Faster fertilizing

Recently, we visited a Florida nursery where a worker shared that his least favorite task was fertilizing. He explained the reason was the physical strain and discomfort of being bent over carrying a bucket. A team from the University of Tennessee began testing the handheld Fertileeze Pro-35 manual fertilizer dispenser in partnership with Easy Tree Nursery in Tennessee.

Two crop species of different sizes and growth habits were selected: Anna’s Magic Ball in #2 containers and ‘Merlot’ Virginia sweetspire in #3 containers. Two nursery workers fertilized the same number of plants per crop species, both using the manual method of a spoon and bucket and both using the dispenser. Application time was recorded for each method and each worker. Workers were asked to rate each method’s accuracy and comfort on a 1 to 5 scale adapted from Harrell et al. (2025).

Fertilizing with the Pro-35 was 56% faster for Anna’s Magic Ball and 41% faster for ‘Merlot’ Virginia sweetspire than the spoon and bucket method. After fertilizing, workers indicated their exertion-related metrics on a 1 to 5 scale adapted from Harrell et al. (2025). They indicated that using the Pro-35 reduced their energy level one point less than fertilizing the same number of plants with a spoon and bucket, and they found the Pro-35 more comfortable than manually applying fertilizer. Workers felt the dispenser method left them feeling more mobile than applications using the spoon and bucket and that application with the dispenser was faster than manually applying fertilizer using the spoon and bucket.

A partial budget analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of the transition to the dispenser on revenue, costs and net profit. A 10,000-container-unit production level and an hourly wage rate of $17.87 were assumed for this analysis. We assumed that two Pro-35 dispensers, priced at $154.50 per dispenser, covered 10,000 plants. Results from this analysis suggest labor savings of $62.51 and $51.55 per 10,000 plants, for #2 and #3 containers, respectively. The full analysis is available at Velandia et al. (2026).

Although the labor associated with applying fertilizer was reduced by 41-56% when transitioning from the manual method to the dispenser, the reduction is measured in seconds per plant. Therefore, significant savings will be realized only when the number of container plants covered by the dispenser increases. The nursery will be able to cover the cost of two Pro-35 fertilizer dispensers in the first year when topdressing 45,663 plants for #2 containers and 14,104 plants for #3 containers. The number of plants to be fertilized by the dispenser is a factor to consider, especially if the grower aims to pay for the dispensers within a specific period.

Let us know what you would like your workers to do with their new time if you adopted faster fertilizing practices: LEAP4sustainbility@gmail.com

The authors thank Easy Tree Nursery. Labor, Efficiency, Automation, and Production: LEAP Nursery Crops Toward Sustainability is supported by the Specialty Crops Research Initiative CAP award no. 2024-51181-43291 & Planning Grant 2020-51181-32137 from USDA NIFA. Harrell, W. et al. 2025. Dispensing with fertilization Labor: An inexpensive labor-saving fertilizer applicator. UT Extension Publication W1368. bit.ly/fertlabor Velandia, M. et al. 2026. The economic feasibility of adopting the Fertileeze Pro-35 fertilizer dispenser in container production: The Easy Tree Nursery case study. UT Extension Publication, W W1383.