NPK fertilisers for apple trees

[susieq100]

Hi all

I am hoping someone can interpret advice on RHS site for me. I planted 3 eating apple trees in October/November last year and they are just coming into leaf now! The RHS site says that they should have been fed in February with certainly P and K fertiliser and possible N as well. I have searched for this and find that lawn food contains these 3. Could I give my trees a feed of lawn fertiliser and then mulch them with some well-rotted horse manure (I have some!)? Or should I feed and then mulch with first lawn trimmings of the year? Or should I not feed at all! is it too late? I know I won't get fruit this year but I want to nurture my 'babies' - there's nothing so good as an apple eaten straight from the tree!

[FB.]

The short answer is that it is getting a bit late for them to fully benefit from feeding, but it'd be worth feeding them as soon as possible. I don't see a problem with manure and lawn food, so long as it doesn't have weedkiller chemicals incorporated.
I mulched my fruit trees in January-February. The idea is to get the nutrients into the soil before the new roots start growing in February-April, so that the tree can grow some strong roots before it leafs-out.
New root growth slows down considerably as the tree leafs-out for the summer. Trees mainly grow above ground in summer and below ground in spring and autumn. Of course, if the tree hasn't had a chance to grow good roots before leafing out, it's summer growth and drought tolerance will be reduced.

[susieq100]

Thanks FB - will do it today!