Why Landscape Trees Need Fertilizer

Note how small the mulch ring is at the bottom of this 18-foot-tall and 10-foot-wide magnolia. The mulch ring keeps the grass away from the tree while the nutrients from the decaying mulch become part of the nutrients that the tree can use. This mulch ring is 5 feet in diameter, but to be really effective it should be twice that. ANDREW MESSINGER

Another larger magnolia with an even larger mulch ring. It’s still not large enough though. In the best of all worlds this mulch ring should reach out to the drip line of the outermost foliage. In this case the mulch ring is only 6 feet in diameter, but based on the drip line it should be 14 feet. By removing the grass and extending the mulch area. nutrients are added as the mulch decays and the grass isn’t sucking up the nutrients that the tree should be getting. ANDREW MESSINGER