Fertilizer Primer
Christensen's offers a full selection of fertilizers for landscape professionals. With so many options available, choosing the right product can sometimes feel overwhelming. Here's a quick guide to help you match common landscape applications with the fertilizer best suited for the job.
Quick Fertilizer Guide
- New planting Trees and Shrubs → Bio-Tone Starter Plus + Root Stimulator
- Long-term feeding → Osmocote
- Acid-loving shrubs → Holly-Tone
- Established Trees and Shrubs → Plant-Tone
- Flowers → Flower-Tone
- Roses → Rose-Tone
- Bulbs → Bulb-Tone
- Turf → Milorganite
If you'd like a little more detail, here's a closer look at each fertilizer and where it fits best in the landscape.
Product | Recommended Use |
Bio-Tone Starter Plus | Starter fertilizer for newly installed trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals. Contains beneficial microbes and encourages strong root development while reducing transplant shock. |
General Purpose 12-12-12 | A balanced fertilizer for general landscape use. Good for established trees, shrubs, flower beds, and situations where a quick nutrient boost is needed. |
Holly-Tone 4-3-4 | Formulated for acid-loving plants such as hollies, azaleas, rhododendrons, blueberries, and many evergreens. Helps maintain proper soil pH while feeding. |
Plant-Tone 5-3-3 | An all-purpose organic fertilizer for trees, shrubs, flowers, and vegetable gardens. Easy recommendation when customers want one product for most landscape plants. |
Rose-Tone 4-3-2 | Designed for roses and flowering shrubs. Promotes healthy growth and abundant blooms without excessive vegetative growth. |
Osmocote Blend 17-5-11 | Professional-grade controlled-release fertilizer that feeds for several months. Excellent for trees, shrubs, landscape beds, container plantings, and commercial installations where long-term feeding is desired with fewer site visits. |
Flower-Tone 3-4-5 | Formulated for annuals, perennials, and flowering plants. Higher phosphorus and potassium support strong flowering and bloom production, helps strengthen root growth. |
Fertilizer Stakes 15-7-6 | Convenient slow-release feeding for trees and shrubs. Good option when customers want targeted feeding with minimal labor. |
Bulb-Tone 3-5-3 | Designed for bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, lilies, and alliums. Supports root development and improved flowering. |
Milorganite Pro 6-4-0 | Slow-release nitrogen fertilizer commonly used on lawns, turf, and landscape beds. Feeds gradually, improves soil health, and has a very low risk of burning plants. Excellent for sod establishment and maintenance. |
Ferti-Lome Root Stimulator Plus B-1 | Used at planting time to reduce transplant stress and encourage root establishment for trees, shrubs, flowers, and bedding plants. |
Application Tips
- Bio-Tone: Mix into the backfill during planting.
- Root Stimulator: Water in at planting.
- Plant-Tone, Holly-Tone, Rose-Tone, and Flower-Tone: Mix into planting beds during installation or apply to the soil surface around established plants and water in.
- Osmocote: Apply to the soil surface under mulch or lightly incorporate into the root zone.
- Milorganite: Broadcast over turf and water in.
Christensen's prides itself on partnering with landscape professionals to help them install and maintain beautiful, successful landscapes.
While fertilizer can help plants establish and thrive, more is not always better. Fertilizer is most effective when plants are healthy and actively growing. Avoid fertilizing plants that are drought-stressed or experiencing significant transplant shock. Sites amended with quality compost may also require less fertilizer than expected. In most cases, proper watering, soil preparation, and planting practices will have a greater impact on long-term plant success than fertilizer alone.
