Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


desirable to split the spring application into two parts, one-
half being applied as soon as frost danger is past and the remain-
ing half about two months later. The splitting of the spring
application is desirable since trees with greatly reduced tops
cannot use fertilizer as rapidly as they could otherwise. If the
trees are slow in coming back, it may also be found desirable to
split the summer application and continue to use a fertilizer con-
taining a comparatively large proportion of readily available
nitrogen. Except as noted above, the regular fertilizer should
be used for the summer and fall applications. In other words,
it is not advisable to attempt to rush the recovery of the trees by
overfertilization, since there is a lack of balance between the root
systems and the greatly reduced tops.
 Cutting out dead wood on young trees should not be started
 until after the first flush of growth has occurred. By that time
 the extent of the killing will be sharply defined and all dead
 branches can be removed to better advantage. In removing dead
 branches, care should be taken to cut back to sound, living wood.
 Where trees have been killed back to the bank it may be neces-
 sary to do a little thinning of the new shoots at the same time
 in order to obtain a well-shaped framework for the tree. If the
 trees have been killed back to the bud union they should be cut
 off at the ground and allowed to send up sprouts from the root
 crown. The sprouts should be thinned out and the largest bud-
 ded as soon as it attains sufficient size. After one sprout is bud-
 ded successfully and growth starts from the bud, the rest should
 be cut off.
 Cutting out frost-killed wood from bearing trees should not be
done until the following fall or winter. This delay is desirable on
account of the difficulty of determining the extent of the injury
and the inadvisability of trying to do the work in trees contain-
ing large amounts of succulent growth. All branches removed
should be cut off flush with the branch from which they arise,
so that no stubs or projecting shoulders will be left to retard
healing of the wounds and encourage the development of weakly
parasitic organisms. All local areas of injured bark in crotches
or at other points, where the limb is not girdled, should be care-
fully treated by cutting out the dead bark and paring away the
edge of the injured bark until sound bark is reached. All cuts or
other wounds with exposed wood surfaces larger than a quarter
dollar, as well as all splits in the bark of the trunk and larger