FERTILIZING AN OLD RED OAK TRE

MASSIVE OLD RED OAK TREE ON S SECOND ST.

FERTILIZING WITH JOBES TREE FERTILIZER SPIKES

A FERTILIZER SPIKE

FERTILIZER SPIKE WITH PLASTIC CAP

DRIVING FERTILIZER STAKE INTO GROUND

Wednesday,  8:00 AM.  46 degrees F at the ferry dock, 39 degrees on the back porch. Wind WNW, calm with very light gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 77%.  The barometer is rising, now at 30.38".  We have great fall weather for the week ahead, and it should be a fantastic Applefest.
   Yesterday evening's rising moon was awesome, hanging in the dark evening sky like a huge yellow  balloon.  Looked like one could reach up and grab it.
   Bayfield has some very old street trees, certainly more than a century old.  We are in the process of establishing a Heritage Tree program to recognize their importance, and more of that at a future post. These magnificent old trees deserve special care, and the massive red oak, Quercus rubra, pictured will be pruned this fall.  It has just had the sidewalk rerouted around it and given a wider grass boulevard in conjunction with reconstruction of South Second Street.
   As part of a special care regimen for this tree, members of the Tree Board fertilized it with Jobes Tree Fertilizer Spikes on Monday last.  These are slow release fertilizer spikes, driven into the ground around and under the drip-line of the tree.  They are driven in with a hammer, using a plastic cap for each spike to strike the hammer on so the rather fragile fertilizer spike does not crumble.  We applied the  spikes after a good rain so that the ground would be soft. When a stake has been hammered even with the grass the plastic cap should her removed and the spike driven down several more inches. Follow the directions for number of stakes to use on a particular tree.  It is difficult to use too many on a large tree.  We used thirty on this tree, but only used them in the grassy areas, one half the drip-line of the tree being over the road surface.
   This product is a 16-4-4, slow release fertilizer, with micronutrients,  that lasts at least a whole growth season.  It should be applied early spring or late fall, when trees are dormant or in the process of becoming so.