You need no particular advice in pruning your 
Holly except that it would be well to have in 
mind what you wish the tree to look like when 
you get done, and also before cutting very large 
branches, try holding them up to see what the 
tree would look like without them. 
What Sort of Fertilizer Should I 
Use On My Holly? When and 
How Should I put It on? 
Lime, bone meal, very fresh manure and too 
much chemical fertilizer will all turn the leaves 
of Holly very, very yellow and ugly in appear- 
ance. It is like feeding a human poison . .. more 
Hollies have been killed by too much chemical 
fertilizer than by neglect. 
Chemical fertilizer dissolves immediately in 
the soil. While it provides great energy for a 
short time, it cannot provide a slow, steady source 
of food like organic fertilizers which rot slowly. 
It is this “flash” effect of chemical fertilizer which 
hurts Holly:i The chemical makes the Holly 
grow rapidly and when it is shortly dissolved 
away there is no food left to support the forced 
growth made. 
Holly should, therefore, be planted in an or- 
ganic base soil; a sour soil. This is accomplished 
by putting lots of Oak Leafmold around the 
roots of the tree when planting. When quanti- 
ties of Oak Leafmold are added each year, no 
other fertilizer is necessary. 
However, most people use some sort of organic 
fertilizer each late fall and early spring. Fall 
feeding keeps the leaves a fine green and nur- 
tures the berry crop over winter. Spring feed- 
ing causes good growth throughout the growing 
season. 
Potash and Nitrogen are needed by Holly. 
The best source of organic potash is tobacco 
stems or tobacco dust. Nitrogen may be ob- 
tained from three year old cow or chicken 
manure, from cottonseed meal, from fish or 
king crab. 
Mix your own on a half nitrogen and _ half 
potash scale or buy an organie fertilizer prepara- 
tion from your seed store. Trees under two feet 
need little more than a half handful; 2-4’ double 
handful; 4-6’ quart; 6-8’ four qts.; 8-10’ six qts.; 
10-12’ ten qts.; 12-15’ fifteen qts.; 15-20’ twenty 
qts. We often use an ordinary ten quart water 
bucket for a measure. 
5, 
