Bone Meal in each hole?

[saddlebronze]

I am planting the vineyard tomorrow and was thinking about putting a cup of bone meal in each hole and mixing it in the soil. The soil test came back very short on phosphorous and I applied bone meal to the whole area at roughly the recommended rate, but thought I would juice the hole. Any thoughts? The stuff is like 4-11-0. Thanks.

 

[grapeman]

Let's see, you raised the whole vineyard site up to improve the soil and improve drainage and now you want to fertilize directly- my vote is that is a big mistake. You are planting high vigor vines to a close spacing with high fertility. That is a recipe for super vigor. I think you are asking for trouble. Vines need minimal fertility, not lush growing conditions. Even with a 4-11-0 formulation, a cupful per hole would give you a lot of nitrogen.

 

[saddlebronze]

OK, well said. However, the dirt i brought in was the stuff that was tested by UCONN as having almost no N, essentially no P and little K. It also had negligible organic matter, so the whole site has almost no nutrients. So I really have a deeper site, but not a rich site. Its not humus, its rocks, clay and a little sand and silt.

 

[grapeman]

So why did you bring that in to use? Just wondering.... If it is truly no fertility then you may want some.. I guess I am just confused why you did all that.

 

[saddlebronze]

Long story but will shorten up. Basically, the only place on the lot where I can have a vineyard has bedrock 2 feet or so beneath the turf. So in order to plant I had to build up the soil. I had to bring in a hundred yards with my backhoe and the only soil on the site tested out sterile. I could not afford to pay for dirt, so had to use it. Had to make do.