Opinion on fertilizer tree spikes

They work well unless you have dogs. Mine like them.

Oh no, are they safe around dogs? I did put some where the dogs roam.

We used the 13-13-13 ones on our red maple when it was young (first year of home ownership with the tree) and it made a huge difference in the tree's growth. The trunk got sturdier and thicker. Other trees next door that didn't get fertilizer and were the same type/age still haven't caught up. I don't know how much difference it makes later in the tree's life but early on it seemed to make a difference.

I can't speak to other means of fertilizer such as broadcasting because I haven't tried it.

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Just put out a bunch of those fertilizer tree spikes that are hammered into the ground at the drip line.
Just wondering if y'all think these actually help or are just a waste of time and money.
Seems sort of bogus to me hammering something into the ground in one spot so remote from the tree itself

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They do help. Did this around some pecan trees we brought in via spade truck for a few years before I changed gears a bit. A cheaper and probably more effective option is to purchase a bag of fertilizer instead of stakes. I used a sharp shooter shovel. I stuck in in the ground, pushed it forward, and then threw a little plastic cup of fertilizer into the slot, then pulled the sharpshooter out. Got the fertilizer down in the ground 8-10 inches. I typically did 2 rings... one around drip line every 2-3 feet in along the circumference and then moved outward about 3 feet and staggered them between the first circle slots. We have younger orange and lemon trees and I still do these but stopped doing the pecans at some point years ago.

Much cheaper than stakes and it seemed to be pretty damn effective.

Dogs love the smell of the fertilizer spikes. They tend to dig them up and eat them. It is not poisonous, but will make the dog sick and he will throw up for the next 12 hours.