Question
I live in Northwest Arkansas which I believe to be planting zone 7.  My soil is heavy on the clay and rocky side.  I planted several fruit trees two years ago and I am wondering what would be the best type and breakdown (10-10-10)of fertilizer to use.  My trees consist of plum, peach, nectarine, apricot, and cherry bushes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks, Marty

Answer
Fruit Trees are heavy feeders as you probably know.  But without testing your Soil, you cannot be certain it does not already hold PLENTY of Phosphorus and other nutrients already -- so you cannot amend it properly, and you cannot fertilize to compensate accurately.

This is not a question of putting money in the bank to cover a check you write -- and putting way more than you need to be sure.  This is more like balancing weights.  The right ratio is needed or you'll end up with too much X at the expense of Y.

Happens all the time.

The pH is another question.  The wrong pH will completely screw up the availability of Iron.  No matter how much is down there, the Iron stays put and never gets into the plants.

This, too, happens all the time.

Do yourself a favor and get your Soil tested.  Your zipcode is all I need to get you the contact information for your local Soil Testing Lab.

rsvp