Fertilizing one-year old trees - be careful!

Nitrogen is the most important element we can apply to our tree fruit crops. Almond growth and productivity depend on the availability and uptake of nitrogen. Most fertilizer recommendations are based on making nitrogen available to our trees so that a nitrogen shortage does not limit tree growth or productivity.Young almond trees don’t require as much nitrogen as older trees. I like Wilbur Reil’s rule of “one ounce of actual nitrogen per year of age of tree”. That rate can be applied several times per season, but never more than that at any one application. Thus, a first leaf (first year in your orchard) almond tree should not receive more than one ounce of actual nitrogen per any application. A five year old almond tree should not receive more than 5 ounces of actual nitrogen per one single application. The University of California only recommends one ounce of actual nitrogen per one year old tree over the course of the season, but I have been told by many growers and PCAs that this rate is not enough for the growth they desire. So, if you want to put out five ounces of actual nitrogen per one year old tree, do so in five applications and not all at once!I have seen many trees burned by nitrogen, especially if liquid fertilizers like UN-32 (urea ammonium nitrate 32 %) or CAN 17 (a clear solution of calcium nitrate and ammonium nitrate) are used in single applications. These liquid fertilizers are very effective and easy to use but it doesn’t take much to burn young trees. I do not suggest using these liquid fertilizers on first leaf trees–I prefer to see triple 15-15-15 (15% Nitrogen - 15% Phosphorous – 15 % Potassium) fertilizers used on first leaf trees. I like to see these granular fertilizers placed at least 18 inches from the trunk. With micro-sprinkler and drip irrigation systems liquid nitrogen fertilizers can be used very efficiently and easily by growers. But be careful, I know several farm managers that will not allow more than 10 gallons of UN-32 per acre per application on mature almond trees. UN-32 contains 3.54 pounds of actual nitrogen per gallon, if you put out 10 gallons of UN-32 per acre you added 35.4 lbs of nitrogen per acre. If you have 120 trees per acre and do the math you come up with 4.72 ounces of actual nitrogen per tree–almost 5 ounces! I recommend not applying higher rates than this per application. I have seen nitrogen burn occur more often during hot summer temperatures when trees have elevated transpiration rates and obviously faster nitrogen uptake rates than what would have occurred at a cooler time of the year.