Basic tree maintenance ??'s

dezertryno · Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:32 pm

I have several different trees in my yard. Everything from a silver dollar Eucalyptus, camfurs, a mulberry, and a magnolia. Is there anything special I should be doing to trim them?

The mulberry is kinda obvious, but I am referring to size between main branches, basic pruning, etc. The camfurs seem to have alot of small stick branches that fall, or die before producing leaves. The Euc is old, six sisters that are a foot round each. It's probably 40-50ft tall, really nice tree, just want to keep it healthy. The Magnolia is farily young. Twins that are about 5-6" round, and seem healthy, they drop seed pods like crazy. Thanks for any help/ advice!

bullthistle · Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:33 pm

Just basic pruning every fall/winter. You want to lighten the tree so sun light will filter in, prune all branches that cross and prune out double stems, keep the healthier one. As you work with the trees you'll notice what branches seem out of place. Fertilize in the spring with basic NPK.

dezertryno · Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:14 am

Sorry for my ignorance, but what is NPK? Thanks for the pruning tips!

bewildered_nmsu · Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:27 am

NPK is the Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K) ratio of a fertilizer. These chemicals are three of the primary nutrients necessary for proper plant growth and health (called macronutrients), a good fertilizer will also contain micronutrients such as molybdenum, manganese, and zinc. This ratio is usually listed on the packaging of most fertilizers. 16:8:8, and 20:20:20 are typical ratios. For your purposes be wary of fertilizers with a high nitrogen concentration such as 21:0:0 and 30:10:10 as it can be easy to over do it with those ratios.