The variety of garden ornamental plants is simply amazing. Coniferous and deciduous shrubs, trees, flowering and evergreen, low-growing, ground cover, vines and much more… All of this decorates gardens, parks and squares. But for such plantings to be healthy, viable and aesthetically attractive, we must make some effort, in particular to supply them with nutrients as fully as possible.
So when and with what should feeding of flowering shrubs begin?
To obtain abundant and long-lasting flowering, feeding must be approached correctly throughout the whole growing season. It is important to remember that during flowering and bud laying plants actively use nutrients from the soil, which means extra effort is needed to supply the plant with everything it needs.
In fact, the basis of the health of flowering shrubs is laid at planting. When preparing the planting site, well-rotted manure, humus or compost can be added, as well as 100–120 grams of nitroammophoska in each hole. The seedling is covered with this mixture at planting. The seedling root system should be treated with stimulating products such as GROS Rootgrowth (optimally, soak the roots before planting in a 0.03% solution for 6–8 hours). The action of such products is aimed at reducing the plant's transplant stress and stimulating root growth and nutrition. In addition, GROS Rootgrowth has a fungistatic effect that restrains pathogenic microflora, which is very important for a weakened plant.
During the initial growth period all the seedling's energy is spent on forming a powerful, well-developed root system and new shoots. After the plant has «settled» in its permanent place, several more feedings are worth doing, either with watering or by spraying. The aim is to ensure active growth and development of both vegetative mass and the root system. This can be done by applying nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers (and liquid fertilizers are the most convenient). For this we recommend the special liquid fertilizer GROS Phosphito-NP at 2 l per 200 l of water (1% solution), which will not only supply plants with nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus in the form of phosphite) but also additionally protect them from disease. Such feedings are needed by shrubs until mid-July and are done once a month. For flowering shrubs, ECOLINE Boron (Opti) 1 l per 200 l of water (0.5% solution) should be added to extend the time and increase the intensity of flowering and to give plants additional microelements.
From mid-July the feeding scheme is changed substantially. By this time shoot growth should have stopped, otherwise they will not have time to ripen fully before winter and will be damaged by frost. All nitrogen fertilizers should be removed entirely from the shrubs' «diet». But phosphorus and potassium feedings continue for another 3 months. They improve the wood and promote laying down of flower buds for the next year. In this period we recommend applying ECOLINE Phosphite (K) 1.5 l per 200 l of water (0.75% solution) and ECOLINE Boron (Opti) 1 l per 200 l of water (0.5% solution). Using these products will help plants accumulate enough sugars and plastic substances and prepare for overwintering.
