Feeding fruit trees and ornamentals (dog proof!)

Morning and another lovely day here in Suffolk

Could anyone please advise if it is okay to use FBB as a liquid feed for our apple and plum trees? If I put FBB or any other granular feed around the base, our two Labradors will eat it. They eat compost from pots and containers and can smell when I open the FBB box from the other end of the garden.

I cleared around the base of all the trees last year and lots of spring bulbs have appeared under the ornamentals, there is nothing under the three apple trees or the old plum tree. All are now showing new growth and buds, so might it be a good time to feed them all? The apple trees were lightly pruned in January, all the trees lost some branches in the recent storms.

All our trees are established, some many years old (30 plus). As well as the fruit trees we have two silver birch, a twisted willow, three mountain ash (and a sapling) a range of five different pine trees (from 5 feet to 15 feet tall), one that has white catkins on now, two that have white blossom on now, one that will have big dark red leaves and a little one that will have little yellow leaves on in the summer.

Also, would a hand full of FBB to a watering can be about right?

We moved her almost six months ago so all advice is greatly received.

Thank you.
Tink

 

@Tinkerbelle61 I presume keeping dogs out of that area or educating them is a non starter.
Blood fish and bone is not particularly water soluble, as far as I know, it's known as a fairly slow release feed gradually breaking down over time.
I think I would wait a few weeks, until the plants are growing well and then use a soluble plant feed designed to be watered on, Miracle Gro or Phostrogen for example. If you put it on now it could well have washed out of the soil before the plant really gets going.

 

Which tree are you referring to?

 

I took that to mean "here" as opposed to "her".

 

Not sure I'd bother feeding a tree that has been established for 30years.
Especially if the tree's are large, if they are on dwarfing rootstocks there might be something to gain from it.

 

Can you feed fruit trees to enhance the flavour of the fruit?

 

I don't think so, flavour probably more dependent on the weather and temperature, age and health of tree probably affect flavour as well.

 

@NigelJ thank you for the information, very much appreciated. Yes the whole area is open to the dogs and they are in the garden all day when we are at work, so enjoy themselves immensely

I was referring to all the trees, that was a typo as @pete assumed correctly. We moved here six months ago, the previous owner wasn’t able to care for the garden in her later years (now 90 years old and in a care home) so wanting to do the best for the orchard she cared for. None of the trees in our garden are particularly tall, 8 to 10 feet maybe, the largest is the crab apple pollinating tree, maybe 15 feet, so the cooking & eating apple and the plum might be on dwarfing rootstock?

She bought the orchard land back in the 1990’s, four neighbours all shared part of the land the farmer was selling and the orchard had been part of an old cottage/Croft, so most are really quite old, I just don’t know how old.

I’ll wait as advised and then use phostrogen. How often should I apply it would you say?

Thanks again.
Tink