Management of vineyard nutrition is not an exact science, but nutrient/fertilizer management is not something that should be handled generically either. It’s quite easy to approach fertilization with off-the-shelf blends that your distributor carries and those may be quite adequate. Or they may not be. As for most of viticulture, timing is everything. So, the application of nutrients has a time element. Instead of my typical approach of discussing the topic nutrient-by-nutrient, I’ll discuss them instead by phenological stages. Budburst At budburst (some people told me that ‘budburst’ was more accurate than ‘budbreak’ so I’m trying to use that term when I remember to), soil is cold and roots are just emerging from dormancy and the vine is not doing a whole lot of uptake of anything. So, fertilizer applications now should be limited. However, I have found that vineyards who lack in vigor benefit from a small application of nitrogen at budburst.