Deep Root Fertilization in Omaha
Feeding injected across the root zone, below the turf that would otherwise take it. Timed for fall, when the tree is building root rather than leaf.
Free Tree Health Visit
What a feeding visit involves
Plant health care
The method
Injected on a grid
A probe on a set spacing across the root zone, not a few holes near the trunk where there is little feeding root.
The timing
Fall, mostly
Root activity peaks after the canopy shuts down. Feeding then is what shows up in next spring's growth.
The result
Slow and structural
Not a green-up in two weeks. Better shoot growth, better color and more resilience the following season.
Most feeding is booked in fall and the schedule fills. Worth asking early.
The trunk
Where nobody should feed
Fertilizer dumped at the base misses almost all the absorbing root and can burn what is there.
The canopy edge
The drip line
The line most people assume the roots stop at. It is roughly where they get going.
The actual root zone
Two to three times wider
Fine absorbing roots run well past the branches, and almost all of them sit in the top twelve to eighteen inches of soil.
Drawn to proportion. The dashed ring is the root zone; the solid ring inside it is the canopy.
An arborist maps the root zone before anything is injected, which is why nothing lands in the driveway.
Trees that usually want feeding
All 36 problems we treat
Trees in lawns
Turf wins the competition for water and nutrients, and it is fed for turf, not for trees.
Anything in construction fill
New builds sit on subsoil and compaction. There is often very little topsoil left.
Trees recovering from stress
Post-drought, post-storm, post-transplant. Feeding supports the recovery.
Chlorotic trees
Usually alongside iron injection: the iron fixes the color, the feeding rebuilds the tree.
Young trees still establishing
The first ten years decide the next hundred, and this is the cheap decade to invest in.
If your tree is standing in lawn, it is competing with the grass and usually losing.
“Fed the two big maples in October. The growth the next spring was the best we have seen since we moved in.”
Common questions about tree fertilization
Ask us something elseWhat is deep root fertilization?
Liquid fertilizer injected under pressure into the root zone on a grid, rather than spread on the surface. In practice the probe goes about six to twelve inches down, which puts the product right where the fine absorbing roots are and past the turf that would otherwise take most of it.
The name says deep. How deep does it actually go?
Not very, and that is deliberate. A tree's feeding roots are almost all in the top twelve to eighteen inches of soil, because that is where the oxygen is. Injecting deeper puts product below the roots that would use it. The name is an industry habit rather than a description, and it is the single most misleading thing about the service.
Do trees in a lawn really need feeding?
Often, yes, and it is counterintuitive because the lawn looks lush. A forest floor recycles leaf litter back into the soil continuously; a lawn has that raked away every fall and gets fed a product formulated for grass. A mature tree standing in mown turf is competing with millions of grass roots for the same water and nutrients, and it loses.
When is the best time to do it?
Fall is the strongest window in this metro. Once the canopy shuts down for the year, the tree pushes root growth while the soil is still warm, and feeding then shows up in the following spring's shoot growth. Spring works as a second option. Midsummer feeding on a drought-stressed tree is usually the wrong move; water is what it needs first.
How is it different from the fertilizer I can buy?
Granular product broadcast on a lawn mostly feeds the lawn, and much of it never reaches tree roots at all. What we inject is formulated for woody plants, goes below the turf layer, and is placed across the whole root zone rather than in a ring near the trunk. On a small ornamental, a bag from the store applied properly is not a bad option. On a mature shade tree it is not enough.
How often should a tree be fed?
Most mature trees in a maintained landscape do well on a feed every one to two years, and that is a judgment made from the tree rather than a subscription. A tree with good annual shoot growth and healthy color does not need feeding, and we will tell you when that is the case rather than treating it anyway.
A tree growing well does not need feeding, and we will say so rather than treat it.
What goes with a feeding visit
All services
Iron Injections
For the chlorosis feeding alone will not fix, because the problem is soil pH.
Annual Tree & Shrub Program
Feeding is one visit on it. The rest is timing you no longer have to remember.
Tree Planting
Establishment feeding in the first decade is worth more than anything later.
