SUMMARY: “… for the use of the Aqua 3-IA/fertilizer blend as a soil amendment, there is continued evidence that the product is much better for the potted trees than no fertilizer, but it is also better overall than simply using a standard 13-13-13 fertilizer. This conclusion was most pronounced in the two-year old sapling study, in which the Aqua 3-IA/fertilizer blend trees grew larger but also did not exhibit any die-back that one associates with fertilizer ‘burn’ that was observed for two trees in the T-13 trees. Indeed, the diameter of the two treatments appeared close, but the growth was measured on the re-shoots on the ‘burned’ trees. As well, among both saplings and seedlings, the trees growing in the Aqua 3- IA/fertilizer blend soil had more lush foliage, indicating greater potential for photosynthesis leading to better growth and tree health. While we expected the differences among the treatments to be even more profound by the spring of 2018, the rapid nutrient usage of the Aqua 3-IA amended soil most likely caused the differences to decrease. This indicates that use of blended Aqua 3-IA/fertilizer may warrant occasional repeated application of small amounts of fertilizer for optimization of a Aqua 3-IA treatment when used more than a year. Overall, the blended Aqua 3-IA/fertilizer produced the most ‘healthy’ soil that produced both tree growth and nutrient usage. This treatment combined with occasional topdressing of nutrients should yield a sustained superior tree.”