Hi All

Took my plants out of the unheated garage and have left plants outside as temps in NY are above 50 at night.  im starting to see some buds breaking and the weather should be in the 80's this week.  when should i start giving the plants fertilizer?

Here in Texas, it is recommended to fertilize late Feb, early March as they are breaking bud.  Why am I telling you this?  to give you an idea of where my thinking is coming from.

I say, if you have a stretch of sunny weather so the trees can absorb the extra food your giving them, then I say now is a good time.

If your worried, you can always give them 1/2 dosage what you consider normal fertilizer until your confident they can use more.



 

I am from the same place and all my stuff have been out over a month, I  gently sprinkled Bone meal & phosphate and chicken manure two times already. (gently, very small doses)

Ideally you want to fertilize just when the hormones are flowing to cause bud break.  If you're not mystically gifted you wait to see buds start expanding like the rest of us.  The strength of the fertilizer depends on the age of the plants.  I give 1/2 houseplant strength to recently rooted cuttings and go up to houseplant strength when they're fully hardened off.  It's better to give a small amount often than a large amount infrequently. 

It's also important to stop fertilizing 6-8 weeks before your plants will need to go dormant.

thank you all for the advice, i use fish fertilizer to fertilize all my trees and did so over the weekend, ive already seen a push in growth.  thanks again for the help

I fertilize all year, by top dressing the potted plants with a rich compost, keeping it constantly top-dressed. This is the best way in my opinion because:
A) The amount of nutrients the plant gets is based on how much (and often) I water, which means very little in the winter and more the warmer it gets, which is perfect.
B) You never have to worry about "burning" the plants, no matter how rich it is because you do not dig it in to the root zone. You are doing it the way nature does it, without skipping steps.  The watering brings light amounts to the root zone and if you have some earthworms, they will come up to feed on it and deposit the nutrients down at the root zone as well, the best way known to man, which is through a worm's digestive track.
C) It is healthier (as long as it is a good healthy chemical free compost/manure compost).  I'm sorry but MiracleGro and such products are just not good.  They are chemical and salt based, and ultimately within time will wreck the soil health.  They also just focus on the 3 majors (NPK) and none of the minors. There are so many trace nutrients and minerals that are missing these days, which the lack of will be reflected in the taste of your figs. Rich compost is alive. Chemical fertilizers are dead and it slowly kills the microbes in the soil. A healthy soil microbial life is the most key and foundational factor to healthy plants.  

It's like giving your plants compost tea every time you water.