you should be concerned about all the stuff you threw in.. not what you forgot

ken

Ken can you explain what you mean? thanks

What Ken is alluding to is that the recommended practice is not to amend planting holes or add fertilizer at the time of planting. The plants don't really need anything - they have already been dosed up with ferts by the grower or at the nursery and adding more at planting is usually unnecessary and can add to normal transplant stress.

All you need to do is dig an adequately sized planting hole, loosen up the root system, plant, backfill with the just the soil removed from the hole and water in well. You can certainly top off with mulch or what amendments you might prefer but save the fertilizer until there is a need for it, either from the results of a soil test or the plants start showing signs of a nutrient deficiency (which doesn't happen all that often).

IOW, the plants are more at risk because of what you might have added than if you had added nothing.

Except that many plants come from retail outlets badly needing to be fertilized.

http://puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/bonemeal.pdf

Funny........I can't think of an instance where I've planted something new from a container that didn't have telltale remnants of CRF's in the soil.

If the plant looks healthy, is of good color and seems to be growing well in the container, then it doesn't need fertilizing when being planted.

Frequently watered container potting medium often needs regular soil mineral replacement. Much stock arrives from container production operations diligently fertilized - sometimes using a combination of both solid fertilizers and liquid fertilizers - and then receives no continuation of this concentrated regimen while at retail outlets. The occasional retailer that follows up with their own fertilizer applications to unsold stock tends to make solid fertilizer applications well after the spring rush is over and many of the plants have been in obvious serious need for some time - if a plant has apparent poor leaf color, as so much material at retail lots does once it has been around for awhile - then it has a SEVERE mineral deficiency. Plants can look quite green and still be significantly deficient.

One or more seasons a few years ago a large independent garden center here had a maintenance employee using a fertilizer injector while watering. It was great to see the plants being made/kept green by this use of what should be a standard practice.

I don't think they do this anymore, and it shows.

I'm sure it depends on the retail nursery but those I've been associated with use CRF's when repotting (and yes, they DO repot containered plants if they've been sitting around for most of the season or have been overwintered). And yes they use a fertilizer injector on a routine basis as part of the watering regime. But to be perfectly honest, at this time of year, plants don't hang around too long - the stock is cycled through and replenished pretty rapidly.

Not all nurseries, and especially those that offer warranties on their nursery stock, are that nonchalant about the care of their plants before sale.

Many, make that most, soils around the nation (USA! USA! lol) are rather well endowed with phosphorus. Of course, you, dear reader, may be in an area where this isn't so. Very generally, I'd say that if your soil is heavier, silty, clayey, if there's farms out in the country around where you live, you very likely do not need additional phosphorus. Where the addition really causes trouble is in area waterways, phosphorus being the key nutrient usually lacking in that ecosystem. So why would we not want to add a nutrient that's in short supply to an ecosystem? Because we prefer our waterways to be not full of algae and excessive aquatic plant growth. Everything on land that is in excess, is placed on the street or sidewalks, or driveways or parking lots, ends up in the river. For this reason alone, many locales are restricting the use of phosphate fertilizers.

Now none of the above proves anything one way or the other about OP's soil, so if he or she must know, only a soil test will tell. But it is at least quite likely that no additional P is needed.

+oM