Words Of Wisdom From Orman On "Poor Man's Fertilizer"

[Henry]

When Orman Ovitt called me the other day to tell me about his yellow tulips peeking through the snow, we got to talking about Spring Snow being called "Poor Man's Fertilizer."  I had never given it much thought, but had always heard my Dad call it the same thing.  I guess I just thought it was the water, but Orman gave me the explanation of nitrogen attaching itself to the snow flakes and when it melts he told me you will see a nice rich green grass coming up through.  Never heard of that before, however, when I was watching the Channel 3 news tonight, they also gave the same explanation as what Orman gave me.  In better words than I can give you, here is what Channel 3 said:

"Snow this time of year is also called a poor man's fertilizer. Their might be a little truth to that. Snow comes down and it has a small amount of atmospheric nitrogen and a little sulfur attached to it. That's natural. And when the snow is on the ground, especially when the ground is warm like now, the snow will melt slowly and it release the nitrogen into the soil. So once the snow is gone, it looks like things have really greened up, because that nitrogen is feeding the plants slow enough that they can take it up and use it. It doesn't work that way in the winter, because the ground is frozen. It only happens in late spring when the ground is warm enough and plants are growing to absorb the nitrogen."

I do believe in the patches on my lawn where the snow has melted, the grass does indeed look greener.

[MikeF9]

Anytime there is a late snow like this, watch the grass under an evergreen tree. It's snow all around, and the grass under the tree is almost a vibrant green.

[Henry]

JoAnne sent me the following e-mail on "Poor Man's Fertilizer"

Hi Henry,
Thunderstorms in the summer have the same effect as spring snow,for poor mans fertilizer. The lightning releases nitrogen from the air to help everything grow.

Jo

[mirjo]

Nature is absolutely amazing isn't it?