The experts are probably laughing at this question but I genuinely don’t know whether I need to rake back all my seashells to get to the sandy soil my areca/foxtail palms are planted in, or if I can fertilize directly on top of the seashells and the nutrients will seep through?

Edited June 27, 20233 yr by microscopes

15 minutes ago, microscopes said:

The experts are probably laughing at this question but I genuinely don’t know whether I need to rake back all my seashells to get to the sandy soil my areca/foxtail palms are planted in, or if I can fertilize directly on top of the seashells and the nutrients will seep through?

Will seep through it...  Why wouldn't the nutrients ..in liquid form when dispersed.. get to the soil below, like water does?  Shells aren't gonna block them. Will add nutrients like Nitrogen and Calcium too.

If you want to keep your shells white,you might want to rake them out of the way when fertilizing.  Shells are easily stained, and may turn orange if your fertilizer contains iron.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

It will go through, but stain the hell out of the shells, marking them brown or orange depending.   Also, keep an eye out for Boron deficiency which can be triggered by the shells in some soils. 

8 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Will seep through it...  Why wouldn't the nutrients ..in liquid form when dispersed.. get to the soil below, like water does?  Shells aren't gonna block them. Will add nutrients like Nitrogen and Calcium too.

Ok so the granules turn to liquid form during watering and go through the shells. I figured but was just checking.

1 hour ago, microscopes said:

Ok so the granules turn to liquid form during watering and go through the shells. I figured but was just checking.

 

1 hour ago, microscopes said:

Ok so the granules turn to liquid form during watering and go through the shells. I figured but was just checking.

Yep..  fertilizer grains / granules are like those color changing Jaw Breakers most of us remember eating as kids in that each time the fert. grains get wet, a layer of say Potassium is stripped away..  Generally speaking, slower the release rate, (  of the fertilizer ) longer each grain of it lasts before being completely dissolved.

Regardless, all of it is eventually worn down and released into the soil below.

I would be on the lookout for Fe deficiency as Fe is unavailable at high pH.   Some palms are more sensitive than others to Fe application rate.   Staining  of the shells is very likely due to the formation of iron hydroxide at the alkaline surface pH of a think layer of water on shell material.  If iron deficiency does not show within a year you will be fine as it would seem the removal of Fe-> FeOH2(removed) is much smaller than the application rate.