Mauget’s Stemix Plus is a valuable tool that all plant health care practitioners should have in their PHC “toolbox.” This trunk injected fertilizer provides valuable nutrients to trees directly into the vascular system and formulated perfectly to improve stress recovery.
The J.J. Mauget Company is a pioneer in tree-injection trunk technology, with over 75 years of experience in this space. Mauget was and continues to be a leader in bringing trunk injection to the arboriculture profession. While certainly not the only method to address plant stress issues, consider just a few of the benefits to trunk injection over other methods:
- No product drifts.
- Minimal exposure to the environment and applicator.
- Can be used in locations where spraying is not practical, (i.e., near water).
- Targeted, systemic applications utilize the tree’s vascular system to distribute products.
According to the manufacturer, “Stemix Plus™ is a water-based fertilizer formulation of chelated minerals with a very low salt index and elevated magnesium and calcium. It is designed to stimulate both the tree’s foliar and root growth. Stemix Plus™ can correct stress caused by environmental conditions, nutritional deficiencies, root damage, frost protection, frost damage, insect damage and more. Stemix Plus™ is particularly useful in trees where deficiencies cannot be successfully corrected by foliage or soil feeding, and in areas where leaching into groundwater is a concern.”
Speaking from experience, I have seen Mauget’s Stemix PlusTM turn severely stressed trees into healthy, vibrant plants that contribute to the overall landscape’s appeal. Several years ago, I applied Stemix to correct a Sugar Maple tree damaged by lightening. With a single application, that Sugar Maple tree has continued to thrive year after year. I have even used a bucket truck to inject a single large branch on a Walnut tree twenty feet in the air that was damaged by a barn fire, and it worked like a charm.
Most recently however, I used Stemix PlusTM to help a Snowball Viburnum tree recover from root damage. In 2021, my wife and I wanted a small pond installed near a beautiful Snowball bush. Of course, we knew the tree might not make it, but after a few aggressive scoops with the tractor’s bucket, the pond liner was in the ground and the fountain was running. Fast forward to the spring of 2022 and the tree, as expected, looked incredibly stressed. The leaves were exceedingly small, and the overall volume of foliage was minimal due to the severe disruption to the tree’s root structure.
Figure 1 and Figure 2. Pictures above is the aforementioned tree in June 2022, with tree stress.
The tree was declining increasingly every day, so there were only two choices – remove the tree or try a trunk injection with Stemix PlusTM. I chose to inject the tree with three Stemix PlusTM capsules, one on each of the main leads in June of 2022. Soon after, the tree responded very positively to the nutrient application. As you can see from the pictures taken in August 2022 below, the leaves are large, green, and vibrant.
Figure 4. Picture above is the aforementioned tree in August 2022, recovering successfully from tree stress.
The fragrance offered by a large Snowball Viburnum near our entrance is very welcoming. I look forward to the blooms again next spring.
BEFORE- JUNE 2022:
Figure 4. Picture above is the aforementioned tree in June 2022, with tree stress.
AFTER- AUGUST 2022:
Figure 5. Picture above is the aforementioned tree in August 2022, recovering successfully from tree stress.