite on my lawn a few years ago to keep the deer away that were eating my plants and it did wonders for my lawn. I started dumping it around all my perennials, mixing it in with the potting soil for my annuals, and tilling it into my vegetable garden. Everything improved! The stuff is like the Frank's Red Hot commercial... I put that s*#& on everything!

I'm not sure it's the "best" fertilizer for your Green Giants, but it's definitely good. In the past I was always afraid to fertilize because I'd overdone it too many times and killed/burned too many plants and lawn. Milorganite is organic, so you can't really use too muich... it will just sit there on/in the soil until the soil microorganisms can consume it.

Good luck!

I want to feed vitamin and mineral pills to a friend of mine. I know nothing of his current diet, nutritional needs, or eating habits, but have just decided to feed him some pills. Can you please tell me which pills and how many pills to feed him per day?

Brandon,

I'll play with that game...

Vitamin D deficiency is widespread problem. Solution? 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day. No testing needed. The chances are that you're already deficient in it anyway. The reason? Sunblock lotion, Sun Scare and ridiculously low recommended daily amount (just 600 IU a day).

Ok. I'm done with that game! ;-)

OK Lou,

Upon your recommendation, I asked my friend how much vitamin D he was getting. He estimates 4500 IU/day. I told him you still recommended more. He was worried about something called toxicity, but I told him that you had assured me he would be fine with 9500 IU/day or even more.

Brandon

ps.... You can't ask your plants how much of any nutrient they are getting, but you can look for signs and get a soil test if you believe there is a need for additional fertilizer.