Help; I've recently moved to Maple Ridge and have planted hedges in the front of my yard last October.The trees didn't look healthy after planting which I assumed to be the result of very wet weather.As you know the whole winter was wet and the trees didn't recover at all,so in April or so when it dried out I sprinkled them with high in nitrogen fertilizer and put a soaker hose on them at a slow trickle for 24 hours a day.I've used this method at my previous residence with great success.The trees responded negatively so I stopped watering immediately,feeling that perhaps I was overwatering and dug a few of them up to inspect their root system.The roots appeared to be healthy but the soil was wet, so I continued on throughout the summer nursing them,or so I thought, with bi-monthly dousings of Miracle Grow,no other watering.Some trees appeared to not pick up,but most did,the unhealthy ones looking light in colour and the branches laying flat instead of standing up.Going in to September I appeared to have it beat with most trees looking relatively healthy and having to replace approximately 20% of them to make the hedge look respectable.It's late September and I don't like what I see,the outer edges of the tree appear dark green in colour but when you open the boughs the previoulsy green coloured internal boughs are yellow and easily pulled off of their stocks. Now suspecting a ph imbalance in the soil, I have purchased a soil testing kit and the results show the ph to be 6.5, nitrogen level 8, phosporous level 4.8, and the potash level 5.5. I am under the impression that these trees prefer a slightly acidic ph so I feel the soil to be lacking in phosporous and potash. What are your recommendations? Thank you.
