Fertilize thuja: care tips for the tree of life

The evergreen thuja hedges are quite easy to care for as long as they have enough nutrients. We show when, how and with what to fertilize your tree of life.

thujas (Thuja), also called trees of life, belong like yews (taxes) to the cypress family (Cupressaceae). The conifers with the scaly leaves are robust, evergreen and quite undemanding. This makes them welcome guests in German gardens, where they provide year-round privacy as a hedge. But planted as a hedge, the roots quickly fight for the nutrients in the soil in the confined space. Sufficient fertilization is therefore extremely important. Otherwise, only the strongest plants will prevail and unsightly gaps will appear in your green wall of leaves.

Thujas are very popular as hedge plants because they offer everything that makes a good botanical privacy screen. They quickly form opaque walls of leaves all year round and are wonderfully hardy here. At least they offer these benefits if they have an adapted selection of high-quality nutrients at their disposal. Otherwise, even the most robust Thuja cannot use its potential. In order for your thuja hedge to shine in lush green, it is important to know when a thuja needs to be fertilized, how often it is fertilized and which fertilizer is best suited.

The best time for Thuja fertilization

If you plant your thuja on rather meager, sandy soil or if bare-root specimens are planted, a proper plant fertilization should of course not be missing. For this, the garden soil compost mixed in. An additional load of rock powder not only provides important trace elements, but also lime. With container goods, on the other hand, plant fertilization is not necessary, since the soil in the pot already contains long-term fertilizer. After planting, fertilize for the first time after four weeks at the earliest.

The maintenance fertilization of your thuja takes place between spring and mid-July. If you use a long-term fertiliser, a single fertilization in March/April is sufficient. After that, you should only fertilize with fertilizer that contains very little or no nitrogen. Otherwise, shoot growth is promoted for too long. The new shoots then no longer have time to mature before the first frost and are defenseless against the icy winter temperatures. With a magnesium fertilizer, on the other hand, you should fertilize in July. Magnesium is important for the green leaf pigment, chlorophyll. In this way you support a year-round green and boost photosynthesis. The last fertilization of the year follows at the end of August. When fertilizing in the fall, the plants are provided with an extra portion of potassium. This helps to harden the shoots that have grown laboriously over the year. This means you can expect less frost damage in spring.

Fertilize thuja on brown shoots?

Thujas often turn brown to a greater or lesser extent before winter. The plant does this to prepare for frosty sub-zero temperatures. A brown color does not always have to be the harbinger of an incoming plant. However, the brown shoots can also be the result of insufficient nutrient availability, over-fertilization, road salt, lack of water or sunburn. Therefore, fertilize your thuja with a nutrient deficiency mineral fertilizer. This quickly supplies the plants with the nutrients that they lack. Magnesium is usually missing in this case. This is needed for the formation of the green color pigments. However, even with emergency fertilization, care should be taken to ensure the correct dosage. More is not always automatically better. Instead of initiating the plant's recovery, it will only turn browner due to overfeeding.

Fertilizer for thuja: how and with what to fertilize?

Special conifer fertilizer is particularly suitable for supplying your thuja. This is perfectly adapted to the requirements of these evergreen conifers. The fertilizer offers nitrogen, potassium, phosphate, lime, magnesium, iron and the trace elements copper, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. However, you can also click on a different one universal fertilizer use for green plants. Just make sure that you pay attention to an additional supply of the minerals and trace elements mentioned, especially if the soil is sandy. It is best to use one primarily organic fertilizer. Due to its long-term effect, this only needs to be applied once a year. Our Plantura organic universal fertilizer offers this long-term effect because it is made primarily from organic ingredients in organic quality. This saves resources during production, because mineral fertilizers have to be processed at great expense. But there are also advantages in terms of application:

• Soil life is encouraged
• The risk of over-fertilization is minimized
• Less fertilizer gets into the groundwater through leaching

If the soil pH is below the comfort zone of 6 to 8, you should also apply lime.

Fertilize thuja: instructions

Of course, it is not just a matter of choosing the right fertilizer. The dosage and application should also be carefully considered. So that the fertilization is a complete success, we have below a small guide for our Plantura Organic universal fertilizer ready for you:

1. Before planting 100 - 150 g/m² (well filled 0.2 liter glass) of ours Plantura organic universal fertilizer work into the top layer of soil
2. Water the soil and freshly inserted thuja well so that the granules can dissolve well
3. For maintenance fertilization in spring, you should fertilize another 80 - 120 g/m² (0.2 liter jar) per plant

In general, note that the fertilizer requirement for Thuja hedges is higher than for solitary plants, because the latter have more space in the root area. Planted closely, there is quick competition among the roots, but also with others around Plants, because thujas have a rather weakly developed root system and are accordingly uncompetitive. A slightly higher dose of fertilizer prevents such food envy among your plants.

Fertilize thuja hedges with minerals

If the dosage is right, you can also use your Thuja hedge mineral fertilizer supply. blue grain is given once a year in the spring with plenty of water. About 50 grams per square meter are applied here. In particular, the mostly contained magnesium is a plus for your thuja hedge. If you want to reduce the risk of over-fertilization and keep the availability of nutrients more balanced, it is best to spread the application of mineral fertilizer over the vegetation phase. Fertilize in small doses two to three times between spring and mid-June. Even better, however - since it is only used once a year and is much more environmentally friendly - is to use an organic fertilizer variant.

In the fall, fertilize with a potassium fertilizer such as patent potash to ensure that the shoots that have formed over the year harden. Give about 40 grams per square meter at the end of August to prepare your thuja hedge for the frosty temperatures. The magnesium contained ensures an additional strengthening of your evergreen shrub.

Fertilize thuja hedges with Epsom salt

If properly cared for, thujas will provide opaque, green foliage all year round. This is beautiful to look at, but it also costs the plant more energy than if it simply shed its leaves. A lot of energy is needed to build chlorophyll. The leaf pigments not only provide the green color. They are also essential for a functioning photosynthesis. Plants need magnesium to build chlorophyll. It is therefore recommended that evergreen plants such as thujas be given a magnesium fertilizer in summer, when photosynthesis is in full swing.

Epsom salt offers the mineral variant to supply your thuja with this nutrient. The nitrogen-magnesium fertilizer ensures lush greenery and makes the plant as a whole more resistant to unfavorable weather conditions and diseases. Depending on the soil conditions and the magnesium already contained, about 15 to 30 grams per square meter are given. The poorer and lighter the soil, the more you should apply. Also, be aware that Epsom salts lower the soil pH. If this falls below a value of 6, it can be increased again by giving lime.