The Tina crabapple (Malus sargentii “Tina”), also called the Sargent Tina, is a small ornamental tree with a mean height of just 5 feet. The bright red buds open into white flowers and create one-quarter-inch red fruit. The Tina crabapple has exceptional resistance against all significant disorders and, when put in full sun, grows well in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 8. Young Tina crabapples gain from annual fertilizing, but mature trees might not require additional nutrients.
Major Nutrients
The first year that the Tina crabapple tree is planted, fertilization is not suggested, but for the following three years that the young tree will benefit from annual fertilizing. Applying 1 pounds per 100 square foot of a 10-10-10 fertilizer or other ratio that will deliver one-tenth pounds of nitrogen per 100 square feet is appropriate for the young trees. Mature crabapple trees might not require fertilizing because of their extensive root system. But if the new increase is less than five inches or leaves were yellow in mid-summer, use a fertilizer with a high ratio of nitrogen, such as 20-5-10, and deliver one-fifth pounds of nitrogen per 100 square feet.
Micro-Nutrients
It is not required to supply other minor nutrients to Tina crabapple trees unless they show signs of lack. Chlorosis, a yellowing of the leaves while the leaf veins remain green, can be the effect of a lack in many of the micro-nutrients. If the yellowing begins on older leaves first, this might be a magnesium deficiency. If the leaves start to show yellow first, then this could function as an iron or calcium deficiency.
Ancient and Late Season Fertilizing
Fertilizers should be implemented before the tree requires the nutrients as opposed to in the middle of the growing season. Slow release fertilizers must be applied in the late fall after deciduous trees have dropped their leaves. The origins will likely continue to grow, absorb and store these nutrients following other development has stopped. Soluble, quick-release fertilizers must be applied in the early spring, several weeks before the buds start to grow. This will allow for quick absorption so that the roots can get the nutrients since the new growth begins. Trees fertilized in the fall don’t have to be fertilized again in the spring.
Fertilizing the main System
The feeder roots of the Tina crabapple can stretch two to three times the radius of the area below the tree’s branches. For example, if the distance from the trunk to the tip of their divisions is 3 feet, the roots can extend up to 9 feet away in the trunk. Utilize a broadcast fertilizer and spread it evenly on the surface of the ground over the whole root system. Don’t re-fertilize over regions of the roots that stretch in the lawn or other regions that have already been fertilized. The Tina crabapple will profit in the fertilizers given to the lawn and other plants, so that amount can be subtracted from the total fertilizer delivered to the tree.