Cultivation notes
Choosing good quality conifers, planting them correctly and looking after them for the first few years are crucial to successful conifer establishment. Large conifers are much harder to establish than smaller ones. This applies equally to trees that are being transplanted as to newly purchased specimens.
Routine maintenance
Feeding: Conifers are not demanding and in most cases annual feeding with 50-100g per sq m (1½-3oz sq yd) of general-purpose fertiliser every late winter will suffice.
Mulching: Conifers benefit from mulching to suppress weeds, provide nutrients, improve soil conditions and conserve moisture. Trees are usually mulched in late winter, after any fertiliser application, to conserve winter moisture reserves in the soil before the spring and summer.
Watering: Although newly planted conifers initially need careful watering, once established they usually need little water.
Reversion and Sporting: Remove reverted shoots promptly.
Suckers: Remove any shoots arising from below grafts or from the roots.