Meeting Initial Snap Bean Seedling Requirements with Starter Phosphorus or Bicarbonate to Solubilize Soil Phosphorus in High-phosphorus Soils

Abstract

Starter phosphorus (P) is often recommended for warm-season vegetables sown in cool soil, even if soil P index levels are already high. The cost and environmental risk associated with excessive P fertilization justify re-examination of the practice. The objective of the study was to confirm that performance of early plantings of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is improved by starter P application and to test whether solubilizing soil P with potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) can serve as an alternative in western New York soils. Addition of starter fertilizer at either recommended (15 kg·ha−1) or supraoptimal (35 kg·ha−1) P rates did not generally improve seedling tissue P concentration, early growth (biomass at flowering), or pod yield. Starter P application increased tissue P in only two of 11 experiments, and it never increased yield. Application of 6 kg·ha−1 KHCO3 to release soil-bound phosphate was not phytotoxic to snap beans. In the two experiments in which starter P increased tissue P, KHCO3 application had a smaller effect in one and no effect in the other. KHCO3 application did not increase yield in any of the six experiments where it was tested. A direct test of the contribution of P limitation to the poorer performance of early plantings showed that neither starter P nor KHCO3 application increased yield at early planting. Seasonal differences in crop performance could not be attributed to mineralization of soil phosphate after soil warmed. Water-extractable soil P was not lower in the spring than in summer, remaining constant at all 11 bean fields that were sampled from mid-April through mid-July. In these trials, P was likely not growth-limiting in the cool soils tested. Because starter P may not be necessary in vegetable soils testing high or very high for P, vegetables would also not likely benefit from bicarbonate application under high P conditions.