Question
I made the mistake of planting my 21 eight-foot arborvitae (I suspect Giant Thuja) in the fall, a year and a half ago.  That winter I was out many, many times re-standing and staking them upright.  One of our local nurserymen said they would all die last summer.  That didn't and even though we had wind gusts in excess of 100 mph this past winter, NONE of then fell over!  Yippee!  But they all have a bit of yellow-brown color on the outer edges.  I suspect they need some fertilizer to 'green them out.'  What should I use and how should I 'apply' it?  Costco sells an "Azalea and Evergreen shrub" fertilizer that I think was 10-5-7 (whatever that means.)  Would that work?

Answer
The color may be due to the stress from the ordeals of the first year. The evergreen fertilizer will be good. Apply this under the spread of the foliage at around 1 cup per foot of spread. and water in good. The bag should have directions for shrubs/trees the above is a general direction for fertilizer.

The numbers 10-5-7 means the make up of the fertilizer. Complete fertilizers contain the three nutrients plants need in the largest amount for optimum growth - nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). A fertilizer labeled "10-10-10" contains 10% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus, and 10% potassium. Nitrogen is for foliage production, phosphorus for flowers, and potassium for roots.