For a start, applying phosphorus in the spring carries much less risk than applying it in late fall or winter
by KEITH REID
Anyone who has taken a soils course, whether at college, university or farm school, is familiar with the truism that “phosphorus sticks to soil particles, so if you control soil erosion you control phosphorus losses.”
Unfortunately, while there is a lot of truth in this saying, life is too complex to be easily captured in a sound bite. There is more and more evidence that a significant part of the phosphorus leaving the landscape is not attached to soil particles, but is dissolved in the runoff water.