Today's Top: Different Plants - Different Fertilizer Needs - 2 of 5 Part Series

One Yard Doesn't Mean One Fertilizer Program

Take a walk around your yard. You may have a Bermudagrass lawn, a couple of citrus trees, flowering shrubs, shade trees, and desert plants—all growing within a few feet of each other.
It's all one landscape, so it might seem reasonable to fertilize everything at the same time with the same product.

But those plants have very different needs.

Think about Bermudagrass. During its active growing season, it may benefit from nitrogen to help maintain healthy green growth. Walk a few feet over to your citrus tree, and you're dealing with a plant that has its own nutrient requirements and fertilizing schedule.

Then look at your trees and shrubs. If they're established, healthy, and growing well, they may not need routine fertilizer simply because you're fertilizing something nearby.

And those desert-adapted plants? Many are well suited to our Arizona conditions and may need little or no supplemental fertilizer.

You're Not Fertilizing the Yard

Before you pick up a fertilizer bag, identify what you're trying to fertilize. Is it your lawn? Citrus? A tree? Flowering shrubs? Desert plants?

Once you know what you're treating, you can determine whether that plant needs fertilizer and what type may be appropriate.

That simple step can prevent you from applying fertilizer where it isn't needed—or using the wrong product simply because you already have the bag open.

Take a Walk Before You Buy

Before your next trip to the garden center, walk around your yard and take inventory.
You don't need anything complicated. Just identify the major groups:

Lawn - Citrus - Trees - Shrubs - Desert-adapted plants

You may discover that what you thought was one fertilizing job is actually several very different decisions. And some plants may not need fertilizer at all.

Don't let leftover fertilizer decide what gets fertilized next.

Just because your lawn needs fertilizer doesn't mean the citrus tree beside it does. And fertilizing the citrus doesn't mean you should keep going until the bag is empty.

Know the plant before you choose the product.

A healthy landscape isn't about giving every plant the same treatment. It's about understanding that different plants have different needs.

If you're not sure what you're growing or what your plants need, Esteban Land Design can evaluate your landscape and help you determine the right approach for the different plants in your yard.

Looking Ahead

You've identified what you're fertilizing. But even the right fertilizer can be applied at the wrong time.

Next, we'll look at when to fertilize in Arizona—and why your plants don't all follow the same schedule.