Maybe I haven't been paying attention but I don't remember reading much advice on this forum about fertilizing Japanese maples. The best thing I can say about the soil mine are growing in is that it drains well, with rock and sand under barely a foot of 'proper' soil. There can't be many nutrients available although I don't see any problems with the trees that would indicate a deficiency. Should I be fertilizing proactively as part of a regular mainenance plan as the trees grow ever taller? If the answer is 'yes' what would be best to use? Thank you.
Hi Margot, I know many people do not fertilise their maples at all and their trees do fairly well. I use a slow release granular fertiliser for acid loving plants (Miracle Grow). I do this in late April only and it feeds for about 3 months, I live Southern England. I do this every year without fail and have done so for the last twenty years. Before that I used a liquid feed for the previous twenty years. I did find that the liquid feed gave a quick burst of growth compared to the granular slow release feed. The one thing I have done for the past several years is to leave all of the Autumn leaves on the ground to rot naturally and this has been even more beneficial than any feeding. We gardeners are often too tidy for our own good and do not look at how well woodlands do with years of rotten material feeding trees naturally.
Hi, Do you then just use the leaves as mulch, 1/2 inch across the top? I’ve not got around to sweeping this year☺️
Hi dicky, yes I leave the leaves as a mulch to protect during Winter and then to rot down over two years. After two years the lower leaves have broken down to form a wonderful loam that feeds my maples naturally. 'Natures way'.
"Bonsai enthusiasts" fertilize their maples : most of the time they're grown in a medium with very little or even no organic soil ("Akadama", pozzolane, pumice,...), so fertilizing is a must. But I use about 10-15% composted pine bark in my mixes. When I fertilize my potted trees, I use low nitrogen fertilizers so as to avoid long internodes, esp. in the spring. 6-6-6 cheap liquid fert. two or three times in a season is fine for me and since my water is very hard, something with chelated iron and magnesium when necessary.
