I know it's more Alkaline but is it a bad idea to use Chicken Manure for Japanese Maples? I sprinkled some of Jobe's All Purpose Fertilizer but will it hurt more than help? NPK 4-4-4 Calclum 9% Sulfur 0.8% "Jobe's Organics All Purpose Granular Fertilizer & Soil Amendment 4-4-4. Delivers faster results with the new exclusive Biozome (Archaea) Formula. This product increases microbial activity and helps break down organic matter. Jobe's is proud to introduce you to new organics. Derived from: Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Composted Poultry, Manure, Sulfate of Potash. Also Contains Non-Plant Food Ingredients: Bacteria (CFU's/ lb.) : Contains 12,606 colony forming units (CFU's) of: Arthrobacter Globiformis, Arthrobacter simplex, azotobacter Chroococcum, Azobacter paspali, Azosprillum lipoferum, Strepomyces griseoflavis and Pseudomonas fluorescens." What do you guys think? I'll need to flush dozens of my maples out if it's not good :D hahaha...I should have asked before applying.
A bunch of ingredients there you probably don't need, in this region gardened soils are often only deficient in nitrogen. Without sampling your soil and having it analyzed you are just operating on assumptions. This is always the case when people throw fertilizers on soils that have not been tested.
A low dosage of this stuff is not going to harm anything, certainly a much better idea than a chemical fertilizer, and unlikely to be applied in amounts that could cause an excess of any particular nutrients. True enough, it is a waste of money if not needed, but then again it is much cheaper than a proper soil test.
Either enough of a specific deficient nutrient is applied to correct a deficiency - if there is one - or the entire exercise is pointless. And phosphorus, for all practical purposes does not leach. If you keep putting it on, when enough is already present a toxicity will eventually be produced.
