We fertilize all our fruit and nut trees in February with triple 13. I havent been here long but I am sure already you can see some results. Here is how we do it all in one day having a ball playing outside. http://cappyandpegody.blogspot.com/2015/02/here-we-grow-again.html
I haven't tried the tree spikes the triple 13 is cheap and ya kinda making a spike of sorts by pouring it in the hole. for 35$ tax included I got 100 lbs of the stuff, and I dare say any one of our citrus bare that much value in fruit. Any left over, this year around 5 lbs gets sprinkled in the garden boxes and around the grape vines.
I tend to be on the lazy side... so the spikes seem like less work - even though it's more expensive. I do use the 13-13-13 in the flower beds and for the few peppers I grow.
If you do not have a lot of trees or lugging a wrecking bar around the yard aint your thing then the sticks are a good answer.
We gave up on the fertilizer spikes because they always broke when we tried to pound them into the ground (Blackland prairie soil is also known as black cement when dry!). Then if we did get them into the ground the little plastic cap you put on the spike as a target for the hammer was so firmly attached to the spike that it had to be pried off, which broke the spike. Digging a hole and putting fertilizer in it isn't exactly easy, but I swear a lot less. (Yes, that is "swear", not "sweat").
Right now my ground is so soft, I barely need a hammer for the spikes! and with only 5 trees to feed... the spikes seem to be the easiest method for me.
Well one thing das for certain having Peg throw together a fire while I finished up and bring me a cold beer out to the pit made it all better. This spring when folks are all "Cappy, why are your plums so much bigger and juicier and more plentiful than mine it will be more betta.
